The fragments exploded into light, scattering the temptations. The burst left afterimages burned into my vision—ghostly shapes of all the lies I'd almost believed, fading slowly like smoke.
But the void itself remained. Darkness pressing close. And within that darkness, I felt something stirring. The air grew thick and expectant, charged with electricity that made my fur stand on end and my skin prickle with awareness.
My wolf.
We'd merged in the Mirror Grove. Had become one being shared between human and beast. But now, in this space where cosmic decisions happened, I could feel us separating slightly. It felt like fault lines forming inside my chest, not painful but profoundly strange—like discovering you've always been two things pretending to be one.
Not splitting. Just distinct enough that I could hear her voice separate from mine.
