Page 37 of Starlit Bargains

“No way in hell I'm letting them take you,” he said, as much to himself as to Eliar.

The declaration surprised him with its ferocity, but he meant every word. Something about Eliar—his quiet dignity, his ancient sadness, the weight of isolation he'd carried for centuries—had gotten under Kai's skin in a way he hadn't expected. The thought of those shadow creatures ripping away what remained of Eliar's essence made something primal and protective surge within him.

“Kai,” Eliar's voice was soft but clear. “If they breach the ruins, you need to run. Leave me. I'll hold them off as long as I can.”

“Not happening,” Kai replied without turning around. “So save your breath for something useful, like telling me how to fight these things.”

A sound somewhere between a laugh and a sigh came from behind him. “Stubborn.”

“You have no idea.” Kai's eyes narrowed as he tracked the movements of the shadows. “They're not random, are they? The patterns they're making. It's like they're... searching for something.”

Briar, who had been flitting nervously around the interior of the ruins, paused beside a section of wall where the celestial markings were particularly dense.

“These symbols are changing,” she reported, her tiny hand tracing the air above one carving. “Look—they're responding to the shadows' presence.”

Kai glanced back and saw she was right. The markings along the walls were subtly shifting, lines rearranging themselves into new configurations as if responding to an unheard command. At the same time, a faint humming had begun to fill the air—not asound exactly, but a vibration that made his teeth ache and his magic stir restlessly beneath his skin.

“The ruins are defending themselves,” Eliar explained, making an effort to sit up straighter. “Responding to the threat. This place was built as a... a focus point. A node in the network of boundaries I once guarded.”

The humming intensified as more shadow tendrils approached the ruins. The vibration was becoming uncomfortable now, making Kai's head throb in rhythm with his heartbeat. Outside, the shadows were growing more agitated, their movements increasingly frantic as they searched for a way past the ruins' defenses.

“They're going to break through,” Briar warned, darting back to Kai's shoulder. “Whatever this place is doing to keep them out, it's not enough.”

She was right. The shadows were coalescing now, merging into a larger, more substantial form—less a collection of individual creatures and more a single entity with terrible purpose. The air temperature around the ruins plummeted, frost forming on the stones despite the warm evening.

Kai's mind raced. Eliar was still too weak to fight, and conventional weapons would be useless against creatures of pure shadow. They needed a plan, a defense, something...

His gaze fell on the celestial markings along the walls—the ones that were already responding to the shadows' presence. A memory flashed in his mind: the temple, when he'd first touched one of the symbols and seen visions of Eliar's past. The way the markings had glowed in response to his touch, as if recognizing something in him.

What if...?

“Eliar,” he said urgently, not taking his eyes off the approaching shadow mass. “These markings—they're connected to you, right? To what you were?”

“Yes,” Eliar confirmed, his voice strained. “They were created to... channel and focus the kind of power I once wielded. To help maintain the boundaries between realms.”

“And they respond to me,” Kai continued, thinking aloud. “To my magic. What if I could use them? Turn them from passive defenses into something active?”

Alarm flashed across Eliar's face. “Kai, no. Those markings are dangerous—they're designed to handle cosmic energies, not human magic. The risk?—”

“Is better than waiting to be devoured by shadow monsters,” Kai finished for him.

Outside, the mass of shadow had reared up, forming a towering wave that loomed over the ruins. The humming from the markings had become a painful whine, and fracture lines were appearing in the ancient stones as the ruins' defenses began to fail.

“We're out of options,” Kai said, moving toward the section of wall where the markings were most concentrated. “Tell me what to do. How do I activate them?”

Eliar's expression was torn between fear and a reluctant recognition that Kai was right. “It's not about activation,” he said finally. “It's about connection. The symbols respond to intent, to will. Place your hand on the central marking—the one that looks like a star with curved rays. Focus your magic there, but be careful. Too much, too fast, and the energy could overwhelm you.”

The shadow wave outside was beginning to crest, preparing to crash down upon the ruins. Frost covered every surface now, the air so cold that Kai's breath formed clouds with each exhalation. Time had run out.

Kai pressed his palm against the central symbol Eliar had indicated—a complex star pattern with rays that curved like aspiral galaxy. The stone was ice-cold beneath his hand, but he barely noticed, already focusing inward, drawing on his magic.

The effect was instantaneous and overwhelming. The carving flared with brilliant light, not the usual golden glow of Kai's magic but something deeper, more primal—copper fire that pulsed with its own heartbeat. The light rippled outward along the network of symbols etched into the stone walls, each one igniting in sequence like stars appearing in an evening sky.

Within seconds, the entire chamber was illuminated by the intricate constellation of glowing markings. The light didn't stop at the stone surfaces but continued outward, forming a dome of swirling energy that encompassed the ruins. Where the dome's edge met the encroaching shadows outside, a sound tore through the air—a screech that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, as if the void itself was in pain.

The shadow creatures recoiled violently, their amorphous forms rippling with what looked disturbingly like agony. They retreated from the barrier of light, unable or unwilling to cross the threshold. Some dissolved entirely, returning to the darkness between trees. Others lingered at the edges of the clearing, predators denied their prey but not abandoning the hunt.

Kai's entire body hummed with power, his blood singing in his veins. The connection between him and the ancient markings felt electric, as if they had been waiting for him—specifically him—all these centuries. Where his palm met the central symbol, tendrils of light had begun to wrap around his wrist, not threatening but almost... welcoming.

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