The darkness that came over the Halo Islands wasn't gentle or soothing. No stars gleamed tonight. Not even a glimmer. It was as if the heavens themselves had turned away, unwilling to bear witness to what remained.
Inside Erna's bedroom, silence ruled.
The flowers in the corner vase had curled into themselves. The bed, wide and untouched until now, seemed almost too clean. And in the center of it, curled in a fragile spiral like something that had been broken and folded in on itself, lay Narisva.
Her body rose and fell with shallow breaths, but whether she was asleep or simply... existing, no one could tell. Her arms were folded tightly against her chest, clutching at an invisible memory, as though trying to anchor herself to something no longer there.
Her face had changed.
The starlit arrogance that once radiated from her had gone dark. Her skin had dulled to a ghostly hue. Even in unconsciousness, she looked trapped. Haunted.
And her eyes hadn't changed back.
Those black voids that replaced her starry irises hadn't dimmed, healed, or shifted. They remained as they were.
Across the room, Phaenora sat at the windowsill.
Her knees were drawn up beneath her chin, arms looped around them. She looked out, not at the garden or the dark sky, but into nothing. Her gaze was unfocused like she was trying to pierce the veil between worlds and drag him back from wherever he had gone.
"I keep thinking he's going to walk in with that dumb calm face. Acting like nothing happened. Like he was just… late again like always."
She let out a bitter breath. No one answered her because they all wanted it too.
Elyonari stood near the dresser, her hands restless. A vine had sprouted from her wrist again and she was twisting it in her fingers, braiding and unbraiding over and over like it was the only thing tethering her to reality. Her usually pristine robes sagged at her shoulders. Her hair had gone wild and wet from sweat or tears or both. She didn't look at anyone as she spoke.
"She's not asleep."
Phaenora blinked. "What do you mean?"
Elyonari lifted her head slowly.
"She's surviving."
Another voice answered her.
"She's not sleeping. She's just keeping herself from dying."
Adelasta stood at the doorway, arms crossed so tightly her knuckles were white, shoulders taut like a string about to snap. Her face was pale and drawn, and her eyes were bloodshot, though she hadn't cried in front of anyone. Not since she hit Narisva. Not since she screamed her voice raw.
But she looked worse now.
No one disagreed with her because she was right. Narisva wasn't healing. She was stuck in a loop, suspended on the edge of nothingness, unwilling to fall but unable to move forward.
And outside that room, the others had begun the next steps. The steps that followed every battle, every trial. The ones you never wanted to take.
In the sanctuary hall, the remaining Seventh Enlightenment students—Eldrigan, Xander, Farrynelle, Denisia, Peroncerea and Natalis—had gathered the survivors from Minafallen. They were organizing transport, sorting supplies, preparing the return to the present.
It was the cycle. It was finally over.
Back in the bedroom, Adelasta finally moved. She crossed the space with and stood at the window beside Phaenora, staring out at Erna's bed.
"She's gone too," she said after a moment.
Phaenora turned to her. "Erna?"
Adelasta nodded slowly. "Vanished. No signs of struggle. No remains. No tether signature. She was probably erased with Vastarael before we even arrived."
The silence that followed was deep enough to make the walls feel too close.
"Add it to the list," Elyonari whispered.
Adelasta's hand lifted, fingers brushing the windowpane. And then without warning, Narisva moved. She sat up. All three women went still. Her eyes opened next and for a moment, even the air seemed to freeze.
Those black irises.
Phaenora stood immediately. "Narisva?"
No reply.
Elyonari slowly rose to her feet, her Divinity pulsing faintly as she took in Narisva's aura. What she saw made her heart plummet.
Her Divinity… was deteriorating. It was resignation.
"She's dying," Elyonari whispered.
Phaenora blinked. "What do you mean she's... she's a Divine now."
Elyonari shook her head slowly, her voice trembling. "When a Divine loses their will to live… their body stops regenerating. Their Tether begins to collapse. Their soul begins to unravel. She's shutting herself down."
Narisva stood up fully now, the sheet falling from her shoulders. She wore a pale nightgown, her limbs bare and bruised in strange places not from battle, but from the divine decay Elyonari described. Her feet made no sound as they touched the cold floor.
"Narisva, what are you doing?"
She didn't answer. Her gaze flicked slowly toward the open window. The moonlight bathed her in cold silver.
"I want to go to him," she said at last.
Her voice was empty.
Phaenora's heart clenched. "No. Don't say that. He wouldn't... he wouldn't want that."
Narisva blinked once. She took another step toward the window.
"Everything I was… was because he believed in me even when I didn't. When I laughed too loud. When I fought too recklessly. When I insulted everyone. When I called myself a queen of stars."
She turned to them slightly and they saw it. Her expression had no trace of soul left in it. She looked like someone wearing skin made of memories and bones made of grief.
"I'm not Narisva anymore. I was never supposed to become Divine. It was his path. Not mine. He should be here. I took that from him. And now… I want to give it back."
She moved to step onto the window ledge. Elyonari snapped. Divine vines burst from her palms and wrapped tightly around Narisva's wrists and waist, pulling her back just before her toes reached the edge.
"NO!" she cried out, her Divinity flaring. "I won't let you go!"
Narisva didn't resist. She didn't even blink. She simply looked at Elyonari with those black, bottomless eyes and whispered.
"Let me follow him. I don't want this Divinity. I don't want to keep breathing if it's without him. He smiled when he died. I want to be where he smiled last."
Phaenora rushed forward then, grabbing her from behind, holding her tight.
"Stop it stop it STOP IT please," she sobbed into her back. "We already lost him. We can't lose you too. He saved you. Don't you understand?! He chose to live through you!"
Adelasta stood frozen. Her jaw clenched so tight she tasted blood. She wanted to scream. She wanted to rage. But the pain was too old. She'd felt it before. And she knew nothing she could say would stop this.
Not unless something reached her soul.
Elyonari did the only thing she could. She poured her own Divinity into her. Her vines surged not just around Narisva's body but through the decay. Her arms wrapped around her from the front. Phaenora was already behind her.
They held her together.
Narisva's body shook.
Her lips parted in a scream in a sound so full of sorrow, it cracked the glass in the room. The pressure of it blew the curtains open wide, burst the vines on the walls, and sent the stars outside into momentary disarray, like the heavens themselves flinched.
As she collapsed to her knees, her Divine Form flickered violently as her tears splattered against the floor. She wailed, over and over again, each cry more broken than the last.
"Please let me die... please. I know you want me to die for killing him. Just kill me... I won't resist..."
Elyonari held her as tight as she could.
"You don't have to die. Hey, we will get through this together alright?"
Narisva only nodded as she cried even more. Elyonari sighed as she looked at the ceiling.
"Did you have to leave like that, Veneri?"