Jason stood at the edge of the crater, his chest heaving, his knuckles still dripping blood onto the broken stone. The golem loomed behind him, a mountain of wood and fury, its golden eyes fixed on the ruined giant below. Maldred lay crumpled in the depths of the crater, his iron-grey skin cracked and oozing, his breath coming in shallow, rattling gasps.
"I could end this now."
The thought surfaced momentarily, Jason truly believed he could kill this thing right here.
One more strike, one more blow from the golem. One final surge of power to crush the giant's skull and scatter his consciousness across the void and it would be over.
The Marrow would be free of its oldest predator.
But Thalion's voice echoed in his mind.
"You're the catalyst, Jason. You're from outside. That's why you can do what no one else can."
He had told him how to put Maldred into an eternal slumber. The vessel of pure blood. The sacrifice of equal power. And the catalyst from outside the Marrow.
