Rowan's POV
I grabbed Ember and pulled her against my chest.
"No," I said strongly. "You're not sacrificing yourself. I won't allow it."
"But Mama—" Ember's voice was so small. So tired. "I'm the only one who can—"
"I don't care." I stood up, holding my daughter tight. "There has to be another way. There's always another way."
The ground shook again. The crack spreading from Nightborne Fortress was getting wider. Through it, I could see golden light—the Wolf God rising closer to the surface.
"We have until dawn," Thaddeus said, his leader voice taking over. "That gives us maybe six hours. We use that time to find an answer that doesn't involve sacrificing a four-year-old child."
"There is no other solution," Archon Mordecai said sadly. "The message is clear. Only innocent sacrifice will—"
"Then the prophecy is wrong!" I shouted. Everyone stared at me. "I'm a healer. I've spent my whole life learning how magic works, how bodies work, how bindings work. And I'm telling you—there's ALWAYS another way. We just have to find it."
Dante put his hand on my shoulder. Through the Eclipse binding, I felt his help. His quiet strength. "Then we find it together."
Lyanna stepped forward hesitantly. "I might know something. About the Wolf God. About why it really went to sleep a thousand years ago."
Thaddeus turned to her, suspicious. "How would you know that?"
"Because I spent years researching Eclipse magic and ancient rituals," Lyanna said. "That's how I learned to corrupt the blood-bond. The War Council has forbidden books locked in their vaults. I broke in and read them."
"What did they say?" I asked.
Lyanna's face went pale. "The Wolf God didn't choose to sleep. It was put to sleep. By the very first Eclipse binding—the original five-point star. They trapped it underground because—" She stopped, looking sick.
"Because what?" Dante pressed.
"Because it was eating its own children," Lyanna whispered. "The werewolves. The Wolf God made them, but then it started consuming them. Draining their wolf energy to make itself stronger. The first Eclipse bond didn't just wake the Wolf God. It imprisoned it."
Horror washed over me. "So if we woke it up—"
"We freed it from its prison," Thaddeus finished. "And now it's going to finish what it started a thousand years ago. Consuming every werewolf to regain its full power."
The pieces clicked into place in my healer's mind. "That's why it wants to 'un-make' werewolves. Not as punishment. As food."
"But it can't just devour everyone at once," Dante said slowly. "It needs a channel. A way to drain millions of wolves simultaneously."
We all looked at Ember.
"The Eclipse Child," I breathed. "It's going to use Ember as a gateway. Force her to absorb all the wolf essence from every werewolf living, then consume her to take it all at once."
"That's why it wants her sacrifice," Lyanna said. "Not to prove anything. To place her as the collection point. Once she gives up her wolf potential willingly, she becomes an empty vessel. Perfect for filling with millions of stolen wolves."
Ember whimpered and buried her face in my neck. "I don't want to be eaten by a god."
"You won't be," I said furiously. "I promise."
But I had no idea how to keep that promise.
"We need to re-imprison it," Thaddeus said. "Before it fully appears at dawn. If the first Eclipse bond trapped it, maybe ours can too."
"The first binding had five adults," Mordecai pointed out. "Warriors trained in old magic. You have four people and a child. And only six hours to learn what took them years to master."
"Then we'd better start learning fast," Dante said.
Through the Eclipse connection, I felt something shift. All five of us—even Lyanna—were suddenly linked deeper than before. Not just power sharing. We could feel each other's thoughts. Memories. Fears.
I saw flashes of Thaddeus's childhood. Watching his father go mad with sadness. Swearing to never let attachment destroy him like that.
I felt Dante's guilt. Eight years of carrying the Eclipse binding secret, afraid it would destroy everyone he loved.
I sensed Lyanna's loneliness. A lifetime of choosing power over connection, and now desperately wanting to join somewhere.
And Ember—my baby girl carried knowledge far beyond her four years. The Eclipse Child wasn't just strong. She was old somehow. Like something old had awakened when she was born.
"The binding is trying to teach us," I realized. "Showing us what we need to know."
"I see it too," Thaddeus said. "The original binder. How they trapped the Wolf God. It needed perfect unity. Five people acting as one consciousness."
"But they had years to achieve that unity," Lyanna said. "We have hours."
"Then we cheat," I said, a thought forming. "I'm a healer. Healers connect to their patients on a soul level to help them. What if I use my healing magic to force our souls to align faster?"
"That's never been done," Mordecai said. "The strain could kill you."
"Everything we're doing has never been done," I shot back. "We're improvising an ancient rite with a child and a corrupted former enemy. Nothing about this is standard."
Thaddeus looked at me with those storm-grey eyes. "If you do this—force our souls to merge—there's no going back. We'll be united forever. You'll feel everything I feel. Every thought. Every feeling."
"I know." I met his eyes. "Four years ago, I ran because the link terrified me. Because loving you hurt too much. But now?" I looked at Dante, at Ember, even at Lyanna. "Now I understand. Connection isn't weakness. It's the only thing strong enough to fight gods."
I sat down in the middle of the town square. "Everyone, form a circle around me. Hold hands."
They did—Thaddeus, Dante, Ember, and Lyanna, making a star pattern with me at the center.
I closed my eyes and let my healing power flow. But instead of healing wounds, I was healing the gaps between hearts. Stitching five different consciousnesses into one unified whole.
The pain was instant and overwhelming. It felt like my mind was being torn apart and rebuilt. I screamed.
"Rowan, stop!" Dante shouted. "You're killing yourself!"
But I couldn't stop. Not when I could feel the Wolf God rising closer. Not when Ember's scared thoughts echoed through the binding. Not when millions of lives counted on us achieving unity before dawn.
My healing light burned brighter. Five souls crashed together like clashing stars.
And suddenly— We were one.
I was Rowan, but I was also Thaddeus, Dante, Ember, and Lyanna. Five views. Five lives of memories. Five hearts beating as one.
"It worked," Thaddeus/Dante/Lyanna/Ember said with my voice. Or was it our voice?
We stood up as one being, moving in perfect coordination. Five bodies controlled by one merged mind.
Through our shared awareness, we saw the trick the original binding had used. Saw how to weave Eclipse magic into a cage strong enough to hold a god.
"We can do this," we said together. "We can trap it again."
Then Ember's part of our awareness felt something. A warning from her thread-vision.
"Wait," we/she said. "Something's wrong."
The ground split open completely. The Wolf God burst from underground—but it wasn't what we expected.
It wasn't one giant dog.
It was thousands of smaller wolves, all made of starlight and magic, all linked by threads of golden power.
"The Wolf God isn't a single being," we realized with fear. "It's a hive mind. Like Lyanna's Ferals, but old and infinitely more powerful."
And every single one of those starlight wolves was running straight toward Ashenvale village.
Toward the five-point Eclipse bond.
Toward us.
"We can't trap a hive consciousness with a cage," we understood. "The original bond failed. That's why the Wolf God is awake. The prison was never going to hold forever."
The starlight dogs were seconds away. Through our merged awareness, we saw what would happen when they reached us.
They'd pour into our bodies through the Eclipse bond. Possess us. Use us as puppets to consume every werewolf living.
And there was nothing we could do to stop it.