The moon’s image plunged down toward them.
The momentum of his released effort, combined with his almost lethal exertion, caused Melcayro to stumble and roll down to the base of the wall.
The conjured moon hurtled down through the sky, growing bigger and brighter as it approached the planet. It broke upon the Voidwarden’s dome of darkness, shattering it into shards of smoke which evaporated into the light of the hidden sun.
The sun returned to the valley. With each passing moment, more and more of the deceased Acorilinian clones collapsed away, returning to Torgurian or Latham fighters. Temporarily—but pleasantly—blinded by the restored sun, Melcayro, Abranni, and the Ridgerazers shot their arms up to shield their eyes. As Melcayro felt the warmth of the sun coat his skin, he flung himself down towards Abranni.
“That did it! We did it!” Abranni laughed through exhausted tears.
Melcayro could only reply with a pitiful grin. Panting, he tried to open his eyes, but settled for a squint.
A Ridgerazer ran over.
“We’re going down to help defend the breach,” he said.
“Right,” Abranni responded. “I'll stay here with my brother—”
Melcayro jumped in. “No, go with them—go help. I just need to rest for a second. Just for a second…”
The valley below exploded with horns, panicked shouts and signals overriding the sounds of renewed combat. Abranni and the Ridgerazers looked out.
Hundreds upon hundreds of mounted warriors had begun pouring out of the Torgurian tunnels on the other side of the valley.
“What is it?” Melcayro asked, slumped down in a corner of the wall. “Why the shouting? Who’s shouting?
Abranni looked down at Melcayro in silent disbelief. Melcayro half-coughed, half-laughed.
“After all that…” he said.
Thoughts of strategy drained from his mind as he prepared to contemplate his own end. Hoping to lend whatever energy he had left to the defense against the incoming cavalry, Melcayro slumped onto his hands and knees and reached for the ledge above him. As he came to his feet, a Bedrock on top of the gatehouse cried out with unexpected elation.
“Those aren’t Torgurians! They’re Yubik!”
***
Within the depths of the Vacant Grave, the four restored queens waited patiently as the Voidwarden absorbed the last wave of Leona’s ice sickles. As soon as the last grouping of jumbled ice disintegrated around the grotesque creature, it started to laugh—but only until it caught sight of the liberated queens.
The Voidwarden shot out a forked extension of itself which began to crackle and buzz above its head.
But the initial invocation was as far as it got.
Briwinna, Lady of Water, strode around the pool of blood, then stopped and planted her feet. Briwinna swirled her arms around and over her head, conjuring a whirlpool that spun to life and surrounded the Voidwarden. Briwinna’s water rose quickly from the Voidwarden’s feet to its head; the streams of electricity it was summoning leapt towards the water, jolting and shocking it, causing smoky arcs to shoot out toward the ceiling of the chamber.
The Voidwarden convulsed within its new prison. Its wailing became warped inside the water, shifting and reverberating harshly throughout the chamber.
Briwinna inched closer, tightening her watery grip on the Voidwarden as it suffered.
“No longer will you exploit us,” she said. Her words were slow and calculated. “No longer will you benefit from our power.”
As she addressed the creature, she dug deep into the Voidwarden’s mangled jumble of spiritual chaos, locating the energies of the other Gracewardens and Voidwardens within it. She latched on to that energy and ripped it away, like peeling an old scab from a ghastly wound. It howled as she tore its power away.
“You will not use me to hold these powers captive,” she snarled. “And you will not use them.”
Briwinna turned slightly and looked over her shoulder at the other three freed queens, now approaching the weakened Voidwarden. One by one, the other queens stepped up to unleash their own brand of misery upon the monster that had tormented them, and to extricate their own portions of its stolen power.
Queen Hymtera, Lady of Earth, loosened the stone face of her tomb and slammed it into the Voidwarden’s chest, digging out the powers it had used her to retain.
Queen Lilvili poured fire upon the prone Voidwarden. Its screams accompanied the smell of burning decay and disease.
Oprendia, Lady of Air, picked up the weakened entity with a crushing gale of wind and slammed it into a wall. The Voidwarden was pinned in place by a pelting wind that smashed it flatter and flatter into the rock of the mountain. Any ability it had to retain its shape, or even scream in pain, was extinguished by the elemental battery.
With the release of its power, it returned to the original, two-dimensional form it had originally inhabited centuries before.
Jularra and the other queens—along with Vylas and Leona—watched in silent astonishment at the odd sight before them. The shadow of Acorilan’s Voidwarden was now just a shaded spot in the rock, jittering harmlessly along the edges of the room, trapped, and relegated to its original obligation of guarding the door to Zunnor.
Once Jularra finally remembered to breathe, she felt a shiver of relief as her body started to relax. Still stunned at the sight of them, she approached her ancestors and embraced each of them. In tender silence and with tear-burdened eyes, the group of women took turns embracing, holding each other's faces, and then embracing again.
“Thank you,” Jularra sobbed. “Thank you,” she repeated to each of her predecessors.
Jularra spun and looked for Vylas, whom she saw taking a seat on the edge of the pool. She continued to scan the room until she saw Leona. Jularra squeezed Oprendia’s hand and stepped away from the group toward Leona. She sprinted the last few steps and wrapped her arms around her.
“I’ll never be able to thank you enough for what you’ve done,” Jularra said, her speech muffled against Leona’s neck. She pushed away gently to look Leona in the eye.
“I can’t believe it. We're free of the pact!”
