The Ritual That Should Not Be
The night was deathly still.
Kieran knelt beside Zyra's motionless form, his fire flickering low, barely contained. The battlefield around them had fallen silent, the distant screams and clash of steel fading into the background of his desperation.
Her breathing was so faint now—too faint.
The abyssal corruption had nearly consumed her. The inky darkness coiled around her veins, pulsing like a living thing, hungry to swallow her whole.
"No more."
Kieran pressed his forehead against hers, his grip tightening around her cold fingers. He could feel the fading warmth of their bond, the fragile thread that still tethered her to this world.
She was slipping.
And he was about to break the very laws of fate to bring her back.
---
The Price of Defying Fate
"Are you absolutely insane?"
Riven's voice cut through the night, sharp with disbelief and fury.
"You can't be serious, Kieran. The ritual you're talking about—it's forbidden. Even for us."
Kieran didn't look up. His golden eyes remained locked on Zyra's face, memorizing every detail as if he was terrified she would vanish the moment he blinked.
"I know," he said quietly.
Riven took a step closer, his hands clenched into fists. "You're binding your soul to hers. That isn't just a fated bond—it's irreversible. It's eternal."
Kieran finally turned to him. And the look in his eyes—it was not up for debate.
"I don't care," he said.
Riven exhaled sharply. "You should. Because if you do this, there's no turning back. No second chances. If she dies—you die with her."
Kieran's jaw tightened.
"I told you," he said. "I don't care."
Because there was no world worth living in if Zyra wasn't in it.
---
The Flames and the Abyss
He didn't wait for Riven to argue again.
He pressed his palm over Zyra's heart—right above the corruption. His fire pulsed against her skin, battling the abyss that threatened to take her.
But he wasn't just fighting it.
He was claiming it.
"If the abyss wants you—then it has to take me too."
Kieran closed his eyes. And then—he began.
The ancient words of the soul-binding ritual spilled from his lips, low and steady, burning the air around them.
The ground trembled. The shadows twisted. The flames around him grew brighter, hotter, wilder.
And deep within Zyra's unconscious mind—
Something stirred.
---
Zyra's Awakening
The abyss had been swallowing her whole.
She had been falling—weightless, voiceless, lost.
But suddenly—there was fire.
She felt it sear through the darkness, pushing back the cold, reaching for her.
A voice, fierce and familiar, called her name.
Kieran.
She gasped, her lungs burning as if she had been drowning and was finally breaking the surface.
And then—her eyes snapped open.
---
Fate Is Not a Chain
Zyra sucked in a ragged breath, her vision swimming, her heart pounding. She was back—but she was not the same.
She felt Kieran's fire coursing through her, melding with her very soul. It was no longer just his.
It was theirs.
Kieran stared at her, his chest heaving, his hands still cupping her face. His golden eyes blazed with relief, with awe, with something so raw it made her breath hitch.
"You came back," he whispered.
Zyra's fingers trembled as she reached up—and cupped his face in return.
"You pulled me back."
And then she felt it—the shift.
The bond between them was no longer just fate's decree.
It was forged by their choice.
By fire and abyss.
By love and defiance.
By something far more dangerous than destiny.
And nothing—**nothing—**would ever break it now.
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