Light floods the throne hall — not gold, but white so sharp it cuts.
My scream dissolves inside it.
When the glow fades… silence.
No god.
No Kael.
Just me — and the sound of my own heartbeat threatening to crack my ribs.
I spin in all directions.
"KAEL!"
No answer.
Only the echo mocking me.
My wrist smolders, the mark pulsing like a brand fresh from fire.
The third key is a life tied to yours.
The god's voice lingers in my skull like a curse.
Or a memory.
I stumble forward, my boots dragging over broken marble. The world feels unstable — breathing too fast, like the temple itself fears what comes next.
A whisper unfurls in my head:
Water… find water…
I run.
The corridor stretches like a nightmare — endless and shrinking all at once. The walls melt from stone into bone, carved with runes that pulse in time with my heartbeat.
A doorway waits ahead.
Within it — a shallow pool glowing black.
Kael is submerged.
Still.
Unmoving.
"No—"
My legs nearly collapse but adrenaline slams into me and I leap into the water. It burns like ice as I pull him into my arms. His body is warm — too warm — like something feverish is working inside him.
"Kael… stay with me."
I slap his cheek lightly.
"Hey— look at me."
His eyelids flutter open.
He breathes my name like a prayer:
"Sera…"
Tears break free.
"I'm here. I won't let anyone take you away."
His fingers clench my wrist — right over the mark.
Agony explodes through me. The water around us ripples in gold.
"No…" he whispers, terrified. "He's binding you to him. The more I live… the more you lose."
"What are you talking about?"
Kael forces each word:
"You and I… our souls were stitched together so you could survive the fall. If I die— you stay mortal. If I live— you ascend again."
A cold wave crashes through my chest.
"So I kill you… to save you."
"To save yourself," he corrects gently.
"No."
I shake my head.
"Not myself. Us. We fight this together."
Kael tries to sit up — groaning through pain.
"You don't understand… he wants you divine again. Because a god doesn't love a mortal."
The pool darkens around us — shadows rising like smoke.
Kael grips my face.
"If you choose me… you lose eternity."
His voice cracks.
"If you choose him… you lose me."
The air thickens — oppressive.
The Fallen God appears behind me.
His reflection in the water first — eyes like dying stars.
Then his voice:
"You were made for more than fear."
I leap up, shielding Kael.
"You don't get to choose my destiny."
He steps forward — slow, deliberate — gaze locked on mine.
"I am not choosing for you," he says. "I am reminding you who carved yours."
Power slams into the chamber — candles ignite in a circle around us.
He reaches out his hand.
"You were my equal. My queen. My ruin."
His voice softens into something that shouldn't exist in a god — vulnerability.
"You burned heaven for me once, Seraphine… will you do it again?"
My legs tremble.
My heart betrays me — pounding toward him.
Kael coughs blood — collapsing forward.
"Don't… leave… me…"
I'm choking on two worlds.
The god's thumb brushes my lip — a touch too intimate for sanity.
"My only fear…" he whispers, "is that you will choose smallness… over eternity."
Kael clings weakly to my cloak.
"I loved you when you were no one. When you were broken. When you couldn't even remember your own name…"
The voices in my mind scream different answers.
The mark pulses — flickering violently.
A countdown.
I take one step—
Toward—
—
"SERAPHINE!"
A roar fractures the chamber — neither Kael nor the Fallen God.
The walls shatter outward.
A figure bursts through the debris — armored in jagged silver shadow.
LIORA.
Resurrected.
Her smile is the knife:
"You think you still get to choose?"
She thrusts a spear of pure void — aimed at Kael's heart.
"No!"
I throw myself forward—
The spear hits—
Blood erupts.
But not mine.
Kael collapses into my arms, a choked breath escaping his lips.
Liora lowers her weapon, eyes glittering with victory.
"The third key," she says, "has been claimed."
The Fallen God's face twists into something primal — horror and rage entwined.
"No…" he whispers.
The entire temple explodes with gold fire.
The last thing I feel is Kael's heartbeat…
stopping.
And the mark on my skin—
becoming whole.