Valeria's POV
The world around me exploded into a blinding white light, a searing flash that consumed every inch of the clearing. The last thing I saw before everything went black was Nyx's rage-filled face, twisted in disbelief. His form was torn apart by the force of the explosion as the altar shattered, its dark energy splintering in every direction. The shockwave ripped through the air, rattling the trees and sending them crashing to the ground in a whirlwind of splintering wood and howling winds.
I felt my body being thrown backward, the force of the explosion too much for me to withstand. My vision blurred, my limbs went limp, and for a moment, everything felt distant, muffled-like I was sinking into a void.
I couldn't breathe. I couldn't feel.
Then, a sharp pain lanced through my chest, a stab of raw energy that brought me back to consciousness. I gasped, the air ragged in my lungs, as I pushed myself onto my elbows. The world around me was a haze of smoke and sparks, a twisted landscape of destruction. The ground beneath me was scorched, cracked open like the earth itself had been torn apart by the force of the explosion.
The silence that followed the destruction of the altar was deafening. It felt like the very earth held its breath, the world pausing as the shockwave from the altar's collapse rippled through the air. I stood frozen in place, my hands still extended, trembling from the force of the power that had erupted through me. The remnants of the altar lay in jagged pieces, its pulsing energy now flickering out like a dying ember.
But Nyx wasn't finished.
The shadows that had recoiled in pain from the blast were beginning to twist and shift again, reforming with a ferocity that made my stomach drop. I could feel the weight of his rage, a tangible force pressing against my chest, pushing me back, suffocating me. I didn't have time to think, didn't have time to process what had just happened. The fight wasn't over. Not yet.
I turned to see Adrian struggling against the remaining tendrils of darkness that still bound him. His face was twisted with pain, his breath coming in shallow gasps as the shadows constricted around him, squeezing the life out of him.
"Adrian!" I screamed, my voice raw with panic.
But Nyx's laugh sliced through the air, cutting off any hope I had left. His voice, cold and mocking, sent a chill crawling under my skin. "You think you've won?" Nyx's silhouette was now a monstrous, swirling mass of darkness, his eyes glowing like twin infernos. "You've only begun to understand, Valeria. The ritual was never just about the altar. It was about you-about binding you to me."
I forced my gaze from Adrian, who was still thrashing in the shadows' grip, to Nyx, whose presence seemed to stretch and grow with each passing second. His eyes-those molten, fiery eyes-burned with a feverish obsession, the weight of his intentions pressing down on me.
"You think you can control me," I spat, summoning every ounce of defiance left within me. "You'll never have me, Nyx. You'll never control who I am."
His smile was twisted with cruelty, and he took a step forward. "You feel it, don't you, Valeria?" His words wrapped around my mind like tendrils, each syllable slow and deliberate, as if drawing me into his web. "The power... it calls to you. You know it. You know we belong together. You and I. The hybrid that you are-your very existence... it's destined to be mine."
A chill raced through me at his words. He knew. He knew what I was. One of the Elders must have told him. My hybrid nature-the truth I had tried to bury, the truth I had fought so hard to ignore-it was out in the open now. Nyx wasn't just after power anymore. He was after me. And the worst part was, he was right. There was a part of me that could feel the pull, the way his power resonated with something deep inside of me, a dark reflection of my own.
"No," I said, my voice shaking with the effort to defy him, to keep that part of me buried. "You don't control me, Nyx. Whatever you think you can do... it ends tonight."
Adrian's struggles grew more desperate as Nyx's shadows pulled tighter, but his voice-strained and raw-broke through the chaos. "Valeria!" he shouted, his eyes wild with a mix of fury and desperation. "Finish it! Destroy him, now!"
His words fueled the fire inside me. I couldn't afford to hesitate any longer. The altar was gone, the source of Nyx's ritual, but his power wasn't tied to just that. It was tied to me. To my blood, to what I was becoming. And that was something I couldn't allow.
I took a deep breath, focusing all my energy on the darkness that surrounded Nyx, on the shadows that threatened to consume everything. The air crackled with power, and my pulse thrummed with an undeniable force, raw and untamed.
"You think I'm afraid of you?" I whispered, my voice steady despite the terror churning in my stomach. "I am not your puppet, Nyx. You'll never have me."
The darkness around Nyx shifted violently, swirling like a storm. His laughter turned dark and bitter. "Fool. You don't even realize what you are, do you?"
Before I could respond, Nyx lashed out, the shadows around him expanding like a tidal wave crashing toward me. I barely had time to react as the wave of darkness slammed into me, sending me tumbling backwards. The force of it knocked the breath from my lungs, but I didn't stop. I couldn't.
As I fought to rise, I could see Adrian-still trapped in the shadows, still struggling to break free. His eyes met mine, desperate and pleading, and I knew what I had to do. He was counting on me.
With a scream of determination, I called forth every bit of light, every ounce of my power, and let it surge through me. The energy burned, wild and untamable, as it collided with the darkness surrounding Nyx. The ground beneath us cracked, splintering from the force of our powers clashing.
"Adrian!" I shouted again, my voice breaking the roar of chaos around us. "Now! I need you to help me!"
Adrian's eyes locked with mine, his body wracked with pain, but there was no hesitation in his movement. With a savage roar, he tore free from the shadows, his body lurching forward toward Nyx. He moved faster than I could follow, a blur of motion as he launched himself at Nyx, his fists striking with the force of a storm.
Nyx snarled, his attention shifting to Adrian, but I saw the opening I needed. The moment Nyx's focus wavered, I surged forward, my hands outstretched as I summoned all the light within me. It erupted from my palms, a blinding flare that shot toward Nyx with deadly precision.
The blast struck him full force, a shockwave that sent ripples through the very fabric of the forest. Nyx screamed, the sound guttural and full of fury, as his monstrous form began to crack and splinter, the shadows around him writhing in agony.
But even as the darkness shrieked and tore at itself, I knew this wasn't enough. I had to do more.
Adrian wasn't stopping. He kept attacking, his body moving with an animalistic grace as he slammed into Nyx again and again, his blows landing with a brutal finality- thanks to Oracle. But Nyx's resilience was endless-his form reformed each time, the shadows gathering and reanimating with every strike.
I wasn't going to let him keep coming back. Not like this.
With every ounce of strength I had left, I thrust my hands toward him once more, this time with every shred of my will behind it. The light exploded from me like a supernova, an uncontainable force that shattered the darkness around him.
There was no scream this time. Only silence.
And then, as the light faded, I saw him.
Nyx lay crumpled at the center of the clearing, his body motionless, the shadows that had once clung to him now scattered and gone. The air felt lighter, the oppressive weight that had choked us for so long finally lifting.
But the victory felt hollow.
"Valeria..." Adrian's voice broke through the silence, raw and exhausted. He was beside me in an instant, his hands on my shoulders, steadying me. "You did it. You stopped him."
I could feel the tremor in his touch, the relief and disbelief that came with the victory. But for me, it wasn't enough. There was still something gnawing at the edge of my mind, a feeling that even in his defeat, Nyx hadn't truly let go of the power he'd sought to claim. His obsession with me wasn't over-it had only just begun.