He tried to speak, tried to scream at her that this wasn’t over, that she couldn’t do this. He was supposed to martyr himself for the world, not her. Their lives were tied, but he did not know how he would survive her death, even in the few moments before it took him too.
Shh, don’t try to talk.She reached out but didn’t quite touch him.This moment isn’t truly real, and I’m probably close to gone now. I suspended things for us, just for a second. You won’t have much time either once you open your eyes, but please, if you get the chance, tell my parents how much I love them, that this was not their fault. They won’t believe you, but say it anyway. And make sure Carus knows to keep trying, because they love him too.
His lips formed her name, and she smiled sadly. Her fingertips brushed his face, and though the sensation of her touch didn’t register, he could still feel the energy of her magic.
Don’t reach for me this time, okay?
He gave a slight nod, wondering if she could see through the lie or if she ever expected him to listen in the first place. If she doubted him, she didn’t say.
Nya turned away from him, and, in a sickening rush, time resumed, the Light pouring from Sol hitting her body and inverting. A great chasm opened in her chest as the magic was sucked into the void itself. Light and Darkness mixed, the sight blinding. The mountains shook, and thunder roared, so deafening, his ears rang.
The maelstrom was over within seconds. Every last bit of power Sol possessed faded, absorbed into Nya’s small body as she crumpled to the ground.
Flecks of white ash fell around her, haloing her head. Morgen fell to his knees, and tiny shards of glasslike silver and sparkling onyx sliced into his palms and knees. He hardly registered the stinging sensation. He just crawled to her, holding tight to the tiny, fraying strand of Life gripped by her soul—theirsoul.
His hands were shaking so hard, he could hardly pull her into his lap. It only got worse when he saw her face. Her lips were pale, her eyes and mouth coated in blood. The gash at her neck was still a jagged open wound, and her tunic was blackened and charred where the void had opened up at her chest. He didn’t know…he didn’t know if he could fix this. But he had to.He had to fix her.
“Morgen, don’t,” she rasped weakly. He froze at the sound, the proof of life within her. Her eyes fluttered beneath her lids but would not open. He could do this. He had to. He could feel her chest rising and falling in tiny, stuttering gasps. As long as she was still breathing, there was a chance.
But then, her breath stalled. The blood wasn’t gushing from her wounds anymore, and even in his delirious state, he knew what that meant.
“No,” he said firmly, even as his failing body shook with broken sobs. “No, you are not going to die today.”
He thought Sol might be shouting, thought that maybe, someone else was crying. He didn’t care, hardly even noticed the rest of the world existed as he pressed his palm to her sternum and forced the tired, burnt-out embers from his body into hers.
“Live,” he whispered over and over again, until the word lost its meaning. The embers failed to take each time he gave them to her. He kept trying anyway.
He didn’t know if she was breathing. He didn’t know if he was.
“Nya, please.”Please.“I love you,” he said, cupping her face and leaning his forehead against hers as a broken, agonizedsound he didn’t recognize escaped him. He pushed the embers into her body again. Just one more; one more, and she might live…
His vision blurred and his chest caved open with a pain so potent, his back bowed. Still, he did not let go.
“It’s over, Morgen.”
He stiffened, and when he lifted his head, he found Sol standing over him. An old memory flashed across his failing mind; Sol watching with the same stony expression as Kronos’ whip tore at Morgen’s bare back. He had been seven or eight and had tried his luck at asking the God of Light about his mother. He informed Kronos, who then resolved another attempt to beat the ‘weakness of love’ out of Morgen.
They had been so utterly wrong. Love wasn’t weakness, but the strongest force in existence. It was why he was still breathing, still trying to bring her to life when he should have been dead. Love carried out the impossible, against all odds. It did not care what the chances were and was far more ruthless than the strongest magic in Arcadia.
“She’s too far gone to save, and you are dying.” Sol sounded impatient. “I need the embers.”
Morgen made a sound somewhere between an empty laugh and a dangerously wet cough, tasting iron in his throat. “Fuck you.”
“The world will die if you do not hand them over to me.”
“Then let it die.”
Fury glazed over Sol’s stony features, twisting them into something ugly no physical beauty could mask. He lunged, his hand digging into Morgen’s hair and dragging him away from Nya before he slammed to the ground.
Pain blinded him so completely, he lost consciousness for a few seconds. When he came to, he wondered why no one wascoming to help him. It was a fleeting thought, the dying hope of an unloved child.
Sol gripped his throat directly over the place Kronos had once tried to slit it, pressing his thumb against the scar like a reminder. Morgen was completely alone in the world. No one had ever cared, not untilher. He had failed to save the one person who made him want to live. She had shown him there was beauty in the world, however broken.
“Here.” She handed him a smooth, dark stone, still damp and sandy. Her hair dripped with creek water, and her eyes were bright. When their fingertips touched, she blushed.
“Why?” he asked, glancing pointedly at the stone.
She shrugged, her lips tugging upwards. “I thought it was pretty. Add it to your pouch.”
