The air in the Sanctuary was cold and stale, thick with the ashes of burned-out hopes.
Akero stood on the edge of the battlements, his back turned to the world behind him, his silhouette as unmoving as a statue.
He wasn't seeing the landscape before him; he saw only the internal map of his rage — a blueprint of destruction.
Nea found him there.
Her steps were soft, but her heartbeat pounded like a hammer.
She stopped beside him, but he showed no sign of noticing her.
"Akero," she began, her voice trembling with tension. "Please. Talk to me."
"I have nothing to say," he replied, his voice sharp and flat like the edge of a knife.
"I do!" she shot back desperately. "All of us do! This isn't you! This is some… frozen monster you've become!"
He finally turned, and the look in his eyes was so cold it stole her breath.
"Monster? No, Nea. This is the first time I've ever been truly clear. Everything before this was… sentimental garbage."
"Sentimental garbage?" she repeated, stunned.
"That was love! And care! That's what made us human!"
"Look around you!"
For the first time, emotion cracked through his voice — contempt.
"Where did that *humanity* get us? Into a pile of corpses. My parents. Alabaster. All because we weren't strong enough to accept what had to be done."
At that moment, Kael joined them, his steps heavy, fists clenched.
"Do you hear yourself? You're talking like one of *them*."
He stopped in front of Akero, staring him down.
"Lucius brainwashed you, man. And you're dumb enough to let him."
Akero laughed — short, sharp, humorless.
"Lucius is the only one who had the courage to see the truth. You two… you're living in the past. In a dream that cost us everything."
Nea felt tears roll down her cheeks.
"Akero, please… this hatred… this isn't you."
She reached for his hand, but he pulled away violently.
"Don't touch me," he said, and his words hurt her far more than any blow could.
"Your 'love' is weakness. Kael's 'rage' is reckless. Both of you are walking death sentences, and I refuse to follow you."
Kael stepped forward, fury twisting his face.
"Then walk alone, traitor. Because we're not following a path built over the bodies of our friends."
"Fine," Akero shrugged, completely indifferent.
"You'll only lighten my burden."
Nea watched him desperately, trying to break through the ice.
"Akero… I… I love you."
She said it, her voice shattering.
"Even now. Even like this. I've always loved you."
For a moment, something flickered in his eyes — a crack, a hesitation.
But then the wall returned, harder than ever.
"Your love isn't enough to save anyone, Nea. It will only get you killed."
He turned and began to walk away.
Kael watched him go with disgust twisting his face.
"Come on, Nea. There's nothing here anymore."
Nea stood trembling as she watched the man she loved walk away without looking back once.
She felt her heart tear into pieces.
She turned and followed Kael, leaving Akero alone, surrounded by the walls he had built himself.
Lucius, hidden in the shadows, smiled.
Perfect.
---
Nea and Kael made their way to the Old Tower on the mountainside, a place that had once been their refuge.
The silence was heavy, broken only by Nea's muffled sobs.
"What do we do now, Kael?" she asked, her voice exhausted by grief.
"I don't know," Kael answered, staring into the fire he had lit.
"But we can't stay there. We can't watch him turn into the very thing we fought against."
At that moment, Lucius entered the tower, his presence like a blast of icy wind.
"Unfortunately," he said, "you won't have to make that decision."
He attacked swiftly, without warning.
Kael tried to fight, but Lucius disabled him with a single strike, breaking his arm and slamming him against the wall.
Nea raised a shield of light, but Lucius's psychic energy tore through it, striking her in the chest.
Both fell, gravely wounded.
"Why?" Nea whispered, blood dripping from her lips.
"Because you were obstacles to perfection," Lucius replied coldly.
He turned and left the tower, leaving them to die.
---
Akero stood in the Sanctuary when something pulled him toward the Tower.
Nea's last look, her words… he couldn't ignore them.
He began walking — slowly at first, then faster, driven by an inner panic he refused to acknowledge.
When he entered the Tower, his heart stopped.
Kael lay slumped against the wall, struggling to breathe.
Nea was on the floor, a pool of blood beside her.
"Akero…" Kael murmured when he saw him.
"I knew… you'd come…"
Akero fell to his knees beside Nea, lifting her head.
"Nea! Nea, stay with me!"
Her eyes fluttered open, a faint trace of light still inside them.
"Akero…" she whispered, blood on her lips. "I heard… your steps…"
"What happened?" he asked, his voice breaking.
"Lucius…" Kael said, each word agony.
"He… fooled us… the whole time…"
Nea reached for Akero's hand.
"Akero… I wanted to tell you… I've always loved you."
She smiled faintly, a fragile, bloody smile.
"From the first day… even when you were stubborn and unsure… I loved you."
Her gaze grew unfocused.
"Be… the man I loved… please…"
Her body went still in his arms.
Kael gasped deeply, looking at Akero.
"Take care… of yourself…"
And then he, too, stopped breathing.
Akero remained kneeling, holding Nea's lifeless body, Kael lying beside them.
He felt the ice around his heart crack — then shatter.
"NO!" he screamed, and a surge of temporal energy tore through the tower, shattering walls.
Tears — his first in a long time — streamed down his face.
He saw everything:
How Lucius had manipulated him,
killed his parents,
killed Alabaster,
and now killed his two closest friends.
The love he tried to bury surged back with double its strength — and with it, rage.
He turned and shot toward the Sanctuary, his energy a storm of fury and grief.
"LUCIUS!" he roared as he burst into the atrium.
Lucius turned, startled.
"Akero? What happened?"
"YOU KILLED THEM!"
Akero attacked without warning, unleashing the full force of his temporal power.
Lucius barely defended himself, shocked by the intensity.
"Akero, wait! I can explain!"
"THEIR LAST WORDS EXPLAINED EVERYTHING!"
Lucius saw he had lost.
Akero was no longer under his control.
He turned and fled, using his abilities to escape the battle.
Akero tried to chase him, but collapsed to his knees, overwhelmed by pain.
He was alone.
Alone with his guilt and his hatred.
---
Lucius reached the Citadel of the End, feeling triumphant.
He entered the throne hall where the Unknown waited.
"My lord!" Lucius said.
"I completed the mission! Akero is broken from within! Now he is nothing but a weapon of hatred!"
The Unknown slowly turned.
"Yes… you have fulfilled… your purpose."
He raised his hand, dark energy swirling.
"But tools that have outlived their use… are discarded."
Lucius's eyes widened in horror.
"What? No! I am loyal!"
"Loyalty ends when usefulness ends."
The moment the Unknown attacked, Lucius's defenses shattered.
A storm of memories flooded him —
his childhood as Airon,
the love of his parents,
everything he lost,
every atrocity he committed…
"NO!" he screamed, collapsing to his knees.
"WHAT HAVE I DONE? MOTHER! FATHER! AKERO!"
Using the shock and pain, he turned his remaining power inward and teleported himself away from the Citadel, leaving behind only a fading cry of regret echoing through the darkness.
Now he was on the run, broken, cursed with the memories of everything he had lost and everything he had destroyed.