The others emerged behind us. Zapharos looked transformed beneath the burning skies of Earth Prime. Ancient power rolled from him in devastating waves; the Praetor of War was fully awake.
Dravok’s expression became lethally calm as shadows coiled around his hands like obedient weapons.
Ella and Nadine stood close together near the rear, golden light flickering uncertainly beneath their skin as the fragments of Ashera within them reacted violently to this place. Above us, the Harrowed One shifted. Faces surfaced within the darkness endlessly. Screaming. Weeping. Begging.
Only one face lingered.
A male. Beautiful despite the corruption. Burning gold eyes locked onto me. My breath stopped. Caelor.
He wasn't fully visible. Not fully separate. But there. Stars. He was still there.
The Harrowed One convulsed violently around him as though fighting to drag him back beneath the darkness.
“GO!” the voice roared inside our minds.
The sound carried agony beyond comprehension. Millions of years of endless torment. Naeris cried out softly beside me. The Harrowed One screamed immediately afterward, enraged by the weakness.
Darkness erupted across the platform. Mmuhr’Rhong burst upward from the fissure in endless waves.
“Defensive formation!” Zapharos thundered.
Arkhevari warriors descended from the skies around us like falling stars, crashing directly into the advancing shadows. Golden light exploded across the broken remains of Earth Prime as the final battle ignited in full.
I barely registered any of it. Because Caelor was staring directly at me now from inside the Harrowed One. And somehow—somehow—I knew he recognized me too.
The moment Caelorlooked at Thyros, something shifted inside the universe. Like ancient gears that had been frozen for millions of years had suddenly begun turning again.
The Harrowed One felt it too.
The vortex above Earth Prime convulsed violently, and darkness rippled outward in massive waves that shook the broken world beneath our feet. Entire fragments of floating Elysian cities cracked apart and drifted into the burning fissure below.
And through it all, Caelor kept staring at Thyros.
I could barely breathe.
The face emerging from the darkness was fractured and incomplete, constantly dissolving beneath writhing shadows before reforming, but the resemblance was unmistakable now.
Not identical.
Thyros was harder somehow. Sharper. Born from survival rather than peace. But stars, the same eyes. The same impossible force. Emotion crashed through me so violently, I staggered.
Ashera. Was here. In me.
A love so profound it had survived the destruction of worlds. Her grief was vast enough to tear a soul apart. Hope that refused to die anyway.
Beside me, Thyros stood utterly motionless. The Harrowed One screamed. The sound split the skies above Earth Prime, carrying rage powerful enough to shake reality itself. Because he finally understood: Thyros wasn't a curiosity. Someone who wasbornin Nox Eternum, Thyros was never supposed to exist. He was the piece of Caelor the darkness had failed to consume. The proof that the Harrowed One had never fully won. Mmuhr’Rhongs surged across the shattered platform toward us in a black tidal wave.
“Protect the Aelyth!” Zapharos roared.
Arkhevari warriors crashed into the advancing shadows immediately, and golden light exploded across the ruins in violent bursts. The battle raged around us. I barely registered it. My entire focus remained fixed on the burning figure trapped inside the Harrowed One.
Caelor.
Still fighting. After millions of years, he was still resisting. The realization nearly broke me.
The Harrowed One lashed outward suddenly, enormous tendrils of darkness slammed into the battlefield with catastrophic force. Arkhevari warriors vanished beneath the impact. One of the shadow tendrils shot directly toward Thyros.
“No!” I moved before thought existed.
