Seraphina's POV
I'm dying.
I can feel it—my own power consuming me from the inside. The teleportation tore through my body like fire, and now my light magic is burning through what's left.
"Seraphina!" Kael's voice sounds distant. "Stay with me!"
I try to answer. Can't. My lips won't move. My lungs won't fill with air.
Everything hurts. Everything burns.
Through dimming vision, I see Kael crawling toward me. He's covered in blood, barely able to move himself, but he's still trying to reach me.
"Touching," Damien says above me. "But you're both about to die if we don't act now."
He places his hand on my forehead. His other hand on Kael's. "This is going to hurt. A lot."
Power explodes between us—not light or shadow, but something older. Primal. Dragon magic, ancient and raw.
I scream. So does Kael.
Damien is forcing our bond to stabilize. Pulling my runaway magic back under control. Using Kael's centuries of discipline to anchor my chaotic power.
It feels like being torn apart and stitched back together at the same time.
Then suddenly—it stops.
I can breathe again. The burning fades to a dull ache.
"There," Damien pants, pulling his hands back. "You're welcome. Try not to die for at least five minutes. I need a break."
I sit up slowly. Kael does the same. We stare at each other across the bloody square.
His silver eyes are wide. Shocked. "You teleported. You actually teleported across hundreds of miles."
"You were dying." My voice shakes. "What was I supposed to do?"
"Not nearly kill yourself!" He sounds angry, but through the bond I feel his real emotion—overwhelming relief. "That was insane. Reckless. Stupid."
"You jumped into a shadow portal for me," I shoot back.
"That's different!"
"How?"
"Because I'm expendable! You're the Lightbearer! You're—"
"Don't you dare say you're expendable." I push to my feet, swaying. "Don't you dare, Kael."
Villagers are gathering now, staring at us. At the portal still crackling behind me. At the dead Voidborn lieutenant turning to ash.
An old woman steps forward. "You... you saved us?"
"He did," I say, pointing at Kael. "He held off an army alone. Healed your children. Nearly died protecting you. He's the hero here."
"We're partners," Kael says quietly, finally standing. "Neither of us is the hero. We just do what needs to be done."
Through the bond, warmth floods between us. Understanding. Acceptance.
We said we loved each other. Actually said it.
Now what?
"Hate to interrupt this moment," Damien says, "but we have a problem. A big one."
He points to the forest. Dark shapes are gathering between the trees. Hundreds of them. More than before.
"The lieutenant was just the first wave," he explains grimly. "The real attack is coming. And none of us are in any condition to fight."
He's right. I'm barely standing. Kael's wounds are only partially healed. Even Damien looks exhausted.
"We need to evacuate the village," Kael says. "Get everyone to—"
"There's nowhere to go," Mira interrupts. "The surrounding villages are all infected too. The rift is spreading. Soon the whole region will be corrupted."
"Then we close the rift," I say. "Right now. Before the next attack."
Kael shakes his head. "You're too weak. The teleportation—"
"I'm strong enough." I meet his eyes. "And we don't have a choice. Those children you saved? They'll stay stable for a few days at most. If we don't close the rift now, they die anyway. Everyone dies."
"She's right," Damien admits. "The rift must be sealed. Question is—can you two actually do it?"
Kael looks at me. Really looks at me. Through the bond, I feel him weighing options, calculating risks.
"Together," he finally says. "We do it together. My control, your power. Through the bond."
"Like when we fought the wolves?"
"Exactly like that. But bigger. Much bigger." He takes my hand. "It's going to take everything we both have. If we fail—"
"We don't fail." I squeeze his hand. "We can't."
A howl echoes from the forest. The dark army is moving.
"Make it fast," Damien says, shifting to dragon form. "I'll hold them off as long as I can. But that's not very long."
He launches into the air, releasing a stream of fire at the advancing creatures.
"Where's the rift?" I ask.
Kael points to a spot just beyond the village. "There. In the old well."
We run. Every step hurts, but we run anyway.
The well is ancient—stone worn smooth by centuries. But now dark energy pours from it like black smoke. The rift is a tear in reality itself, pulsing with wrongness.
"How do we close it?" I ask.
"Pure light. Concentrated at the rift's center." Kael positions himself behind me, hands on my shoulders. "I'll guide your power. Keep it focused. You provide the strength."
I nod. Place my hands over the well.
Immediately, corruption tries to flood into me. Cold. Hungry. Wrong.
I cry out. Start to pull back.
"No!" Kael's arms wrap around me, holding me in place. "Fight through it! The rift will try to corrupt you. Don't let it!"
I grit my teeth. Pour light from my hands.
Golden energy streams into the darkness. The two forces collide—light and shadow, creation and destruction.
Through the bond, Kael feeds me his control. His three centuries of experience. His unshakable will.
My power grows stronger. More focused. The light drives deeper into the rift.
"It's working!" Kael shouts. "Keep going!"
But the rift fights back. Dark tendrils shoot up from the well, wrapping around my arms, trying to pull me in.
"Seraphina!" Kael pulls against them, but they're strong. Too strong.
I'm being dragged toward the opening. Toward the void beyond.
"Let go!" I scream at Kael. "Or it'll take us both!"
"Never!" His arms tighten. "We finish this together or not at all!"
The tendrils pull harder. We're both sliding toward the edge now.
Behind us, Damien roars. The dark army has reached the village. Fighting erupts—screaming, dying, chaos.
We're out of time.
"Kael," I gasp. "I need you to trust me."
"I do. Always."
"Then let go. Let me fall."
"What? No!"
"Trust me!" I look back at him. Our eyes meet. "I know what I'm doing. Let. Go."
For a heartbeat, he hesitates. Then—incredibly—he releases me.
I fall into the rift.
Darkness swallows me whole. Cold beyond imagining. Pain beyond words.
But I don't fight it. Instead, I let my light explode outward in every direction. Not trying to escape. Trying to destroy from within.
If I can't close the rift from outside, I'll burn it from inside.
My power detonates like a star going supernova. Light floods every corner of the void. The darkness screams—an actual sound of agony.
The rift begins to collapse.
I'm collapsing too. Using everything I have. Everything I am.
Worth it, I think. To save them. To save him.
Strong hands grab my wrist.
Kael. He jumped in after me. Again.
"Idiot," he gasps, pulling me upward. "Beautiful, brilliant, suicidal idiot!"
We burst out of the well as it implodes behind us. Hit the ground hard. Roll away as the rift closes with a sound like reality healing.
Silence falls.
We lie there gasping. Every nerve screaming. But alive. Still alive.
"Did we—" I start.
"We did." Kael laughs. Actually laughs. "We closed it. It's done."
Cheering erupts from the village. The dark creatures are fleeing—their power source cut off, they can't maintain form.
Damien lands beside us in human form. "Not bad. Reckless and nearly fatal, but not bad."
"Thanks," I wheeze. "Your approval means everything."
He grins. Then his expression shifts. "But we have a problem."
"Another one?" Kael groans.
"The rift is closed here. But there are dozens more opening across the kingdoms. Hundreds, maybe." Damien's gold eyes are serious. "This was just one battle. The war is just beginning."
"Then we fight," I say, sitting up. "All of us. Together."
"Together," Kael agrees, taking my hand.
A week ago, I was a scared girl who'd just been brought back from death. Now I'm something else. Something stronger.
A Lightbearer. A fighter. A partner.
And maybe, just maybe, someone who might actually survive this war.
"Come on," Damien says. "Let's get you both cleaned up. Then we need to—"
An arrow whistles through the air.
It hits Kael square in the chest.
He gasps. Looks down at the shaft protruding from his armor. Then up at me, eyes wide with shock.
"No!" I scream.
He collapses.
I catch him, lowering him to the ground. Blood blooms around the arrow. So much blood.
"Kael! Stay with me! KAEL!"
"Poisoned," Damien says, examining the arrow. His face goes pale. "Void poison. Designed specifically to kill guardians."
"Then heal him!" I sob. "Use your magic!"
"I can't. This poison... there's no cure."
The world stops. "What?"
"I'm sorry, Seraphina. But he's dying. And there's nothing any of us can do to save him."
Through our bond, I feel Kael's life force fading. Feel his consciousness slipping away.
No. No, this can't be happening. We just survived! We just won!
Kael's hand finds mine. Squeezes weakly. "Hey," he whispers. "Don't... don't cry."
"Don't you dare die on me," I choke out. "Don't you dare."
"Might not... have a choice..." His silver eyes are dimming. "But I need... need you to know..."
"Don't. Save your strength."
"I love you." Each word costs him. "Always... always have. From the moment... I saw you stand up... to me..."
"I love you too. So you have to fight. You have to—"
His eyes close.
Through the bond, his presence flickers. Fades.
Goes silent.
"No!" I press my glowing hands to his chest. Pour every bit of power I have left into him. "Come back! COME BACK!"
Nothing. My light flows into him but finds nothing to heal. The poison is too strong.
Kael Nightshade, the three-hundred-year-old guardian who survived countless battles, who jumped into shadows for me, who loved me despite trying not to—
Is dead.
And I couldn't save him.