📖 Chapter Nine – Part Two
The Guardian's maw split open, revealing a core of burning ash and crystal shaped eerily like a heart. The runes on Alexander's arm flared in answer, glowing brighter than before. He felt himself dragged forward by an invisible tide.
"Alexander!" Lira screamed, but he couldn't stop.
The Heart inside him whispered: We were one once. We can be again.
"No," Alexander growled. "I'm not yours."
He forced himself to a halt, slamming both palms to the floor. Ash flared out in a circle, pushing the Guardian back a step. The Citadel trembled.
Eryndor shouted, "It's resonating with you! You have to sever the link or we're all dead!"
"How?" Alexander yelled.
"Hit its heart with something stronger than yours!" Nyx shouted, flinging shadows to cover him.
Alexander stared at his own hands. "Something stronger than me…"
Then he thought of Alan, of betrayal, of Mara's warning, of the parents he'd never known, of the visions of the future. All the pain. All the loss.
He let it burn.
The Ashborn Heart pulsed violently. Flames of ash and silver wrapped his arms, wings of cinders flickering at his back. The chains of runes along his arm snapped one by one.
He roared and lunged, driving his glowing hand into the Guardian's chest.
Light erupted, brighter than dawn. The amphitheater dissolved into a whirl of mist and fire. When it cleared, Alexander was on his knees, breathing hard, his hands smoking.
The Guardian lay shattered, its crystal plates strewn across the arena. In its place hovered a small core — a black orb shot through with silver veins. It pulsed gently, like a captured heartbeat.
High Overseer Zeryn appeared without sound. "Candidate Alexander," they intoned, "you have claimed the Guardian's core. Its power is yours… if you survive the integration."
"What?" Alexander croaked, but the orb already flew to him, slamming into his chest. Pain ripped through him like a thousand burning hooks.
Nyx grabbed his shoulder. "Stay with us!"
Eryndor muttered a stabilizing spell. "This is only the beginning…"
Alexander screamed. Visions poured through him: cities burning under ash skies, armies bowing before a hybrid crowned in cinders, Cael standing beside him — or against him — the seven runes breaking one by one.
Then silence.
He opened his eyes. The amphitheater was gone. He was in a chamber of pure black, floating above an abyss. Before him stood a figure of ash and light — a man with his face, older, crowned with runes.
You have touched the Heart, the figure said. Now you must endure the Trial of Control.
Alexander reached for him, but the figure dissolved into cinders.
He woke on the arena floor, Nyx and Lira kneeling beside him, Eryndor standing guard, Jareth glaring from a distance. Cael was nowhere to be seen.
Zeryn's masked face loomed above him. "The first challenge ends. Those who remain are worthy. Rest, Hybrid. The next trial begins soon."
Alexander sat up slowly, clutching his chest. The Heart inside him no longer whispered — it growled.
He realized then that defeating the Guardian was not a victory. It was an invitation to something far darker.
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