Chapter 108
Their connection snapped into place like a lock turning, and the basin erupted with light. Light exploded from the basin—not warm or gentle, but sharp, fractured, desperate.
Poppy flinched as the moonwell’s pulse surged through her chest, hard enough to knock the breath from her lungs. Mingxi held her upright, anchoring her with his entire body, foxfire wrapping her like a shield.
Caelan staggered back a step. “It’s begun… the core is unsealing!”
Lirrane dug her heels into the earth, tidal force rippling in a steady rhythm beneath her palms. “Steady. Steady. Gods, it’s like pulling apart a whirlpool with bare hands!”
The water spiraled inward more violently, the glowing center widening. The shard floated there, suspended, flickering between shadow and something almost metallic—like a sliver carved from a dead star.
Poppy reached toward it with her magic. The shard snapped toward her like a predator smelling blood. Pressure slammed into her mind—cold, ancient, furious. The world tilted, and she felt herself slipping, as though the ground had dropped away and she was falling into the spiral.
Mingxi’s arms locked around her, foxfire flaring into a vortex. “No. You will not take her!”
The shard recoiled—but not far. It clung to the moonwell’s core like a hook wedged into a bone.
Yunlian’s voice rose sharply. “It’s resisting extraction. Poppy, you must hold the tether. Don’t let the shard latch onto you.”
Poppy gritted her teeth. “I’m trying, but it’s—”
The shard struck again. This time, not at the circle—at her. A coil of shadow snapped up and wrapped around the invisible thread connecting her to the moonwell. Cold shot through her ribs, so sharp she cried out.
Mingxi felt her pain like his own. He snarled, foxfire erupting in a bright, dangerous halo.
“You chose the wrong heart to touch.”
His fire roared down the connection, slamming into the shard with celestial heat. The shard shrieked—a sound felt more than heard—and recoiled violently, cracks racing across its twisting form.
Yunlian gasped. “His foxfire… it’s destabilizing the shard’s grip!”
Caelan seized the opening, sweeping both arms upward. Water surged around the spiral, forming a tightening ring.
“Now, Poppy… pull!”
She reached with everything she had—not with her hand, not with her strength, but with the thin golden thread the moonwell had placed inside her chest. The moonwell answered.
A warm surge met her from beneath the surface—weak, trembling, but there—and suddenly the tether between them solidified like a line of light. The shard thrashed. The basin shook. Cracks spidered across the ground.
Lirrane shouted, “It’s trying to break free. Hold it!”
Mingxi pressed his forehead to the back of Poppy’s head, voice low and fierce. “I’m right here. You’re not letting go. Neither am I.”
Poppy inhaled shakily and tightened the tether. The shard shuddered—its form destabilizing, flickering violently. Finally, miraculously, Poppy felt the moonwell pushing with her. Not alone. Not faint. Together.
The light between them flared, and the shard tore a fraction looser from the core. Not enough, but enough to make it scream. Enough to make it afraid.
Yunlian’s voice trembled with controlled urgency. “Again—now that it’s exposed—we begin the true extraction.”
The basin shook so violently that the chalk lines of the ritual circle flickered like fireflies about to wink out.
Yunlian drew in a breath and lifted both hands. “Everyone… brace yourselves.”
The moonwell flared. The shard attacked. Not with pulses this time, but with intent. A whip of shadow lashed upward, striking the boundary Caelan held. The impact sent him staggering back, boots skidding across cracked stone.
“My gods!” he gasped.
Lirrane slammed both palms to the earth, tidal force surging outward to reinforce him. “I can’t hold this alone… keep it together, Caelan!”
“I’m trying!”
The shard lashed again, faster, harder. The air crackled with energy that felt ancient and wrong, like something dragged out of the deep places between worlds.
Poppy wavered, breath catching as the tether pulled taut within her chest. “Mingxi—”
“I’ve got you.” His foxfire erupted in a brilliant shield around them, deflecting the next shadow strike. “Stay anchored to me. Always.”
The shard focused on her instantly, sensing the shift. Cold raked across her mind, a vicious tug trying to rip the tether out of her chest. Pain stabbed under her ribs. Poppy cried out.
Mingxi’s foxfire burst into a violent arc—blue-white flames swirling around her like storm wind. “Don’t you dare touch her!”
The shard shrieked again—a discordant, grinding sound—and its form twisted, pulling violently against Caelan’s water ring, trying to wrench itself free.
“It’s slipping!” Caelan warned. “If it breaks the circle…”
“The moonwell collapses,” Lirrane finished.
Yunlian’s voice cut through the chaos, sharp as a bell. “Poppy. Listen to me.”
Poppy blinked through the pain. “I-I’m trying.”
“You cannot fear it.” Yunlian stepped deeper into the circle, her light intensifying. “Fear gives it grip.”
“I’m not afraid!” Poppy protested, but she knew it was a lie.
Mingxi pressed his forehead to her temple. “You don’t have to be unafraid,” he murmured. “You only have to hold on to me.”
Her breath shuddered out, and then she reached deeper. Not toward the shard—but toward the moonwell’s faint, flickering heartbeat. The water glowed under her hand, brighter this time, silver warmth threading through the pain, forming a second tether beneath the shard’s claws.
She felt it clearly. The moonwell wasn’t just calling for help.
It was fighting with her. Together, they pulled, and the shard screamed.
A blast of dark energy tore upward, so strong it cracked the earth under Caelan’s feet.
Lirrane lunged to reinforce him, her tidal force slamming down like an anchor.
“Stay. Down. You. Void. Scum!” she snarled through her teeth.
Caelan shouted, “On my mark—push hard!”
“Do it!” Lirrane barked. “Now!”
The two selkies drove their power into the boundary, water spiraling upward, tide force hammering downward.
The shard recoiled violently. Yunlian raised both hands and poured healing light into the circle, stabilizing Poppy’s tether.
Mingxi wrapped Poppy from behind, anchoring her body while her spirit anchored the moonwell.
Poppy gasped and then pulled with everything she had. Light exploded. Shadow cracked. The moonwell roared. With a sound like glass shattering, the shard ripped loose by half an inch.
But enough for Yunlian to whisper, “It’s working.”
The shard’s half-inch shift changed everything. The moonwell heaved like a living thing gasping for breath. Cracks spidered across its surface, pulsing with frantic light. The entire basin shook beneath them.
Caelan shouted over the roar, “It’s destabilizing! This is the critical threshold.”
“No one let go!” Lirrane snapped. “Unless you want to explode!”
Poppy swayed, breath ragged as the tether between her and the moonwell stretched thin as thread. She felt the shard clawing at her qi, wild and desperate, trying to reattach itself to the core it had corrupted.
Mingxi tightened his hold around her. “I’m right here. Feel me, Poppy—focus on me.”
She did. His warmth. His fire. The steadiness of his breath. The fierce promise in his voice. It grounded her more than the earth beneath her feet.
The shard lunged again, shadow whipping toward her like a hooked line, but Mingxi’s foxfire snapped upward, cutting the strike clean in half.
“You don’t get to have her,” he snarled. “She isn’t yours.”
The shard reeled.
Yunlian stepped deeper into the circle, hands glowing gold. “Poppy, focus. This is the moment. The moonwell cannot pull the shard out alone.”
“I-I know,” Poppy gasped. “I’m trying—”
“Not with your strength,” Yunlian said, voice steady despite the chaos. “With your bond.”
Poppy inhaled sharply. Her bond. Her tether to Mingxi. To this valley. To the moonwell that had chosen her. She closed her eyes. The shard struck again, but this time she didn’t flinch.
She reached past the pain, past the cold, past the pressure, and grabbed the tether inside her chest like a lifeline. Mingxi pressed himself against her back, arms locked around her, foxfire blazing brighter than ever.
“That’s it,” he whispered fiercely. “Hold onto me. Pull.”
Together, they pulled.
The moonwell pulsed—violently, painfully—light cracking through the surface like lightning under ice. The shard screamed, a jagged psychic tearing that shook the entire valley.
Caelan shouted, “Boundary hold… now!”
Lirrane slammed both hands deeper into the earth, tidal force exploding outward in a wave that stabilized the circle for one precious heartbeat. Just enough.
Yunlian’s healing glow surged, golden threads weaving around Poppy’s wrists, anchoring her to the moonwell’s true pulse.
“Poppy, now!” she cried.
Poppy pulled.
The shard tore upward—an inch, two—and then a violent wrenching rip that made the air rupture.
The moonwell convulsed, and a blast of corrupted energy rocketed upward, striking Mingxi’s foxfire shield with a boom like thunder. He gritted his teeth, flames flaring white hot to contain the explosion.
“Almost!” Caelan yelled.
“Get it… out!” Lirrane roared, sweat dripping down her brow.
Poppy screamed as she pulled again, her whole body trembling, every vein burning, every breath a knife.
And the shard tore free.