The world was burning.
Flames clawed at the horizon, swallowing banners, trees, even the bodies of the fallen. Smoke twisted into the heavens, blotting out the stars, while the battlefield reeked of blood, ash, and sorrow.
Through the ruin, a figure dragged himself forward.
Each breath rattled shallow in his chest. Pain flared in every limb, his body heavy with wounds that no strength could mend. He clawed at the ground, nails breaking against stone and soil slick with blood. Around him lay his comrades—once brothers and sisters in arms—now reduced to silence, their lifeless eyes reflecting the fire overhead.
But he did not stop.
Because through the haze, he saw her.
Even as blood seeped across his vision, even as the world blurred to red, her image cut through with cruel clarity. She lay a short distance away, her body crumpled yet untouchable by the ugliness of war. Her lips, pale and stilled, seemed to whisper secrets that only he had ever known. And her face—oh, her face—remained a masterpiece carved by the gods themselves, serene and beautiful in a world collapsing into ruin.
To him, she was not broken. Not fallen.
She was the last light.
His heart twisted painfully at the sight. He crawled harder, dragging what little remained of himself to reach her. Each movement tore his wounds wider, but his eyes never left her, not even for a heartbeat.
Finally, trembling hands found hers. Cold. Still. Yet to him, she felt sacred.
The battlefield seemed to shudder. The ground vibrated as his fading power surged, echoing his grief, his fury, his refusal to let her vanish into the silence. The air itself warped, trembling as though the heavens mourned with him.
Clutching her hand to his chest, he pressed his forehead against it. His voice cracked, soaked in blood and sorrow, but every word burned with devotion.
"Empress… of the unknown… you were my dawn in every darkness… my reason when the world was void. Please—" his breath hitched, broken, "grant me one more chance… one more life… so I may protect everyone… even if it costs me all that I am."
The words spilled into the flames, carried on the wind like a vow, like a curse, like a prayer.
And for a moment, the battlefield grew utterly still.
And then...black..