The final confrontation took place at the Obsidian Citadel, a massive fortress that existed simultaneously in both realms, its black spires piercing the veil between worlds. Maya arrived to find the Shadow King's army assembled—thousands of shadow-wraiths and corrupted souls, all waiting for the moment when the barriers would fall completely. Elena stood at the Citadel's peak, her hands raised as dark energy flowed from her into a massive ritual circle carved into the obsidian floor. The soul fragments the Shadow King had collected orbited around her like a constellation of stolen lives, their combined power threatening to tear reality apart. "Elena, stop!" Maya called out as she fought her way through the shadow army, the Crystal of Echoes blazing with silver light in her hands. "This isn't what our parents would have wanted!" For a moment, Elena's concentration wavered, and Maya saw a flicker of her true sister beneath the shadow's influence. "Maya? But the Shadow King said... he promised they could return..." "He lied," Maya said, reaching the ritual circle's edge. "Our parents are at peace, Elena. They wouldn't want us to destroy two worlds just to see them again." The Shadow King materialized between them, his form more solid and terrible than ever before. "Enough! The convergence cannot be stopped. I have waited millennia for this moment!" But Maya was ready. She raised the Crystal of Echoes, and instead of using it to seal the realms apart, she channeled her love for Elena, her memories of their childhood, their shared dreams and fears. The Crystal responded, its light shifting from silver to gold. "Elena, remember who you are," Maya pleaded. "Remember us." Elena's purple eyes flickered, and for an instant, they returned to their natural brown. "Maya... I'm so sorry. I was lost, but I can see clearly now." Together, the sisters joined hands around the Crystal. Instead of sealing the realms apart or allowing them to merge in darkness, they rewove the barrier itself. The new boundary would allow love, hope, and healing to pass between worlds while keeping out malice, despair, and shadow. The Shadow King's scream of rage shook both realms as his power was broken, his army of shadows dissolving like mist before the dawn. The stolen soul fragments were freed, returning to their rightful place in the cycle of life and death. As the Obsidian Citadel crumbled around them, Maya and Elena found themselves back in their own world, forever changed but finally free. The barrier between realms remained, but it was no longer a wall—it was a filter, ensuring that only light could pass through the darkness. Their parents' spirits appeared one final time, smiling with pride before fading into peaceful rest. The Shadow Realm Chronicles had ended, but the sisters' story was just beginning.