Light met darkness.
Not gently.
Not gracefully.
But like a star exploding inside a kingdom built of shadow.
The first wave of Unbound knights didn't even reach Amila.
Her Dawnflare hit them like a tidal force—
—not killing them,
but purging them.
The shadows clinging to their bodies screamed as they burned away.
Bodies collapsed to the floor, not dead—
but unconscious,
freed,
breathing shallowly.
The priestess hissed.
"Merciful. How disappointing."
Amila swayed.
Claire caught her by the arm.
"Hey—easy. Easy! You're shaking."
Amila's lungs burned.Her vision whitened.Her body felt too small.
"I'm… fine," she whispered.
She wasn't.
Her veins were glowing.
Her pulse thundered.
Her magic was too big,
too wild,
too old to fit inside human flesh.
But she refused to fall.
THE PRIESTESS MAKES HER MOVE
The priestess lifted her hand.
Shadows poured down her arm like ink.
"I see it now. You're incomplete."
Claire's eyes widened.
"Run your mouth again," she snapped,"and I'll show you incomplete—"
"Claire," Amila whispered weakly."Not now."
But Claire didn't move away.
She stood firm at Amila's side.
The priestess smiled coldly.
"So the traitor's daughter protects the stolen heir? How poetic."
Claire tensed.Amila's eyes narrowed.
"What did you just call her?" she asked, voice suddenly sharp.
The priestess tilted her head.
"Your little human shadow never told you?"She leaned forward."Her mother was banished from your clan. Marked. Exiled. Cursed."
Claire flinched.
Amila froze.
The Queen's voice sliced through the air:
"SILENCE."
But the damage was already done.
Claire looked at Amila—
like she wanted to speak,
but no words came out.
Amila took her hand.
"Claire," she whispered, "I don't care what they say."
Claire's breath shook.
"But you should. You—"
"HEY!" the priestess snapped."No comforting each other! I wasn't finished."
She lifted both hands—
—and the sky above them split open.
THE SHADOW LEGION ARRIVES
Black armor.Silver eyes.Dozens—no, hundreds—of figures poured from the crack in the sky.
The Unbound Legion.
Each one radiating corrupted celestial power.
Claire swore loudly.
"Amila, we need to go. Like NOW."
"No," the Queen said."We stand."
"But we'll die—" Claire shouted.
"Not today."
The Queen stepped forward, her wings stretching wide—
—and golden light formed a barrier around the three of them.
The Unbound hit it like a storm.
The shield shook violently.
Claire grabbed Amila again."Please—just say we can run—"
But Amila didn't answer.
Her gaze was on the priestess.
On the sigil on her throat.
On the twisted star.
"That mark…" Amila whispered."Where did you get it?"
The priestess smiled.
"My Lady Seraphine carved it onto us. A gift of devotion."
Claire stiffened.
The Queen's expression tightened.
Amila's eyes darkened—not with shadow, but with wrath.
"So you hurt people," she said quietly,"because my aunt told you to."
The priestess laughed.
"Hurt? No, child."She spread her arms."We serve. We worship. We obey perfection."
"That woman destroyed everything," Amila said."My clan. My childhood. My fate."
"Yes," the priestess breathed."It was glorious."
THE AWAKENING THAT SHOULDN'T HAPPEN
Something inside Amila snapped.
A quiet breaking.
A door opening.
Not like before—not a memory.
This was something else.
Something new.
Something hungry.
Her mark glowed gold—then white—then something colorless, ancient, furious.
Claire stumbled back.
"Amila? Amila—your eyes—"
Amila lifted her face.
Her irises weren't gold anymore.
They weren't brown.
They were a color that didn't exist in mortal language.
Light before creation.
Fire before suns.
The priestess took a step back.
"…impossible."
Amila spoke—
—and her voice layered with something cosmic.
"You threatened my family."
The air vibrated.
"You came for my sister."
The ground cracked.
She stepped forward.
"And you dared to act in Seraphine's name."
The Dawnflare ignited behind her like wings made of living sunrise.
Claire covered her mouth.
The Queen whispered, horrified and awed:
"She's not supposed to awaken this form yet—"
The priestess trembled.
"What… what are you…?"
Amila lifted her hand.
And the light bent toward her.
All of it.
Every lantern.Every sun-thread.Every shard of radiance in the realm.
It obeyed her.
Because she wasn't just awakening.
She was ascending.
"Remember my name," Amila said softly.
"Amila Dawnblood."
Her voice deepened.
"And Serael Dawnflare."
She raised her palm—
—and the entire courtyard flooded with light.
Unbound soldiers screamed as their shadows burned away.
Not death.
Not harm.
Purification.
The priestess dropped to her knees.
"No—no—stop—STOP—!"
Amila lowered her hand.
The light became sharp.
Pointed.
Deadly.
"I warned you," she whispered."You should have never touched my family."
And then—
The light struck.
The priestess's sigil shattered.
Her shadow armor cracked.
Her scream tore the sky.
The Unbound portal flickered violently—
—and collapsed in on itself.
Silence followed.
A vast, terrible quiet.
Amila stood alone in the center of the courtyard, breathing hard, shaking.
Her eyes dimmed.
Her power receded.
And then—
Her knees buckled.
Claire caught her before she hit the ground.
"Amila! Hey—stay with me! Stay with me!"
Amila's head fell against Claire's chest.
Her voice was barely a whisper:
"I… didn't mean to…"
Claire hugged her tightly.
"I know. I know."
The Queen knelt beside them, touching her daughter's face with trembling hands.
"You saved us," she whispered.
But in Amila's expression…
There was no triumph.
Only terror.
Because she had felt it—
deep inside that power surge—
a second presence.
A whisper.
A shadow.
A voice that didn't belong to her.
Raeth.
And he had sounded satisfied.