Kai stood alone on the flat rocks behind the mill, the river rushing past under a clear night sky. The Voidweave cloth glowed softly in his hands, and Lirael's frost pendant pulsed with quiet light.
Somewhere far away, new rifts were forming. The Void Hunger stirred again.
But Kai was no longer the helpless child who had emerged from the storm. He was the Rift Child — tempered by Heaven Falls, bonded with frost and void-light, and ready to face whatever came next.
Zen watched from the doorway, a proud smile on his scarred face.
The guardians of the five continents might falter one day.
When they did, the shadows would decide.
End of Book 1: The Rift Child