The chamber pulsed like a heartbeat—slow, steady, ancient.
The Heart of Hollow cast golden light in ripples, but its warmth was already fading as the Hollow Crown advanced.
Aeren stepped forward, magic sparking at his fingertips. "This ends here."
His father's face was unreadable. "No, son. It begins here."
The Emissary lifted both hands, and void tendrils lashed out—one crashing toward Lyra. Kaelen intercepted, his shield exploding in light. The battle erupted in a storm of spells and steel.
Zephren vanished into shadows, blades drawn. Bryn bellowed a war cry and dove into the thick of the Crown's elite. Elira stood at Aeren's side, their magics weaving as one.
"Hit them with everything!" she shouted.
Aeren extended his hands. "Let's give them a symphony."
He reached into the Weave—fully. No longer just fire or wind, but memory, time, unity. Threads of every node they'd touched surged through him.
He sang.
A war-song of ancient Weavers.
The air shimmered. Light formed blades, barriers, wings. Crystalline constructs burst from the ground—each shaped by memory and hope.
Even the Heart responded.
The Emissary shrieked as she was forced back. "You DARE awaken the Chorus?!"
"Yes," Aeren said. "And I'll sing louder."
The Hollow Crown's mages faltered as the Weave surged. Kaelen and Lyra broke through their line, reaching the base of the Heart's pedestal.
Suddenly—
A cry of pain.
Zephren fell, struck by a void spike.
Elira turned, magic lashing out to shield him. "We're losing people!"
Aeren's father advanced through the storm, untouched, commanding the void.
"You were always meant to stand beside me, Aeren," he said. "Not against."
"I became more than you ever imagined," Aeren said, raising his voice to the Heart. "And I'm not alone."
He grabbed Elira's hand.
Together, they poured their souls into the Heart.
Golden veins spidered through the air. A tone rang out—clear, resonant, like the song of the First Flame.
The Emissary screamed. The void shattered.
Light engulfed the chamber.
When the brilliance faded, the Hollow Crown was gone—banished or broken. The Emissary's armor lay empty. Aeren's father had vanished into dust.
Zephren stirred. "Still alive?" he groaned.
"Barely," Bryn said, limping.
The Heart now hovered calm and still—silent, but awakened.
Elira leaned into Aeren. "That was the loudest love confession I've ever seen."
He smiled. "Worth it?"
She kissed him. "Worth it."
Above them, the sky cracked open—not in ruin, but in radiance.
A new age had begun.
And yet, far to the north, a single shard of void pulsed in secret.
The war wasn't over.
But the world had its champions.