Silence lingered like ash in the air.
The stone chamber lay fractured—its walls cracked, its runes dimmed to flickers. Faint moans echoed from corners where the Separators had landed, limp and dazed. Kael stirred first, coughing as dust fell from her braids. Her vision blurred—but then focused sharply on the center of the room.
Something was moving.
Rising.
Not from within a body… but from its own will.
A figure coalesced from smoke—slender, long-limbed, the shape of a man but hollow at the core, pulsing like a dying star. No longer tethered to Spandrex. No longer needing a vessel.
It opened its mouth—if it could be called that.
Then, a voice.
Raspy. Deep. Echoing from inside and around them.
"I am finally free."
Its voice dripped like oil—echoing from every crack in the chamber. Every bone in Kael's body screamed at her to move, to run, but her feet stayed rooted. The shadow turned its head, slowly, toward Spandrex.
He was still on the platform, barely conscious. Chest rising weakly. One arm limp.
The shadow surged toward him
"No!" Kael sprinted, sliding across cracked stone. Behind her, the Separators roused—bleeding, shaken, but trained for worse. One leapt forward, hand glowing with runes. Another raised both arms and traced a rune midair—spinning, interlocking circles blazing into existence.
Kael joined them, dragging her finger through the air to complete the final seal.
A dome of shimmering light erupted around them and Spandrex—solid, humming, flickering like candle glass in wind. The shadow slammed into it.
Once.Twice.
The shield held—but only barely.
Each impact was heavier than the last. Fractures spread like ice across the dome's surface. The Separators chanted louder, but sweat rolled down their necks.
The runes flickered.
One Separator fell to her knees, blood dripping from her nose. "The barrier—too unstable…"
The shadow howled.
Spandrex stirred.
His vision was red, rimmed with white flashes, like his brain was collapsing in on itself. The chanting sounded far away. The dome, the world—everything—felt like it was underwater. But he could feel the thing. The pull. The piece of him that had been taken. It wanted back in.
His fingers twitched.
He raised one trembling hand.
A fragment of a rune flickered into being above his palm. Weak. Broken. But it burned white.
Kael gasped. "He's casting—!"
Spandrex forced another symbol into the air. His whole body shook now. Blood from his nose painted his lips. The rune caught flame.
"Not... again…" he rasped.
The symbol pulsed once—and shot out.
A beam of searing white light pierced the dome, shattering it as if it were made of brittle glass. The burst of light struck the shadow full in the chest. It screamed—not in pain, but in rage—as it was hurled backwards, ripped apart mid-motion.
It didn't die.
It didn't burn.
It vanished.
The walls trembled.
Then everything went still.
Kael stumbled toward Spandrex just in time to catch him as he collapsed, limp and breathless.
His eyes rolled back. Now with both eyes completely human.
Eyes closed. Both human. Both at peace.
The light faded around him.