The sky bled like an open wound.
Ash rained from the heavens, falling soft and silent over the ruined kingdom of Elaris. Broken spires pierced the clouds like jagged teeth, and magic crackled through the air like dying screams. The final seal—the last gate—pulsed with voidlight at the center of the battlefield. It towered over the corpses of soldiers and monsters alike, and it was hungry.
She stood before it—barefoot, blood trailing from her fingertips. Her dress once white, now tattered and soaked in red and soot. Her long hair clung to her cheeks, damp from sweat, rain, and tears. Magic spiraled around her in wild chaos, her veins glowing with that cursed light. The Starborn mark on her back was burning now, searing through skin and bone.
The seal was calling her.
Demanding her.
And she… she was ready to answer.
"Don't." His voice broke through the smoke.
She turned slowly. There he was—Kael. Her sworn protector. The commander of the Flameborn Guard. The man she had loved in silence, in secret, across a war that had stolen everything from them.
Kael stumbled toward her, sword clutched in one shaking hand. His armor was cracked, stained, and broken, and one of his eyes was bleeding, but gods—he had come for her. Even now. Even at the end.
"You can't do this," he said, voice hoarse. "You don't have to."
She looked at him, eyes glowing silver in the fading light. "Yes, I do."
"There has to be another way."
"There was. You should've run."
She took a step back toward the seal. The ground split beneath her bare feet. The void wanted her, needed her essence to shut the gate permanently. That was the price the gods demanded. The life of the Starborn. A sacrifice willingly given.
Kael's voice cracked. "I'll do it. I'll take your place."
"You can't." Her lips trembled. "You're not the one it marked."
"I don't care!" he shouted, eyes wild. "Let it take me. Let it devour me, burn me, tear me apart—but not you."
She smiled—a small, sad thing. "That's why it can't be you. You're still full of life. Hope. You still believe in a future."
"I believe in you," he whispered, stepping closer. "I believe in us."
Her eyes softened. Her voice did not.
"There is no us after this, Kael. There never could've been."
"Don't you say that," he growled, grabbing her shoulders. "Don't you dare act like I didn't see the way you looked at me. Don't pretend like every time you smiled at me wasn't real."
Her lip trembled. Her body shook.
"I'm not pretending," she whispered. "That's why this hurts so much."
She reached up and touched his cheek, gently brushing a streak of ash away. Her fingertips lingered there, memorizing the warmth of him.
"If I had one selfish wish left," she breathed, "I'd choose you. Every time."
He closed his eyes. "Then choose me now."
"I can't."
The seal behind her flared, sensing her readiness. The wind whipped around them, pulling at her hair, at her soul. She took another step back, into the center of the sigil carved into the earth. The ancient magic surged upward like fire.
Kael rushed forward—but an invisible barrier slammed him back.
"NO!" he screamed, fists pounding against the air, against fate.
She looked at him through the swirling light. Her body had already begun to lift, weightless, her feet no longer touching the ground.
"Remember me," she whispered.
"You can't leave me," he sobbed. "I need you—don't leave me, please—"
She closed her eyes, let the tears fall, and opened her arms wide.
"I love you, Kael."
And then the seal devoured her.
A scream tore through the sky—not hers. She didn't scream. She faced death in silence, like a queen. Like a warrior.
It was Kael's scream that echoed through the shattered world.
Light burst from the seal, brighter than a thousand suns. It swallowed everything—flame, sky, storm—and then silence fell.
The gate was gone.
The world was safe.
And Kael… was alone.
He collapsed to his knees where she had stood, clawing at the dirt, whispering her name like a prayer. Like a curse. Like a wound that would never close.
He stayed there long after the others arrived.
When the war was over.
When peace was declared.
When songs were sung of her sacrifice.
But he never sang.
He never smiled again.
Because she had taken his heart with her into the fire.