Page 113 of Echoes From the Void

“Oh,” I breathe as understanding hits. The pup at my feet perks up, responding to my revelation. “You remember, don’t you? What shadows were meant to be before corruption. Not just weapons or darkness, but protection. Safety.”

The beast’s essence ripples in response, void-taint temporarily receding as something ancient awakens in its depths. Around us, the restored beings gather closer, their harmonies shifting to something that sounds almost like hope. Each voice adds new notes until the sound resembles Lyra’s most complex compositions—darkness turned to music, shadows learning to sing.

“Leo,” Matteo says softly, moving to my side. His predator nature recognizes something profound in this moment. “Your shadows...”

I look down to find my darkness moving differently—not just power, but purpose. The same patterns I’ve always used to comfort scared children now flow outward, touching corrupted essence with gentle invitation rather than force. The pup at my feet presses closer, its own shadows beginning to mirror the gentler movements.

“They don’t need light to heal,” Dr. Sharma observes, her healer’s insight catching deeper meaning. Golden energy pulses from her hands as she analyzes the changes. “They just need to remember that shadows can nurture too.”

The massive beast leans into my touch, its essence beginning to shift. This transformation is different from the others—not just restoration or awakening, but remembering. Choice made manifest. Its corruption dissolves not from forced cleansing, but from recognition of what it once was. What it could be again.

Through our distant bond, I feel Frankie’s fierce joy. Feel her understanding that this is what she and Finn are fighting for—not just survival, but the right to choose what our shadows become. The bond pulses with images I can barely comprehend—light shifters frozen in crystal, ancient sacrifices, a better way finally found.

The pup lets out another bell-like cry, but this time the sound carries pure joy. Other young ones emerge from the crowd, their corrupted forms already beginning to shift just from proximity to their transformed kin. They gather around us, drawn to this proof that shadows don’t have to be harsh. Don’t have to be feared.

“You know what this means?” Dorian asks, his frost patterns tracking the spreading transformations. For once, his academic mask fully cracks as wonder overtakes analysis.

“It means Frankie was right,” Matteo says, his predator nature recognizing deeper truth. His fangs gleam as he smiles,watching more beasts approach for healing. “There’s always another way. Always a choice in how we use what we are.”

The massive beast—now restored to its original purpose—turns its ancient gaze to the rifts where more of its kind emerge. Starlight dances through its shadows as it moves, each step leaving traces of power that make the very air hum. Its voice, when it comes, feels like velvet through darkness:

Show them,it seems to say.Show them what shadows were always meant to be.

I look at my pack—at Matteo’s protective strength, Bishop’s tactical mind, Dorian’s careful analysis. At Dr. Sharma’s healer’s wisdom. At the growing crowd of beings choosing to become something more than their corruption. The rising sun catches their transformed shadows, making them shimmer with remembered grace.

“Together?” I ask, feeling my shadows settle into their truest purpose. The pup presses against my legs, its essence a promise of what’s possible.

Their response comes without hesitation:

“Together.”

Above us, dawn embraces the edge of night.

Around us, ancient beings remember gentler shadows.

Within us, power shifts and grows.

And somewhere in the void, Frankie and Finn fight for the same truth:

Some choices remake reality itself.

Some shadows protect rather than harm.

Some darkness cradles rather than consumes.

Always.

The pup raises its voice in one final harmony, joined by all the transformed beasts. The sound echoes through broken ruins and fractured reality, carrying hope into even the darkest spaces.

Together.

As we were always meant to be.

Even in shadow.

Especially in shadow.

Forever in truth.

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