The air shifts into something loaded.Charged.
Mavyrn’s eyes spring to Seren, and Seren’s mouth quirks up into a proud smirk. “Yes, I opened a Gateway!” she says in a pitch that sounds more like a squeak.
Jax’s brows lift, something sharp and knowing in her expression. “I’m not really into the whole scholarly thing you’ve got going on, Seren, but manipulating raw magic? That’s badass.”
Did fucking Jax just compliment Seren?
Mavyrn nods wryly—the look of a woman whose plans are coming together.
“Of course you did,” Teddy murmurs low, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
But it's Rubi who cleaves through the moment, eyes trailing Elyssara’s Lightborne marking that blooms across her chest, her shoulders, her arms. “You’ve unbound your power!” her voice hits urgent and eager.
“Finally,” Elyssara breathes in relief, slumping into the soft pillows of the bed. “And I think… somehow we’ve strengthened the tether, too.”
All eyes snap to me.
“My skin markings… grew,” I answer the question they didn’t ask. I hold up the backs of my hands, where onyx markings stretch towards my bloodied and bruised knuckles.
Seren steps forward, honey-brown eyes penetrating and clear. “This has to have something to do with how we’ll take down The Decay,” she looks away, thinking, calculating. “If the tether strengthens when El’s power grows, it can only mean that your magic is complementary… stronger together.”
“Only Kael doesn’t have magic,” Rubi points out.
“We need to find a way to change that,” Seren ponders. “The prophecy says:The Lightborne and Sky must tread as one. Their union unlocks what must be undone.The Decay is what must be undone, right?”
Everyone stares, waiting for her to continue. Because somehow, this feels like the answer.
“Keep going,” I urge her.
She recites another verse. “When relics awaken and powers combine, the chains will fall, and the Stars shall align.Your powers need to combine. Shadow and light. King and Queen. The weapon and the heart. You’re counterparts.” She seems so certain. So clear.
“You’re brilliant,” Teddy whispers to her, his palm pressing into her lower back, and her cheeks flare red under his attention.
“What do you think ‘the Stars shall align’actuallymeans?” Elyssara asks through a cascade of auburn waves that still frame her face.
“Why are prophecies so fucking cryptic? Why not just say: combine your powers, and everything will be fine? Or: Maldrak is a fucking maniac, kill him?” Ronyn chimes in, and Rubi snorts in response.
But Seren doesn’t notice. “I’ve always interpreted it to mean that the fates will align. That the realms will be righted if wecan awaken the relics and combine your powers. I think your Starbound tetherandyour powers are central to ensuring we actually balance the world, rather than shatter the frame, as the prophecy suggests.”
And gods, Teddy’s right—she’s fucking brilliant.
Her words hit something deep. I feel Elyssara’s heartbeat inside my own, the tether alive between us. She isn’t just light. She’s the mirror of my shadow. The reason my war has a home to return to.
“Right, so to confirm: we need Maldrak to reverse the rune, then Kael has to kill him—kin slaying and whatnot, Morrathys has to give his magic freely, and Maldrak’s Arcanist has to bind it all together, assuming the Arcanist is the ‘someone of the old blood?’” Ronyn asks, incredulous, but he doesn’t stop. “But then on top of that, we have to get Kael’s magic back?” He pinches the bridge of his nose as if he’s having a hard time keeping all his facts straight.
“That’s about it, yeah,” Teddy answers drily.
“Well, I guess it's lucky that not having a clue what we’re doing is our thing,” Ronyn quips, his lop-sided smile hanging heavy on his lips.
I know I’m about to make matters worse, but I do it, anyway. We all need to go into this with our eyes wide open. “Not quite,” I say, and the room stills.
“I could really go some brask right now,” Rubi mutters under her breath.
“I can’t kill Maldrak,” I announce, and the air turns sour. “I sealed a bargain with Morrathys to secure his help in freeing Elyssara and undo the binding spell. In exchange, I gave him my magic… and the right to kill Maldrak. The bargain forbids me from killing him, or I forfeit my life—and Elyssara’s.” I pause, knowing that what I’m about to say will hit hard. “And Nalya’s.”
Teddy’s brow hardens into something terrifying.
I expect Elyssara to protest—to want the kill for herself. But I see the understanding in her eyes. She just nods, and I feel her compassion and hunger for retribution ripple down the tether.
