We were cursed when we forgot we were one.
This was never Elyssara’s duty.
It was never about her magic.
It was about all of us—on the same side.
And now—here, in blood and magic and flame—Zerynthia remembers.
Earthbound and Starborn.
Dragon and Witch.
Tribe and Luminaar.
Shadow and Light.
Death and the living.
Not rivals. Not monsters.
One pulse. One roar.
And I know what I have to do.
“Seren!” I bellow, my voice a rasping, strangled thing.
Her once-innocent eyes find mine, but now—they’re different.Powerful.
She winds through the carnage, crossbow raised, golden curls spilling loose from the knot at the nape of her neck.
“What do you need me to do?” she pants, eyes hard and ready.
“Bind us together.”
She startles, confused.
“The Decay—it won’t come down with light alone. It was never about that,” I explain through the frenzy. “It’s about unity. Dragons, Witches, Earthbound—all of us! Our Starbound tether was the clue! Stronger together!”
Recognition blazes to life in her eyes.
“It was never about El’s power,” she murmurs in realization. “It was about her bringing us together.”
“Exactly. Bind us!”
And she moves without hesitation.
“Guard my back, Kael,” she commands, her eyes already closing in concentration and implicit trust.
They fly open.
Darkness bleeds through her irises, drenching her eyes in endless black.
Invisible cords from Seren’s hands stretch out like cosmic lassos meeting the flame of Tarrakai’s breath, the earthsong of the Vaythari staves, the heat of the Cindrali fury. The cords loop around Gellesk’s Earthbound rebels, the blood of Jax’s Luminaar lineage.
Seren’s cords find Elyssara whipping through the night sky, plunging into her chest and imbibing her Lightborne magic. And finally, she comes for me—cords reaching for my shadows like cosmic fingers.
The battlefield becomes a living constellation, a mirror to the sky above.
