“I need your blood,” Prophet says.“Mixed together.Offered willingly.”
Vex extends his wrist, and I do the same.Prophet produces a blade that gleams with holy light.He cuts us both, shallow but clean, and presses our wrists together.
The moment our blood mingles, power erupts.
It’s not painful.It’s overwhelming.It’s perfect.
I feel the seal recognizing us, accepting us,welcomingus.Not as sacrifice but as guardians.Not as death but as life eternal.The warden bloodline in my veins meets the vampire eternity in Vex’s, and where they join, something transforms.
The mark on my shoulder doesn’t burn anymore.It glows warm instead of cold, golden instead of black.And I feel it spreading, not as corruption but as connection.Linking me to the land, to the stones, to the ancient power bound here.
Vex gasps beside me, and through the bond I feel what he’s feeling, roots growing deep, tying him to this earth in ways he’s never been tied before.Centuries of wandering finally ending.Finding home.
“The final seal,” Prophet says, and his smile is beatific.“The kiss that binds.”
We don’t need to be told twice.
Vex pulls me against him, and when our mouths meet, it’s not gentle or tentative.It’s claiming and desperate and full of everything we’ve been through to get here.His fangs extend, piercing my lip, and I taste blood, mine and his, mixed together, sealing the bond.
Magic explodes outward.
The stones blaze with light.The dome solidifies into something permanent, eternal.
And the Khorvathscreams.
“No!This is not the bargain!This was not the prophecy!”
“Prophecies change,” I say against Vex’s mouth.“We just rewrote ours.”
The creature thrashes, trying to break free, but the seal is already forming.Not around it, butthroughus.Vex and I are the anchor points, our bond the living chain that binds it.
The Khorvath is dragged backward, pulled toward the void, its form dissolving as the seal accepts our offering.
“This isn’t over, Wardens.I will wait.I am patient.I am inevitable.And when your bond breaks, when you fail, I will be free.”
Then it’s gone.
Pulled back into its prison, locked away by the power of our choice, our bond, our love.
The dome collapses.
Silence falls.
I’m still standing in Vex’s arms, blood on both our lips, hearts pounding in sync.Around us, the Kings slowly lower their weapons.Prophet sags, exhausted, divine light fading from his eyes.And Blade walks into the circle, his eyes are on us, expression unreadable.
Then he grins.
“Nobody fucks with the Kings,” he says.
The words trigger something.Brothers start laughing, exhausted, relieved, triumphant laughter echoes across the frozen landscape.Fury’s hellfire flares brighter in celebration.Scout’s wings spread wide, catching moonlight.Chrome limps over, his lynx form bleeding but whole.
We did it.
We actually did it.
“How do you feel?”Vex asks quietly, his forehead pressed to mine.
I take inventory.The mark is still there, but it’s different now, not a curse but a connection.I can feel the seal, feel the Khorvath trapped beneath layers of ancient magic and our living bond.And deeper, I can feel the land itself.The mountains and forests and frozen rivers.The territory the Kings protect.
