Junior Shadowmage had been told never to wander beyond the quiet edges of Numena.
Naturally, he did.
There, scattered across the dark ground, he discovered a dust that shimmered like crushed stars. He gathered a little onto the tip of his play staff.
The toy answered.
For the first time, its painted markings glowed.
Junior stared in wonder.
Somewhere far above Numena, something else felt it too.
Silas had wandered the cosmos for longer than he could remember.
World after world drifted beneath him, yet lately the stars had begun behaving strangely. Their light bent toward distant places, as though answering a call.
Then came the pulse from Numena.
Small.
Untrained.
But unmistakable.
Silas changed course.
Silas followed the pulse across worlds until it led him to Numena—and Junior Shadowmage.
Beneath the fractured sky, the young mage watched the winged stranger descend. Fear took hold. He raised his newly awakened wand and struck.
Silas caught the magic.
The stream bound them together, locking Junior’s hand around his wand. Then purple light crept from Silas’s grip, travelling against the current.
Through the magic. Into the wand. Beneath Junior’s skin.
The Contagion had found another host.
Junior struggled as his body twisted and his shadow grew. Silas released his grip and stumbled backward.
Where the young mage had stood, a colossal figure towered over him, wings unfurled against the stars, cosmic power burning through its body.
Junior Shadowmage was gone.
In his place stood COSMOTAUR.
And for the first time since beginning his journey, Silas looked up.
Silas fled.
Behind him, Cosmotaur tore through the landscape. The small mage Silas had infected was gone, buried inside something vast and furious.
Ahead lay the Lunar Wilds, where ancient pieces of a fallen Numeian moon lay scattered across the ground.
Silas plunged between the ruins. Cosmotaur followed, smashing through stone that had survived for ages.
Cornered among the fragments, Silas turned and struck. His magic broke against the giant.
Deep within the lunar rubble, unseen eyes followed their every move.
Silas hit the rock hard.
His wings folded beneath him. Above, Cosmotaur raised an arm, blotting out the stars.
There was nowhere left to run.
As the fatal blow descended, something purple sprang from the rubble.
LUNUMBRO landed between them, a half-wolf, half-cat beast called a lycat of the Lunar Wilds.
The impact split the ground. Broken moonstone burst through the air.
But Lunumbro stood unscathed.
Through the settling dust, a second pair of eyes appeared.
Another beast stepped from the ruins. LUNUMBRA lowered herself beside Silas and pulled him onto her back.
Then the lycats ran.
Lunumbra raced through the broken moon, Silas motionless across her back.
Beside her, Lunumbro bounded over shattered ridges.
Behind them came Cosmotaur.
Each footfall hurled ancient fragments skyward. Every shelter they passed vanished beneath his fury.
Silas stirred as a shadow swallowed all three.
He opened his eyes.
The lycats had reached the edge of a vast crater. Beyond it, nothing but exposed ground.
Silas slid from Lunumbra’s back.
For a moment, his legs failed him.
Then his wings opened independent of his thoughts.
He rose to face what he had created.
Silas rose before the gigantic Cosmotaur, wings spread wide.
Below, Lunumbro and Lunumbra stood together.
His mind reached for theirs.
He felt no resistance. The wild wolf-cats lifted their faces willingly, opening their spirits to him. They had saved his life. Now they entrusted him with their own.
Purple energy streamed from Lunumbro. Pink light poured from Lunumbra.
Silas drew both currents skyward.
Above the trembling ruins, their spirits joined.
A colossal purple and pink lycat head took shape, its eyes blazing, its open jaws wide enough to swallow the giant.
Silas hurled the spectre forward.
The lycat swept across the crater, jaws opening wider as the giant raised his arms against it.
Then they snapped shut.
For one suspended moment, Cosmotaur shone from within. Cracks raced across his enormous body. Light spilled through them.
Then he shattered.
Cosmic dust erupted over the Lunar Wilds, scattering through the ruins, dazzling like burning stars.
Silas searched for the small mage he remembered.
Nothing answered.
Silas sank to the broken ground.
Above him, the lycat spectre unravelled. Pink and purple streams curled through the settling dust, returning to his side.
Paws touched stone. Fur caught the fading light.
Lunumbro and Lunumbra were whole again.
They bounded towards him, knocking him onto his back and lapping at his face. Silas laughed beneath them, his hands buried in their fur.
They pressed close, proud and eager, as though they had known him all their lives.
Beyond them, the dust of Cosmotaur’s destruction slowed.
Then it began to gather.
Clouds of cosmic gas folded into one another.
Within them, something moved.
Long limbs struck the ground. A vast body rose from the haze, drawing the scattered remnants of Cosmotaur into its impossible shape.
GALAQUINE, THE NEBULOUS CRUSADER.
He galloped through the ruined landscape towards the three companions.
A colossal bow lifted.
Between its drawn ends, celestial light sharpened into an arrow.
Lunumbro stopped licking Silas’s face.
His ears turned. So did Lunumbra’s.
Silas looked past them just as Galaquine released the string.
Silas threw out his wings. Lunumbro’s psychic shield curved over them just in time.
The arrow struck. For a moment, Lunumbro held it.
But the ground beneath Silas’s knees split. Light spread across the shield, branching faster than he could follow.
He felt the force on the other side still growing, his wings folded around the lycats in vain.
Then the two powers erupted.
The Lunar Wilds vanished. Numena broke beneath them. The blast swept beyond its shattered horizon and tore through neighbouring worlds.
Silas, Lunumbro, and Lunumbra disappeared into the same terrible light.
When it faded, cosmic shards were already hurtling towards distant corners of the multiverse.
Ethereal galloping shook the cosmos in triumph.
