Sera's POV
I take another step toward Maren, my hands still raised like I'm surrendering.
Cassian hisses behind me. Sera, what are you doing?
I don't answer. Can't answer. If I tell them my plan, the gods might hear through Maya.
My sister stands there with that golden glow in her eyes, smiling like she's already won. Guards surround her a hundred armed soldiers between me and my father.
That's right, Maren calls out. Come quietly, and your father lives. Resist, and everyone dies.
I'm ten steps away now. Close enough to see the cuts on my father's face, the chains cutting into his wrists.
Sera, he croaks. Don't. I deserve this. I chose wrong. Let me pay for it.
My throat tightens. He's a coward who abandoned me, but he's still my father. And more importantly, these innocent people in Sanctuary don't deserve to die because of our family drama.
Five steps away.
I can feel the silver power coiled inside me like a spring, compressed and waiting. I've never tried anything this big before. Kael said I could break individual prophecy threads. But can I break all of them at once? Every prophecy in the entire kingdom?
Maybe. Or maybe I'll just explode and kill everyone here.
Only one way to find out.
Three steps.
Maya's smile grows wider. I knew you'd give up eventually. You always were weak.
You're right, I say softly. I was weak. But not anymore.
I drop to my knees and slam both palms into the ground.
NOW! I scream.
The silver power explodes out of me in a massive wave. Not up into the sky down into the earth, spreading through the ground like roots, reaching toward the capital city, toward the temple, toward the enormous prophecy source buried deep beneath it all.
Every golden thread in the kingdom lights up in my vision millions of them, all connected to that one central point.
And I grab them all.
NO! Maya shrieks. The golden glow in her eyes flares brighter. Stop her!
Guards rush at me, but Kael and Cassian meet them first, weapons flashing. Nyx spreads his silver wings I didn't know he had wings and takes out five guards at once.
But I barely notice. All my focus is on the threads.
I can feel every prophecy. The merchant destined to be rich. The soldier fated to die in battle. The child promised a life of suffering. Millions of futures written by gods who wanted to control humanity.
I pull.
The threads resist. They're strong woven with divine magic, anchored in the prophecy source for centuries.
Pain shoots through my body. My nose starts bleeding. My hands shake against the ground.
Sera, you're killing yourself! Lyra screams.
Let me help! Cassian abandons his fight and drops beside me, grabbing my shoulders. Take my strength!
Kael kneels on my other side. Mine too!
Their will flows into me not magic, just pure human choice. Pure defiance.
It's enough.
I pull harder, and the first thread snaps.
Then ten more.
Then a hundred.
Then thousands at once, breaking like strings on a violin, each one releasing a person from their destined fate.
The sound is incredible like glass shattering mixed with bells ringing. It echoes across the entire kingdom.
Maya screams. The golden glow in her eyes flickers and dies. She collapses, powerless.
The guards freeze, confused. Their prophecy marks are fading from their skin.
All across Celestara, millions of people are feeling their destinies break. Some will panic. Others will celebrate. But all of them, for the first time in their lives, are free to choose.
I'm not done yet.
I reach deeper, following the threads to their source the massive crystal of divine power buried beneath the temple. The thing that's enslaved humanity for a thousand years.
I grab it with my silver power.
And I crush it.
The explosion is silent but enormous. A wave of pure freedom radiates out from the capital, washing over the kingdom. Every remaining prophecy thread snaps simultaneously.
I feel the gods' presence vanish. They can't stay in a world where their control is broken. They retreat to their realm, leaving humanity behind.
It's done.
I collapse forward, gasping. My whole body feels like it's on fire.
Sera! Cassian catches me before I hit the ground. Stay with me!
I can barely see. Everything's blurry. But I hear chaos around meguards dropping their weapons, Maren screaming about divine order being destroyed, people in Sanctuary cheering.
The prophecies, I whisper. All gone?
All gone, Nyx confirms, kneeling beside me. His silver eyes are normal brown nowhe's fully human again. You did it. You freed everyone.
I start to smile
Then I feel it.
Something's wrong inside me. The silver power isn't settling down. It's still active, still spreading, still growing.
Sera? Cassian's voice sounds distant. Sera, your eyes!
I touch my face. My fingers come away glowing silver.
The power is too much. I broke too many threads, used too much of my ability. Now it's consuming me from the inside out, changing me into something that's not human anymore.
What's happening to her? Lyra asks, terrified.
Nyx's face goes pale. She's transforming. When you break divine magic on this scale, it has to go somewhere. It's going into her.
How do we stop it? Kael demands.
You can't. Nyx looks at me with something like pity. She's becoming what she destroyed. She's becoming a god.
No. Cassian pulls me against his chest. No, I just got you back. You're not leaving.
But I can feel it happening. My body is burning away, reforming into pure power. Soon there won't be anything human left.
I'll be free from prophecy, but I won't be me anymore.
I'm sorry, I whisper to Cassian. I'm sorry I didn't get more time with you.
Don't you dare say goodbye, he says fiercely. Don't you dare.
The silver light grows brighter, spreading across my skin. It doesn't hurt anymore. Actually, it feels peaceful. Like going to sleep.
Maybe this is okay. I saved everyone. They're all free now. That's what matters.
My vision starts to fade.
Then I hear a voice not out loud, but inside my head. A woman's voice, ancient and powerful.
Child of the Void. You have broken the chains. Now you must choose. Become divine and lose your humanity. Or remain mortal and lose your power. But know thisif you choose mortality, the gods will return someday. And without your power, you cannot stop them.
A choice. Of course it's a choice. Free will always comes with choices.
Become a god and save humanity forever but stop being Sera.
Or stay human with the people I love but risk the gods enslaving everyone again someday.
I look at Cassian's desperate face. At Lyra crying. At Kael and Nyx watching with hope and fear.
At my father, free from chains now, crawling toward me with tears running down his face.
Please, Father whispers. Don't leave us. I just got you back.
I close my eyes.
And I choose
The silver light explodes outward in a blinding flash.
When it fades, I'm lying on the ground, completely human. No power. No silver glow. Just me Sera Luminhart, the girl who was born without a prophecy.
Cassian laughs with relief and pulls me into a crushing hug. You chose us. You chose to stay.
I chose humanity, I correct him softly.
But even as everyone celebrates, even as my father hugs me crying, even as Lyra and Kael cheer, I see something that makes my heart stop.
The sky in the distance above the capital city is turning gold again.
The gods are coming back already.
And I'm powerless to stop them.
Nyx sees it too. His face goes grim. That's impossible. They shouldn't be able to return this fast.
Unless, I whisper, realization hitting me like ice water, unless breaking the prophecy source wasn't enough. Unless there's another source. A backup.
Where? Cassian asks urgently.
I think about everything I learned in the archives, all the ancient texts I read. Then I remember something a legend most people thought was just a story.
The First Temple, I breathe. The gods built it before they created prophecies. If there's another source of their power, it would be there.
Where is it? Kael asks.
I point north, toward the deadly mountains no one has ever crossed. Beyond the Spine of the World. In the land where gods first walked among mortals.
Everyone stares at the impossible mountain range.
That's a death sentence, Nyx says quietly. No one survives those mountains.
Then I guess I'll be the first. I stand up, legs shaking but determined. I gave up my power to be human. Now I have to finish this the human way by finding that temple and destroying the real source.
You can't go alone, Cassian says immediately.
I'm coming too, Lyra adds.
And me, says Kael.
Nyx nods. Someone has to keep you all alive.
Even my father struggles to his feet. Let me come. Let me prove I've changed.
I look at all of them the people who chose to stand with me. And I realize that maybe I don't need divine power after all.
Maybe human courage is enough.
Then we leave at dawn, I say. And we end this. Forever.
But as we start making plans, I see Maya in the corner, watching us with pure hatred in her now-normal eyes.
She mouths two words at me: You'll fail.
And somehow, I know she's going to do everything she can to make sure that happens.