The moment the Sentinel's fists struck the earth, the valley exploded with sound.
Ice cracked.
Stone split.
The frozen ground beneath the clearing fractured like thin glass under enormous pressure. Deep cracks raced across the snow in jagged lines, splitting the battlefield into shifting slabs of ice.
Teren stumbled backward.
"The ground is breaking!"
"No kidding!" Rovan shouted, barely jumping over a widening crack that tore through the snow beside him.
The Sentinel rose slowly from its strike, towering over the battlefield like a living glacier. The glowing runes across its body burned brighter now, feeding power into the storm swirling above the valley.
Chunks of ice broke away from the cliffs surrounding the clearing.
An avalanche began to rumble somewhere high above the forest.
Lysa's voice cut through the chaos.
"We're running out of ground!"
She fired another arrow into the approaching constructs, shattering two of them before they reached the barrier protecting the Heart.
But the cracks in the glowing shield were spreading faster now.
Each impact from the attacking constructs sent waves of energy across its surface.
Caelum's voice was tight with effort.
"I cannot hold this much longer."
Frost spiraled wildly around him as he focused all his strength into maintaining the barrier.
Aeralyn wiped sweat from her brow despite the freezing air.
"Then we end this now."
The Sentinel lifted one massive foot and slammed it forward.
The ground buckled again.
Rovan staggered but managed to stay upright.
"Any specific plan?" he asked.
Aeralyn studied the giant carefully.
Every time it moved, the glowing runes across its body pulsed with cold energy.
They were feeding it power.
"It's the runes," she said.
Rovan glanced up.
"You mean the glowing symbols the size of shields?"
"Yes."
"If we break them," she continued, "we weaken it."
Rovan grinned.
"Well, that sounds simple."
Another construct lunged at him.
He smashed it apart with a powerful swing of his spear before turning back toward the Sentinel.
"Guess I'll start climbing."
Before anyone could stop him, he sprinted forward.
"Rovan!" Teren shouted.
Too late.
The warrior dashed across the broken ground, dodging falling ice and shattered constructs as he ran straight toward the towering giant.
The Sentinel swung its arm toward him.
Rovan slid beneath the blow and leapt onto a chunk of broken stone, using it as a step to launch himself upward.
His spear slammed into the giant's leg.
The weapon lodged deep into a glowing rune.
The rune shattered.
A shockwave rippled through the Sentinel's body.
The giant staggered.
Rovan clung to the embedded spear, hanging halfway up the creature's frozen leg.
"Oh!" he shouted.
"That worked!"
Aeralyn didn't waste the opportunity.
She raised both hands and unleashed a blast of blazing warmth at the same spot.
The already-damaged ice exploded apart.
The Sentinel roared in fury.
Its massive hand swung toward its own leg, trying to crush the tiny figure clinging to it.
Rovan yanked his spear free and jumped away just as the blow landed.
The impact shattered part of the creature's armor instead.
He rolled across the snow and stood again.
"Okay!" he said breathlessly.
"Step one successful!"
Behind them, the barrier around the Heart cracked again.
A loud snap echoed through the clearing.
Teren turned in panic.
"Uh… the shield is breaking!"
Several constructs had nearly reached Caelum now.
Lysa fired arrows nonstop, but the swarm kept growing.
"I can't stop them all!" she called.
Caelum's voice remained calm, but his breathing was heavier.
"Focus on the Sentinel," he said.
"If it falls, the army will lose its command."
Aeralyn nodded.
"Then we bring it down."
She sprinted forward, golden magic blazing around her hands.
The Sentinel turned its glowing eyes toward her.
It raised one arm high above its head.
The storm above the valley twisted violently as it gathered power for another devastating strike.
Aeralyn skidded to a stop beneath the towering giant.
Warm energy surged through her body, stronger than before.
The Heart of Balance pulsed behind her.
Its power was flowing into her magic now.
She aimed directly at the Sentinel's chest.
"That's where the core is," she whispered.
Rovan appeared beside her again.
He twirled his spear once.
"So we break that too?"
She smiled slightly.
"Yes."
The Sentinel's arm began to fall.
Rovan charged first.
He ran straight toward the giant's leg again, using shattered ice as steps as he climbed upward.
Aeralyn followed with a blast of blazing magic that cracked another glowing rune along the creature's side.
The Sentinel roared louder than ever.
Its enormous hand grabbed for Rovan.
The warrior leapt upward at the last second.
His spear plunged into the glowing core at the center of the giant's chest.
For a moment, everything froze.
The rune flared brightly.
Then it cracked.
Aeralyn gathered every ounce of warmth she had left.
Golden light blazed like a miniature sun around her hands.
"This ends now!"
She fired.
The beam of searing magic struck the cracked core directly.
The Sentinel screamed.
A deafening sound like shattering mountains echoed across the valley.
The giant's chest exploded into a storm of broken ice and fading runes.
Its enormous body froze in place.
Then slowly…
It began to collapse.
Rovan jumped free as the Sentinel toppled backward.
The massive body crashed into the clearing with a thunderous impact that shook the entire valley.
Silence followed.
The remaining constructs froze where they stood.
Their glowing eyes flickered.
One by one, their bodies crumbled into lifeless piles of ice.
The storm above the valley began to fade.
Snow fell softly instead of violently.
Aeralyn sank to her knees, exhausted.
Rovan walked over, brushing frost off his armor.
"Well," he said.
"That was exciting."
Lysa lowered her bow.
Teren collapsed onto the snow in relief.
"We're alive…"
Behind them, the barrier around the Heart of Balance slowly dissolved as Caelum lowered his hands.
The glowing crystal pulsed calmly again.
The valley was quiet.
For the first time since the battle began…
Winter itself seemed to rest.
But Aeralyn knew something deep inside her.
This had only been the beginning.