We stand before the obelisk, the chamber in ruins around us. We’re alive. Still breathing. Still together.
Serenya exhales a shaky laugh. “If this is what your light always feels like, I don’t know how you’re not exhausted all the time.”
Despite the ache running through every muscle, I can’t help but grin. “You get used to it.”
She rolls her eyes, but returns the smile. Bright and beautiful.
The obelisk hums, low and resonant, like it is breathing. Its surface ripples with light, deep violet shifting into a pale silver glow. Two handprints shimmer on opposite sides, one edged in shadow, the other in light.
“The end,” Serenya whispers, eyes narrowed. Her voiceis steady, but I hear the weariness beneath it. We’ve both bled to get here. If this is a trick…
The voice comes from everywhere. Cold, inhuman, and ancient.
“Only one may claim victory. Step forth, choose your fate. The other must yield.”
The words sink into my bones. That’s the cruelest part of all. After everything we’ve endured together, it dares to demand we divide.
I glance at Serenya. She’s staring at the shadowed handprint, her jaw clenched, fists tight at her sides. She’d step back without hesitation if she thought it would protect me. That’s who she is.
“Don’t,” I say softly as realization hits.
Her head snaps toward me, eyes flashing. “We don’t have time to argue. One of us has to—”
“No. That’s the test.” I take a step closer, lowering my voice. “If either of us takes it alone, we lose. What it wants is for us to choose ourselves over each other.”
She opens her mouth to argue, then stops. Her gaze flicks to the handprints, then back to me. Shadows ripple faintly around her, restless.
“You’re sure,” she says. It isn’t a question.
I nod once. “I trust you. Do you trust me?”
The silence stretches, and I almost think she’ll deny it. Pride and fear, both warring in her eyes. Slowly, she exhales and gives the faintest nod.
“Always,” she whispers.
The word hits me harder than any blow.
We move as one. She circles to the left, I to the right. The glow of the handprint in front of me is blinding, pure white light edged with heat, like a miniature sun. Across from me, hers shimmers with shadowed violet, dark and endless. Two halves of the same whole.
We raise our hands at the same time.
For a moment, the chamber holds its breath. We press our palms against the stone, and the obelisk erupts.
Light and shadow explode outward, weaving together, spiraling through the air like threads of a tapestry. The broken chamber is bathed in gold and violet, day and night colliding until they are indistinguishable.
I feel it burning through me, her magic meeting mine, not clashing, but binding. Not opposites. Partners.
The voice returns, but this time it isn’t cold. It is reverent.
“You have chosen unity. You are worthy.”
The ground steadies. The crumbling walls reform, whole again, though glowing with faint runes. The obelisk’s light softens, fading to a steady, pulsing glow.
Serenya lowers her hand first, shoulders rising and falling with ragged breath. Those beautiful violet eyes land on me from across the stone, shadows still flickering faintly at her fingertips. She doesn’t speak.
Maybe that’s better. Because if she did, I don’t think I’d trust myself not to tell her everything.
So I just nod. Barely, but it’s enough.
