The cavern hummed with power.

Lyla stood before the beast, her pulse steady, her silver eyes locked onto its own.

It had bowed.

Not in submission.

Not in defeat.

In recognition.

Eli, Jorah, and Dani watched in tense silence.

No one moved.

No one breathed.

Then, the warrior beside her, the one she had freed, exhaled slowly.

"It knows you now."

Lyla felt it.

The weight of its gaze.

The invisible thread tying them together, woven deep into her blood.

"So what happens ...