In Heath's fist, the Sun-Shard blazed like a living star. Between his fingers, golden light streamed, burning shadow-flesh wherever it came into contact. The closest Umbral dissolved into black steam and wailed (high, ripping). However, the tide continued to rise. The light that was not yet dawn was mirrored in ten thousand yellow eyes, and not a single one of them blinked. They had seconds. Savannah was half-transformed, her eyes twin inferno of crimson and gold, her fur flowing across human skin in the moonlight as she stood at the center of the circle. She had been bought minutes, not hours, by the serpent's last gift, which was sunshine poured into White Wolf blood. With each breath, frost was already dripping from her lips. She grabbed the fragment. Heath paused for a single heartbeat. With a gruff voice, he replied, "If I give this to you now, it completes what the First Wolf began." You are aware of the cost. Savannah's smile was little, timeless, and fearless. She said