Chapter 17: The Breaking Sky
The sky broke.
Not altogether. Not with thunder, not with fire.
It cracked silently.
Above Daltigoth, the last gate swung open like a black lotus, empty petals unfolding to reveal the emptiness beyond stars. Magic spilled from the city, wild and unaimed, like blood from a severed artery. Lightning flashed without thunder. The wind howled, then shifted.
And in the middle of it, Lira stood.
Her body still lay on the ground, but her spirit — her will — rose within the broken gate.
The Queen watched from the opposite side of the void. Her form had changed: she now resembled Lira more than ever, younger, cloaked in dreams. The mask was gone. Her eyes were blue fire.
"You've come far," the Queen said, her voice echoing with every memory Lira didn't want to claim.
Lira lifted the staff. It didn't shake. "I'm not yours."
"No," the Queen agreed. "You're mine no longer."
With a cry, the Queen launched a stream of dark flame — not fire, but despair given form. Lira answered with light, not golden or divine, but human: grief, defiance, memory. The clash erupted in colorless brilliance.
Outside, Kaela and Thalen stood against the edge of the gate, blown by the wind. Kerris lay out beside them, unconscious. The universe collapsed inwards.
Kaela groaned, "She's in the storm!"
Thalen threw up his arms. "We pull her out — or we lose her in the void!"
He began the binding spell — the binding of soul to body, of life to light. Kaela set down her sword and stepped to his side, her clumsy but sure hands. They cast together.
—
Inside the gate, Lira's staff broke.
The Queen