But she may as well have been a fly in the hands of the Reskala at her sides. She looked at them. Shouted.
“Stop this madness! Immediately!”
They looked back with dead hollow eyes and held her down.
Auryn couldn’t breathe.
Couldn’t think.
“No—no, no, no—please—!”
She thrashed, tears running down her face, but the Reskala pressed her to the wall. She fought. Bit. Cried.
The Iron was raised.
Someone said a prayer.
"Void keep you.
Void preserve you.
Void guard your steps.
In the Destroyer’s eyes, you are Purified.
In the Void, your will repent."
Pain.
Ripping. Tearing. Like someone was rending through her skin then twisting her insides. Her vision went white. Her mouth opened on a scream that scorched her throat. Something burrowed into the nape of her neck, right at the base of her skull—into her heart, into her very soul.
The world went white—not silence, not sound, but unmaking itself.
::… Aur…yn…stop…plea…se … ::
Kailorien was in the Crucible Yard’s training ring in the Varrow when it happened. Something shattered. His heart nearly burst. Bile rose in his throat. With a gasp, he dropped the blade in his hand. His vision blurred, his chest burned as though molten metal had been poured onto his skin.
NO.Not just pain. Violation.
The Bond shrieked through his core—her voice, not words but sheer mindless terror.
“Auryn,” he gasped. Then louder, “Auryn!”
Auryn’s body convulsed against the altar. White light seared her Manasight. The chamber wailed in silence only she could hear—tatters of souls shrieking as the Godblind tore into her flesh.
TAKE ME INTO YOU! BURN THEM! LET ME DEVOUR THEM ALL!
Something stirred.
Deep within.
Stirred and opened its eyes truly for the first time.
Kailorien staggered, clutching his chest, nails digging into flesh as if he could claw her presence back into him. The Bond writhed, spasmed—then snapped taut.
Nothing.
The thread that had always been there—warm, steady, constant—was gone. Not cut. Not broken. Worse. Empty. A hollow silence where her light should have been.
