The sky above me cracked open like a shattered mirror, jagged lines of light slicing through the clouds. The Watcher's gaze pressed down on me, vast and cold, like the weight of a thousand judgments. Every pulse of my fragments throbbed violently in response, screaming for survival, screaming for release.
Lysara lay beneath me, burned and trembling, her wings scorched to brittle shadows. Her hand clutched mine weakly, grounding me—but not enough. The fragments were alive now, moving under their own will, stretching through my veins and firing outward like electric veins in a storm.
The Watcher's voice rolled across the battlefield again, deeper this time, like the echo of creation itself:
"Correction is required. Termination imminent."
The words were no longer distant—they penetrated my bones, rattling my skull, forcing my every thought into sharp focus. My body shook, my fingers clenched, and for a moment, I almost yielded.
Yield… the fragments whispered. Release…
And then I remembered Lysara, the sacrifices, the countless lives that could fall if I failed. Rage flared hotter than fear, purer than instinct.
"No!" I shouted, standing. "I am not a mistake! I am not unstable! I am Eryndor!"
Flame, water, shadow, and clarity erupted from me, a roaring spiral of pure energy. The four elements coiled into wing-like forms behind my back, luminous, crackling, untamed. The battlefield trembled beneath the surge. The Watcher paused, its colossal eye widening—not in anger, but…interest.
The sky trembled, but the Watcher was not finished. A spear of divine energy shot toward me, slicing through the air with a sound that tore the silence like fabric. The fragments inside me flared violently in fear. It will unmake us… they shrieked.
I inhaled sharply, gathering every shred of will I possessed. The fragments pulsed in response—not as separate elements, but as one living force. I twisted my palms outward and released everything at once.
The energy struck the divine spear, colliding with a sound like the cracking of worlds. Light and shadow exploded outward, tearing through the battlefield, scattering stone and air. The Watcher recoiled, its eye narrowing as if calculating the impossible.
Lysara struggled to stand beside me, wings trembling. "Eryndor… your fracture… it's evolving faster than I imagined…"
"I know," I panted, gripping my arms. "And I won't let it control me."
The fragments pulsed again, but this time… they were listening. They weren't forcing me to act. They waited for my command.
A low rumble rolled across the battlefield. From the remnants of the earth, shadows stirred. Tendrils of dark energy formed shapes—almost human, almost divine—but twisted with pain and rage. The fragments pulsed, sensing the threat, and a voice whispered in my mind:
They want your power. They want to claim you. Do not hesitate.
I looked up. The Watcher's eye glimmered in the sky, massive and unyielding. "You resist… remarkable," it said. "But resistance is temporary. Stability will be enforced."
I clenched my jaw. "Then you'll see that I do not submit. Not to you. Not to anyone."
With that, the fragments flared once more. Flame and water wrapped around my shadow wings, shadow and clarity spiraled in, forming a living shield. Energy shot outward in all directions, and the battlefield became a maelstrom of light and darkness, a storm of raw will and divine power.
The Watcher hesitated—its first pause since appearing. I could feel it studying me, calculating. And then… before it could strike again, the shadows beneath the battlefield surged violently and erupted into the air: a fallen deity, charred and broken, yet alive, stepping into the chaos.
Its presence diverted the Watcher's attention. The fragments pulsed, sensing an ally in the madness. Lysara gasped, staggering back. "That… that's impossible…"
I narrowed my eyes. "Then it's time to see what happens when the fragments fight back… together."
And in that instant, for the first time, I realized something terrifying: the true battle wasn't against the Watcher. The battle was for control of me—and the fragments themselves.
The sky above cracked wider. The shards within me screamed with power. The fallen deity raised its eyes toward me, waiting, hungry for something… perhaps redemption, perhaps revenge.
And I stepped forward into the storm.