The ruins of Tylania breathed decay. Ash swirled in the sulfurous wind, coating Eldrin's face like a funeral shroud.
He trudged through the skeletal remains of Silverveil Citadel, his left arm numb beneath layers of bandages- hollow victory after the Crucible's trial. The seventh shard lay dormant in his chest, its golden light muted by streaks of black ichor.
Every step sent phantom echoes of Ophira's laughter rattling through his skull.
Beside him, Liora clutched her ribs, the source-shard lines on her collarbone flickering like a dying star. Her emerald cloak hung in tatters, its edges singed by the rift's final collapse.
The corruption spreads faster than I anticipated,"she muttered, her voice stripped of its usual sharpness. if we dont purge the seventh shard soon, it will consume youand her."
She nodded toward Tira, who stumbled a few paces ahead. The girl's chest rose and fell in shallow gasps, the third shard embedded in her flesh pulsing faintly. Its light, once a clean azure, now throbbed with veins of shadow. Her dual voices had fallen silentemercy, perhaps, or a warning.
Nim limped at the rear, her spider-mech reduced to a skeletal frame strapped to her back. Hydraulic fluid dripped from its severed legs, leaving a trail of iridescentsludge. Save the doom prophecies for later," she snapped, adjusting her cracked goggles. We need shelter. And booze. Preferably both."
Jace said nothing. The mercenary's face was a mask of scars and dried blood, his left arm ending in a bandaged stump. His remaining hand never strayed far from his throwing knives, as if expectingOphira's shadow to materialize from the ash.
They found refuge in the remnants of the Ashfall Libraryor what was left of it. The once-proud structure had collapsed into a labyrinth of scorched bookshelves and fractured Titan runes.
Moonlight streamed through the shattered dome, illuminating a hiddenchamber beneath the rubble. Its walls were lined with crystalline vials and rusted machineryarelic of the Nightwatchers' experiments.
Liora knelt before a stone basin, her hands trembling as she poured a viscous liquid into it: water from the Well of Echoes, glimmering with the whispers of the dead.
The purification requires three elements,"she said, her voice brittle. The tears of a frost giant, the ash of a Titan's heartand a soul willing to anchor the ritual."
Eldrins gaze drifted to the vial in her handa sliver of ice that wept faintly, its surface etched with runes.
*Frost giant's tears.* Isolde's parting gift.
The memory of her shadow stretching unnaturally as she vanished into the storm made his gut twist.
And the third ingredient?"he asked, though he already knew.
Liora met his eyes. Blood. *Your* blood."
---
The ritual began at midnight.
Tira lay on a slab of obsidian, her shard exposed as Liora traced sigils around it with a dagger of crystallized chaos. The air reeked of ozone and burnt sage. Eldrin stood at the basin's edge, his left arm bared to reveal the lines crawling up his shoulder. The seventh shard stirred in his chest, its whispers sharpening into a blade.
*You cannot outrun me, brother.*
He ignored it.
When I begin, the shard will fight,"Liora warned, her voice steady despite the sweat beading on her brow. Ophira's consciousness is woven into its core. If it breaches the basin"
We die horribly. Got it."Nim tossed a wrench into her mech's exposed core, sparks flying. Iust hurry up before I pass out from the existential dread."
Jace positioned himself at the chamber's entrance, his knives glinting. Do it."
Liora plunged the dagger into the basin.
The room erupted in light.
---
Eldrin's veins turned to fire as his blood mingled with the frost giant's tears. Visions tore through him:
*Ophira as a child, her hands stained with Liora's blood.*
*The Titan altar splitting, its shards carving their souls into halves.**Tira's shadow, laughing as it dissolved into the rift.*
Focus!"Liora's shout cut through the haze.
The basin's liquid boiled, its surface reflecting not the chamber, but the abyss. Ophiras face materialized, her smile a jagged wound. *You think this changes anything?" Her voice dripped with mock pity. *We are bound, brother. You will always come back to me.*
Eldrin gritted his teeth, pouring more blood into the basin. Get. *Out.*"
The seventh shard flared, its golden light clashing with the corruption. Tira screamed as her own shard resonated, the third shard's shadow lashing out like a serpent.
Now, Thalara!"Liora barked.
The silver-haired seer stepped from the shadows, her bare feet silent on the stone. She pressed her palms to Tira's chest, her voice a chorus of dead souls. *The Veil demands payment.*
Eldrin's lines burned as Thalaras magic wove through the ritual. The basin's liquid solidified into a lattice of ice and light, ensnaring the seventh shard's corruption. For a heartbeat, it workedthe black veins receded, the shard's glow purifying to a soft gold.
Then Ophira laughed.
The ice shattered.
Shadow erupted from the basin, throwing Eldrin against the wall. Bookshelves toppled, their ancient tomes bursting into flame. Tira's body levitated, her shard pulsing like a dying star as Ophira's voice poured from her lips:
*You cannot kill a god, little brother.*
Jace lunged, his knife aimed at Tira's shardbut Nim tackled him. Youll kill her, you idiot!"
Liora staggered to her feet, her own shard lines blazing. Eldrin*the bond!* Sever it!"
He didnt hesitate.
Channeling the last of his chaos-fire, Eldrin plunged his hand into the basin. The seventh shard *screamed*, its corruption surging into his lines. Agony ripped through himbut beneath it, he felt Ophiras grip falter.
*Now*,Thalara!"
The seer's hands glowed as she tore the shadow from Tira's shard. It writhed in her graspa- fragment of Ophira's consciousness, snarling and hissingbefore she hurled it into the basin.
Liora slammed the dagger down.
The chamber fell silent.
Dawn found them in ruins.
Tira lay unconscious but breathing, her shard's light cleansed to a fragile blue. The seventh shard in Eldrin's chest had dimmed, its corruption sealedf- or now.
Nim collapsed beside her shattered mech,swigging from a flask of stolen liquor. Remind me why we didnt just *run*?"
Because running doesnt fix anything,"Jace growled, though his shoulders sagged with exhaustion.
Liora knelt by the empty basin, her fingers tracing its cracked edges. Ophir a's consciousness is fractured, not destroyed. Shell return."
Eldrin stared at his trembling hands. The lines had retreated, but the shard' s whispers lingered. *Bound. Always bound.*
Outside, the wind carried ash and the distant howl of wolves. Somewhere in the wastes, Isolde's shadow waited.
And in the depths of the seventh shard, Ophira smiled.