I didn't know what to feel.
Heartbroken.
Scared.
Devastated.
Hopeless.
But worst of all—
I didn't feel Raiden.
Not anymore.
The bond that had once thrummed like a living heartbeat was silent.
Flat.
Dead.
A hollow ache tore through my chest like something important had been ripped out with bare hands.
Raiden stepped toward me.
Lightning crackled around his fingers—not blue, not white, but twisted red-black, like thunder smeared with blood. It crawled up his arms in jagged lines, eating the gold glow that used to live there.
My body froze.
This wasn't him.
This wasn't the man who had held me against his chest, who had whispered my name like it mattered, who had kissed me like he'd been waiting lifetimes to do it.
This was Mortimer wearing his skin.
His hand rose, power sparking between his fingers, and came closer.
Closer.
I wanted to run.
Every instinct screamed at me to run.
But I didn't move.
Couldn't.
I was too broken, too stunned, too shattered from watching the man I loved forget me—look at me like I was nothing—fall into darkness willingly to save me.
All I could do was stand there as Raiden's hand wrapped around my neck.
His fingers tightened instantly.
Air vanished.
My feet kicked at nothing as he lifted me off the ground with a strength that wasn't human, wasn't dragon—was something darker, colder.
Instinct snapped through me and I grabbed his wrists, tried to pry him off, tried to breathe—
Nothing worked.
I had no strength left.
Not after the relic.
Not after fighting his father.
Not after losing him.
My vision blurred at the edges.
I forced myself to look at him.
At his eyes.
Red.
Corrupted.
Empty.
The eyes that used to soften whenever he looked at me were now flat and cold, like he didn't even see a person—just a target.
A threat.
His fingers tightened around my throat.
A wheeze scraped past my lips.
"Rai…"
His name was a broken gasp.
Nothing flickered in his expression.
Nothing.
But I kept going—clinging to whatever shaky thread was left in me.
"I will…" My voice cracked hard, pain flaring through my windpipe. "Love…"
The world tilted. "…a-always…"
My lungs screamed. "…fo-orr-ever…"
My vision darkened—first gray, then black around the edges.
I was slipping.
Falling.
Just before the last bit of light left my eyes—
I saw it.
A flicker.
A shimmer.
A sliver of blue—Raiden's blue—flashed in his gaze.
So faint I almost thought I imagined it.
But his grip—
Loosened.
Not much.
Barely a breath.
But enough for air to scrape into my lungs.
Enough for hope to stab me like a blade.
"Rai…" I whispered again, barely audible.
He didn't answer.
He didn't soften.
He didn't remember.
His expression twisted—not into recognition, but into something torn, something caught between the corruption and something underneath it.
Then—
He threw me.
Hard.
Harder than he should have been able to.
Lightning exploded off his hand as he released me, the force sending me sailing backward like a rag doll across the battlefield.
The world spun.
Stone and sky traded places.
I hit the ground once—slammed—pain lancing through my ribs.
Then a second impact—
My back collided with a jagged rock formation.
Something cracked.
My breath ripped out of me in a soundless cry.
The world flashed white.
Blinding, burning white.
Then—
Nothing.
Just silence.
Just darkness.
Just the echo of Raiden's fingers around my throat.
And the sickening knowledge that he had looked me in the eyes…
…and hadn't known me at all.
Then darkness…
I floated.
Or fell.
Or drifted through nothing.
It was impossible to tell.
There was no pain here. No breath. No heartbeat thundering in my ears. Just a soft, weightless quiet that felt too gentle to be real.
Am I dead?
The thought didn't frighten me.
Not after what had happened.
Not after Raiden's eyes—red and empty—looked through me like I was a stranger.
Darkness pulled back like a curtain, and something else slid into its place.
Blue.
A soft, shimmering blue that rippled like moonlit water.
I stood—except I didn't remember standing—in a forest made of light.
Tall, slender trees glowed with pale turquoise bark. Leaves shimmered like drifting fireflies. Mist pooled at my feet in lazy curls, brushing against my ankles with no temperature at all. Everything felt dreamlike, suspended, unreal.
Too quiet.
Too still.
I swallowed, but my throat didn't hurt.
Didn't ache from Raiden's grip.
Didn't feel anything at all.
"I'm definitely dead," I whispered, voice trembling into the luminous air.
The forest breathed, shifting. Light brightened, then softened, as if answering.
Then—
A figure stepped between the glowing trees.
Tall. Ethereal. Beautiful in a way that didn't belong to mortals.
She drifted rather than walked, her feet not quite touching the ground. Her hair flowed long and wavy, strands shimmering like molten moonlight in water. Her face was soft, striking—timeless.
And her eyes—
Her eyes were violet.
Not like mine.
Deeper. Infinite. Like galaxies pressed into irises.
She came to a stop in front of me and lifted a hand, her fingers brushing my cheek.
Or trying to.
I didn't feel it.
Nothing.
Only the knowledge that I should feel it.
A lump formed in my throat. "Why… can't I feel you?"
The woman's expression softened—sorrow and affection braided together.
"Sweet child."
Her voice—
Gods.
It hit something deep in me.
Familiar. Achingly familiar.
"Am I dead?" I whispered desperately.
A different voice answered. Sharp, crackling with fire and annoyance.
"Not yet, little flame. But you gave it a damn good try."
I froze.
I knew that voice.
"Kagutsuchi?" I breathed.
The Fire God's silhouette flickered into existence behind me—tall, broad-shouldered, wreathed in ember-light that licked the edges of his form.
"Where… where am I?" I whispered.
A sigh answered—cool, rippling through the air like a wave brushing the shore.
"Now that," a calm, velvety voice murmured, "is a much smarter question."
I turned.
The Water God—his form shaped from flowing blue-white mist—stood beside Kagutsuchi, tall and still as a sculpture carved from ice and tide. His eyes glowed like deep ocean currents.
The glowing forest dimmed slightly, as if bowing to their presence.
My heart stuttered—if it was even beating here.
All three of them.
Here.
Facing me.
The moonlit woman whose touch I couldn't feel.
The Fire God who never shut up.
The Water God who always sounded like patience given form.
My throat worked soundlessly for a moment. "I… I don't understand."
Kagutsuchi crossed his arms. "Obviously."
The Water God shot him a look. "Be kind."
"I am being kind, Njord," the Fire God snapped. "She is concussed. And half-dead. And emotionally mangled. And being hunted by a corrupted Fire King. I am being very kind."
I blinked. "…Half-dead?"
The moonlight woman stepped forward again.
"You were dying," she said softly, violet eyes searching mine. "Your body is broken. Your spirit was slipping. And Mortimer's touch was… close."
A shudder rolled through me.
The Water God dipped his head. "So we stepped in. As much as we were able."
"And dragged you into the realm between realms," Kagutsuchi added, waving a hand around. "Spirit space. Soul echo. Whatever word mortals like these days."
"I…" My voice fractured, and I swallowed. "Raiden."
His name escaped me like a wound reopening.
The forest dimmed.
Kagutsuchi's jaw tightened.
Njord's eyes softened.
The moonlit woman's expression shattered with something like… heartbreak.
"Your mate has fallen into the dark," she whispered. "Not beyond saving. But beyond reach."
My knees wobbled.
"No," I breathed. "He… he forgot me. He—"
"He sacrificed himself," Njord said.
"For you," Kagutsuchi added grimly.
"For the world," the moonlit woman whispered.
My breath hitched.
Something cracked inside my chest.
"He put the corruption in himself," Kagutsuchi murmured. "To keep it from swallowing you."
A sob escaped me before I could stop it.
The moonlit woman stepped closer, though her hand still passed through me like mist.
"Sweet child," she whispered. "You are not dead. And neither is he. But the path back to each other will be long. And you… you must wake. You must rise."
"Rise?" My voice broke. "I can't—I can't even feel anything. I don't have the strength—"
"You do." The Water God's voice deepened, rolling like a tide. "More than you know."
Kagutsuchi leaned in, eyes narrowed. "Your spiritual powers are waking up. That's why you feel nothing. You're between soul and flesh. Between gods and mortals. Between life and death."
The moonlit woman's violet eyes softened.
"You are becoming what you were always meant to be."
My breath shook.
"What am I?" I whispered.
All three spoke at once.
"A Primal Dragon."
The forest pulsed.
Light rippled.
Something deep inside me—something long asleep—stirred.
And far, far away—
through the echo of realms—
through the thinning thread of a bond—
I heard Raiden's voice.
Darkened.
Distorted.
Lost.
But still, somehow—
calling my name.
"Lyra…"
My breath caught.
The gods tensed.
The moonlit woman stepped back, her form flickering.
Kagutsuchi cursed.
Njord lifted a hand as if to steady the world around us.
"Little flame," the Fire God said urgently, "you must wake—NOW."
The spirit realm trembled.
"WAKE!"
The world cracked—