Page 180 of Court of Aether and Shadows

But the voice was already surging back, drowning out our attempts at communication with howls of rage and demands for dominance.

The real battle, it seemed, was just beginning…and what frightened me the most was I was losing.

Losing more than this battle…but potentially, my Omega.

Twisted Shadows

~SPARROW~

Time seemed to slow as Liam's shadow-wrought form charged toward me, his massive wolf shape radiating a darkness that felt fundamentally wrong. I held my ground, something deeper than conscious thought telling me this was exactly where I needed to be.

The elemental-aether net caught him mid-lunge, Solaris and Cypress's combined power creating a barrier of impossible beauty. Light wove through strands of earth, air, fire, and water, forming a cage that held my shadow wolf mere inches from my face. Close enough that I could feel his hot breath, see the struggle in eyes that couldn't decide if they were human or wolf.

His massive jaws snapped at the air between us, teeth that could tear through reality itself desperately trying to reach me. The net held firm, though I could see both Solaris and Cypress straining with the effort of containing him. Their wolf forms - one blazing like a captured sun, the other shifting through elemental aspects like a living prism - anchored each end of their magical restraint.

But something was wrong. Terribly, fundamentally wrong.

Beyond the surface rage, beyond even the wolf's primal instincts, I could sense a corruption in Liam's energy. It felt like oil on water, a slick wrongness that distorted his natural shadow magic. The taint was subtle - someone without my newfound sensitivity to magical currents might miss it entirely - but it was there, writhing through his essence like a parasitic darkness.

This isn't just wounded pride or pack dynamics, I realized, watching him slam against the magical restraints.Something's controlling him, twisting his natural impulses into this feral rage.

I wanted to call it out, to reveal the foreign influence I could sense polluting his power. But the political implications held me back. The academy was watching, different courts taking measure of this display. If I suggested one of my wolves could be so easily corrupted...

No. I need to handle this carefully. Protect Liam's reputation while finding a way to help him break free of whatever's taken hold.

"I apologize for interrupting this... pack corralling," I said, letting just enough authority seep into my voice to remind everyone present of my status. "But we have another special class to attend, and I would hate to waste Professor Helios's valuable time."

Liam's only response was another snarl, his shadow-touched fur bristling with unnatural darkness. But I felt a shift in the energy behind me - a change in the very fabric of reality that made every nerve ending tingle in warning.

I turned, expecting to face Nyx's familiar form with her perfectly pressed suit and galaxy eyes.

Instead, I found myself staring at perhaps the most beautiful male I'd ever seen.

He stood well over six feet tall, his form somehow managing to be both ethereally elegant and undeniably masculine. Hair the color of deep space fell in waves past broad shoulders, each strand containing what looked like captured starlight. His features were sharp yet perfect - high cheekbones, a jaw that could cut diamond, and lips curved in an expression of ancient amusement.

But it was his eyes that truly captured me. They weren't just galaxy swirls like Nyx's - they were actual windows into the void itself. Looking into them felt like falling through infinite space while remaining perfectly still.

He wore an outfit that seemed crafted from pure darkness - not shadow like Aetheron's power, but the absolute absence of light itself. The fabric moved like liquid night, clinging to a form that radiated primal power. Void energy danced around him in patterns that shouldn't exist, reality bending and warping with each subtle movement.

"My apologies for the dramatic revelation," he said, his voice carrying harmonics that made the air itself vibrate. "But some lessons require a more... substantial demonstration."

I couldn't help but stare, trying to process how this magnificent being could possibly be the same person as my void wolf companion. The transformation went beyond mere gender - this was power in its purest form, stripped of all pretense and restriction.

Behind me, Liam's struggles against the magical net grew weaker, as if even he could sense the sheer magnitude of power now radiating through the cafeteria.

Nyx - or whoever this form of them truly was - smiled, and galaxies died and were reborn in the curve of those perfect lips.

Power radiated from Nyx's male form in waves that defied conventional magic. Unlike Aetheron's shadows that sought to embrace or Helios's celestial energy that demanded attention,this was something entirely different - a perfect balance of opposing forces. Void energy swirled around him in patterns that spoke of both devastating strength and infinite tenderness.

Standing before him, I felt my own power respond in ways I hadn't experienced before. Where Aetheron's presence called to ancient memories and Helios sparked something wild and untamed, this connection felt... whole. As if I was seeing both sides of a coin simultaneously, understanding a truth deeper than physical form.

His energy contained multitudes - the overwhelming dominance traditionally associated with male power, yet woven through with a grace and nurturing quality that spoke of feminine strength. It wasn't a contradiction but a harmony, like twilight being both day and night while belonging to neither.

The void magic dancing around him moved like liquid starlight, each pattern holding stories of struggle and acceptance, of power found not in conforming to expectations but in transcending them entirely. Looking into those eyes that contained actual galaxies, I saw questions I hadn't known to ask and answers I hadn't realized I needed.

Was Nyx born female and chose to embrace both aspects of power? Or was this magnificent male form the original, with the female presentation being equally true but differently expressed?

Our eyes met, and understanding passed between us without words. This wasn't the time or place for such intimate revelations, but the question needed asking nonetheless.

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