The sound was beyond physical, beyond metaphysical. Every person in the Sanctorum clutched their heads, some falling to their knees. Through the widening crack, golden fire poured like blood from a mortal wound, and in that light, shapes began to form.
Not us, not yet. But echoes of us. Shadows of what we truly were, pressing against the remaining barriers.
Flynn's wolf form, massive and magnificent, amber eyes burning with patient hunger.
Thane's bear shape, solid as mountains, radiating protective fury.
Elias's phoenix configuration, wings of fire that cast no shadows.
And mine. My dragon form, barely contained, with scales of midnight and gold, and wings that could blot out suns.
"You see?" Theron said softly, though he was out of breath from hustling to the gate. "They're not monsters. They're divine beings we trapped and tortured for our own purposes. And now the bill comes due."
Aria stood at the center of it all, golden veins blazing so bright she looked like she'd swallowed stars. Through our connection, I felt her processing everything. Betrayal, revelation, possibility. The weight of choice, real choice, not the false binary the Council had presented.
"I have fourteen days," she said suddenly. "The Council gave me fourteen days before they implement the Last Seal."
"They won't wait that long now," Theron replied. "Not after this. They'll act within hours, maybe less."
"Then I need to move faster." She turned to face the Gate fully, and I felt her intention before she spoke it. "I'm going to break them all. Every seal. Every chain."
"That will—" Natalia started.
"Remake the world?" Aria's laugh was sharp as winter. "Good. The old one was built on lies anyway."
Before Natalia could say anything else Aria pressed her palms against the Gate, and power flooded through her into the ancient structure. Not to strengthen it, but to understand it. To map its weaknesses. To find the precise points where pressure would shatter rather than strengthen.
Through our connection, I felt her find them. The Wolf's Heart, already straining. The Bear's Sorrow, heavy with accumulated grief. The Phoenix's Ash, ready to ignite.
"You beautiful, impossible woman," I whispered through our bond. "You're going to free us all."
Not free,her mental voice came back, strained but determined.Not yet. But I'm going to make it possible. I'm going to become what Pandora should have been. The bridge. Not the lock.
The Gate pulsed in response to her touch, and reality itself seemed to hold its breath.
"The game has changed," I told my brothers, who watched through the crack with burning eyes. "She's no longer just their jailer or our potential liberator."
Flynn grinned, all teeth and savage joy. "She's becoming our queen."
"She's becoming herself," Thane corrected gently.
"She's becoming the key that opens every door," Elias sang, prophecy threading through his words. "The hand that breaks every chain. The voice that speaks every truth."
Through the Gate, I watched her stand against the High Keeper, against the guards, against everything she'd been raised to be. Golden fire danced around her like armor, like wings, like a crown of light.
"Whether she knows it or not," I said, feeling the Dragon's Ember seal's absence like a missing tooth, like freedom just outof reach, "she's already chosen. The only question now is how many will burn before she admits it."
The crack in the Gate widened another fraction, reality groaning under the strain.
Soon. Very soon.
The next seal would break, and I'd be able to stay longer in her world.
And the one after that, longer still.
Until finally, there would be nothing between us but choice.
Her choice. Our choice.
