Chapter 421 Malachai is defeated

Chapter 421: Chapter 421 Malachai is defeated

Talia’s POV

My eyes blazed with light, as I continued to chant the ancient Silvertongue words.

I thought of the fire, and the silver cage, and the fifteen years she had spent in darkness.

I thought of the way she had braided my hair, and the way she had whispered my name, and the way she had given me the charm that had saved my life.

I thought of my people. I thought of the Silvertongues who had been hunted, and killed, and erased from history. I thought of the village that had burned, and the children who had died, and the bloodline that had almost been lost forever.

I thought of Kaelen.

I reached through the bond, and I found him. He was still there, weak and fading, but still there. I wrapped my love around him like a blanket, and I sent him every ounce of strength I had left.

"Hold on," I whispered through the bond. "Hold on. I am almost done."

He was behind me, and he was dying, and I could feel it through the bond. But I could not stop. Not yet.

He had risked everything for me. He had walked into the Ashen Lands. He had fought Malachai. He had almost died.

I did not feel pity. I did not feel mercy. I felt justice, and it burned in my chest like a fire that had been waiting fifteen years to be lit.

"Vas’kala mor’eth. Sil’verath kala sha’kala."

Malachai screamed again. His voice was breaking, like his body.

"You cannot do this," he said. "You are nothing. You are a child. You are a nobody."

I did not flinch.

"I am not nothing," I said, and my voice was steady.

"You are nothing but a shadow," I said, my voice rising. "You are nothing but fear and hatred and centuries of running. And I am the one who finally caught you."

"I am the last Silvertongue. I am the daughter of Seraphina. I am the mate of Kaelen Frost, and I am the one who will end you."

His eyes widened. For the first time, he looked afraid.

He had never been afraid before. He had never had a reason to be. But now, standing in front of me, with the light pouring out of his body and the sky turning to gold above him, he knew what was coming.

I could see it in his eyes. I could see the centuries of cruelty. I could see the villages he had burned. I could see the Silvertongues he had killed. I could see my mother, in her silver cage, reaching for a daughter she thought she would never see again.

I could see all of it. And I did not look away.

He whispered. "Please."

I saw his hand twitch, the desperate attempt to reach for something, anything, that might save him. But there was nothing left to reach for. There was only the light, and the light was mine.

I could hear the allied wolves behind me. I could hear them whispering. I could hear them praying. I could hear them holding their breath.

Jax was watching. Silas was watching. Cain was watching. Alpha Stone was watching.

They had all come here to fight. They had all come here to die if they had to. And now, they were watching the last Silvertongue keep a promise that had been made fifteen years ago.

I did not respond, and I did not look away.

"Mor’eth kala sil’verath. Sha’kala vas’kala."

The light grew brighter. It filled the sky, and it turned the gray clouds to gold. It filled the air, and it made the dead earth glow. It filled every space between us, and it pushed against Malachai like a wave.

The light was warm. It was the warmth of my mother’s arms. It was the warmth of a fire on a cold night. It was the warmth of home.

I had not felt that warmth in fifteen years. I had not felt safe, or loved, or whole. But standing here, with the power of my ancestors flowing through me, I felt all of it at once.

And I knew, with absolute certainty, that Malachai had never felt any of it. He had never known love. He had never known home. And that was the difference between us.

But for Malachai, it was fire. It was the fire that had burned my village. It was the fire that had taken my mother. It was the fire that he had started, and now, it was consuming him.

Malachai’s body shattered.

"This is for my mother," I said, my voice quiet but steady. "This is for my village, this is for every Silvertongue you killed, and this is for every wolf you enslaved."

It broke apart like glass, and the pieces caught the light, and they floated into the air like embers from a fire.

I spoke the final words. My voice was quiet now. It was barely a whisper. But it carried across the Ashen Lands, and it echoed off the mountains, and it reached every wolf who was watching.

"Sha’kala mor’eth. Vas’kala sil’verath. Kala. Kala. Kala."

The words meant nothing in the common tongue. But they meant everything to me. They meant goodbye, they meant justice, and they meant peace.

There was no body, and there was no ash. There was only light.

I watched the light rise into the sky, and I felt something inside me loosen. It was not relief. It was not joy. It was something deeper, something older, something that had been waiting for this moment for fifteen years.

It was peace.

The battlefield was silent. No one moved. No one spoke. The only sound was the wind, and the only light was the fading glow of the Silvertongue magic.

I could feel the eyes of every wolf on me. I could feel their shock. I could feel their awe. I could feel their hope.

The light hung in the air for a moment, like a thousand stars had fallen to earth. Then it faded, and the sky returned to gray.

Malachai was gone.

I lowered my hands, and I let my arms fall to my sides. My fingers were trembling, and I could barely feel them. But I was still standing. I was still breathing. I was still alive.

I stood alone on the small rise. My voice was quiet now. My body was trembling. My legs were shaking, and my hands were shaking, and I could barely stand.

The power was leaving me. It was draining out of my body like water from a broken cup. I could feel it going. I could feel the strength leaving my arms, and my legs, and my chest.

I had used everything. I had given everything. And now, there was nothing left.

I had done it. I had killed him.

The battlefield was silent.

The corrupted wolves stopped fighting. They stood still, their black eyes empty. Then, one by one, they collapsed.

The black left their eyes. Their souls returned. They were free. They were broken. But they were free.

Some of them wept. Some of them screamed. Some of them just lay there, on the dead earth, staring up at the gray sky.

They had been prisoners in their own bodies. They had been forced to do things they would never have done. They had been tools of a monster.

And now, they were free.

"Luna," Alpha Stone called from behind me, his voice rough with emotion. "Luna, you did it. You actually did it."

I did not turn around. I could not. My eyes were fixed on the corrupted wolves who were weeping on the ground, on the wolves who were slowly sitting up, on the wolves who were looking at their hands like they had never seen them before.

I watched them fall. I did not smile. I was too tired.

I had one more thing to do.

I turned to Kaelen.