The scream... it's not a sound. It tears reality. Stone splits. The shadows... Gods, the shadows are alive.
And Kaela. She's standing right in front of it. A stick in her hand against... that.
"REN! SAVE YOUR MOTHER!" she screams.
YES, the curse roars in my head. LET ME. ALL OF IT. NOW. SAVE THEM.
The elder's words. Seraphine's. Decide now... what lines you won't cross...
Crap. This is 'now'.
I look at Kaela. At the... thing. At the chains on the wall.
No more lines.
I don't embrace it. I don't... accept it.
I just... let go.
The walls are down. The curse floods in. It's not uncontrolled. It's... focused. It's me.
I move. I'm... I'm just there.
I hit the... thing... just as it reaches for Kaela. My fist, wrapped in... in my darkness... just... connects.
It recoils.
It hisses.
It... it recognizes me. Like knows like.
"You cannot beat it!" the elder screams. "It is beyond—"
I'm not listening. I'm just... tearing at it. The curse isn't... it's not fighting the void. It's unmaking it.
"KAELA, NOW!"
She doesn't need to be told. She's at the cell. "LYSARA! THE CHAINS!"
A blast of elven light, weak, exhausted, cracks the void-metal. Mama... she's... she stumbles out. Kaela grabs her.
"REN!" Mama screams, her eyes wide with terror.
"GO! NYSSA, GO!"
The entity turns. It lunges for them.
No.
I slam into it. You want a beacon? I scream in my head. I'M. RIGHT. HERE.
It... turns back to me. Good.
Outside, it's hell. Toren is on his knees, his armor cracked, blood in his beard, but he's still fighting. Felric is bellowing orders. "HOLD. THE. LINE!" They're... they're dying. For me. Seraphine is... she's just... radiating light, trying to keep Marcus and Thea from bleeding out. Elira's dampeners are smoking wrecks. Then... the cultists... they hesitate. The magic tether... the control... it's... it's me. I'm... I'm distracting the master.
"NOW!" Felric roars, seeing the opening. "PUSH!"
Nyssa is dragging Miren. Kaela is guarding their back. "How... how much further?" Mama gasps. "Two minutes," Nyssa grunts. "If... crap." A guard. Kaela just... moves. Her blade flashes. The cultist drops. She doesn't even look back. The gate. It's... it's sealed. Black magic, thick as tar.
"No... no, no, no..." Kaela slams her shoulder against it. Useless.
Lysara. She... she stumbles out of a side hall, her face pale as milk. She puts both hands on the black ice. She... she just pours herself into it. The elven light... it burns. The gate cracks.
"GO!" Lysara screams, collapsing as the gate explodes outward.
They're... they're out.
I'm losing.
It's... it's too strong. Too... old.
You are flesh, it whispers in my skull. I am the end.
"Not... today..." I snarl, but I'm... I'm fading. I pull on the curse. Harder. All of it. Everything. And... in that... that connection... I... I see it. It... it doesn't care about the cult. It doesn't care about the prophecy. It just... hates. It wants... to unmake. And... it's... it's trapped. The cult... they chained it here. They're... they're not its masters. They're its jailers.
And I'm... I'm...
I... I stop fighting it.
And I... I show it. I show it the cultists. The... the chains. They... they're the ones... I push the thought. Not... not me. Them.
The void pauses.
It turns.
And it eats the wall.
The whole... the whole fortress... shudders.
I run.
The whole world is coming down. Stone screams. The air is... gone.
"REN!" Felric. Toren. The... the distraction team. They're... they're alive. Battered. Bloody. But alive. "RETREAT!" Felric bellows.
I'm just... I'm running. I burst out of the collapsing gate... void energy, black and wrong, licks at my heels. And... there. Miren. Kaela. Nyssa. Lysara. At the tree line.
"REN!" Kaela screams, and she's... she's running back for me.
I grab her hand. We dive. Together.
The shockwave... hits. It throws us... tumbling... into... silence.
...Miren.
Her arms are... around me. "You're... you're alive... oh, gods... Ren..."
I... I can feel the curse. It's... it's not gone. It's not... screaming. It's... integrated. It's... me.
I look at Kaela. She's... she's bloody. But... she's nodding. She... she knows. She... she gets it. Lysara... she's... just... watching me. Her face... I... I can't read it.
"We... we have her," I gasp. "We... we won."
"Yeah," Toren says, stumbling up. His face is a ruin, but he's... he's grinning. "We... we won."
We limp back. The village... erupts. They... they're crying. Cheering. Elder Stoneheart... he bows. Deep. Even Ironwood bows. They're... they're not bowing to me. They're bowing to the... the thing... that saved them.
Weeks pass. It's... weird. I'm... a hero. And a... a monster. Everyone is... careful around me. Except... them. Dren... he trains me harder. He's not... teaching me to fight the curse. He's teaching me to... to dance with it. Kaela... she's... she's just... relentless. She's trying to keep up. Or... make sure I can't... get too far ahead. Lysara... she's... she's buried in books. 'Tactical solutions,' she says. Miren and Seraphine... they... they watch me. All the time. Waiting... for the clock to run out.
It's... exhausting. Every day. Just... choosing.
But... then... tonight. The roof. Our spot. Kaela's here. She's... closer. Her hand... brushes mine.
"You're thinking too loud," she says.
"Just... wondering what's next."
"Training," she grunts. "More training. Forever." She bumps my shoulder. "But... we do it together."
Lysara... she just... appears. She's... here, too.
"Your stabilization... is... fragile," she says, all business, sitting... just... a little too far away. "I've been... researching... elven... meditations. For... anchoring."
"She means she's worried," Kaela grins.
"I mean precisely what I said!" Lysara snaps, and her face is... pink. In the moonlight.
I look at them. My... my friends. They... know. They saw me... unleashed. And... they're... they're still here.
Maybe... I'm not... lost. Maybe I can be... both. The... the human. And... the monster.
The ley lines pulse. The curse... is... quiet. It's... waiting.
The cult... they're... they're still out there. The void is... still hungry.
But... I don't know. Maybe the real... the real journey... is... just... starting.