Alora’s chest heaved with a sob. “Please don’t leave me.”
The plea broke him.
Rune pulled her to him and kissed her. She clutched him desperately, her tears on his lips. He kissed her as he committed the shape of her mouth to memory, the last truth he would ever carry. For a moment, the world dispelled, leaving them in a pocket of silence.
The bond trembled between them, stretched thin, already fraying at the edges. He held it gently, like a thread he refused to snap too soon.
When he pulled back, his forehead rested against hers.
“This is why we came back,” Rune whispered. “To balance the scales.”
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
“You rewrote our fate with a song, Alora. There is nothing you cannot do. Take all that you are and let your mightdevour.”
It took all his will to let her go as he staggered to his feet.
Her soft weeping followed as he walked away, his cloak snapping in the wind.
Rune drew the Sunstone sword, and the orange blade changed before his eyes. A surge of energy washed through him as the blade spiraled vibrant blue, wreathed in Seraph flame. Divine blessings only born of sacrifice.
Rune stood before the vortex of black wind, breathing in and out.
But he couldn’t help looking back at his mate. His heart shook as he memorized her face with a soft smile.
“Sing for me,ra’ayati. One last time.”
Her chest broke with a sob.
And Rune ran toward the storm.
Alora’s voice lifted, softly at first, weaving through the air like golden thread. It was song and spell both, her gift made divine. The melody carried power, carried over the land as all went silent. Alora shone behind him, radiant as dawn, her voice rising until the red skies lightened.
His pace increased to a sprint, each step splitting the earth. Seraph fire ignited around him, giving him speed.
Vorak turned when Alora’s song carried over the wind. The tempest began to dissipate, tendrils peeling away from him as they were consumed by his daughter.
His enraged voice shook the skies. “Lashar, you dare use my own power against me!”
Alora’s voice rose in crescendo, absorbing Vorak’s storm, and every strand of his power. His angry snarls turned to shock as his destructive form withered down layer by layer until he was reduced to a man with his essence glowing at his heart.
Rune launched skyward, riding the sound of her song, his wings snapping open. At the height of his leap, he lifted the blade.
The blue fire shone in his eyes, reminding him who he had always been.
A son shaped like a weapon.
Meant to end something worse than himself.
Rune descended like a falling star, his roar shaking the cosmos, her song entwined with his defiance. With a force that shook the Heavens, he plunged the sword into Vorak’s chest.
The skies split with thunder.
Lightning crashed down, a pillar of white that seared through Rune into the blade.
The explosion tore the sky asunder.
Vorak screamed, the sound rending the world as light streamed through the fissures splitting his colossal form. Shadow bled from him like smoke, ripped apart by fire. The light consumed them both.
