The world returned to Raine in fragments.
First, the scent of charred earth and ozone, thick enough to coat her tongue. Then the weight of Kaioss arms around her, his breath ragged against her temple. Finally, the paine- white-hot brand searing through her crystallized veins, the Embers' power still thrashing beneath her skin like caged beasts.
She gasped, her vision swimming. The sky above was no longer the bruised violet of the Rift's hunger, but a shimmering tapestry of twilight, threaded with veins of iridescent energy.
The bridge. *Her* bridge.
Lyria lay beside her, her amber eyes half-lidded, her chest rising in shallow, uneven bursts. The merging had left her hollowed, her essence woven into Raines like a patch over a wound.
*'t's not... stable," Lyria whispered, her voice a ghost of itself. *The bridge needs... balance."
Kaioss grip tightened. His silver hair, now bleached bone-white, clung to his sweat-slicked forehead. *What did you do?"
Raine flexed her fingers, the crystals in her arms pulsing erratically. The EmbersFire, Wind, Earthanswered, but their harmony was fractured, discordant. The Void's absence yawned inside her, a hunger no amount of Lyria's essence could fill.
*t chose,* she rasped.
The ground trembled.
Not from the bridge's birth.
From something *approaching*.
..
The ruins of the Conclave's sanctum lay in smoldering heaps around them,the air thick with the stench of burnt parchment and void-tainted blood. But the silence was worse. No wind. No distant cries of beasts. Just the resonant hum of the bridge, vibrating through Raine's bones like a plucked string.
Then-
A footstep.
Elysa emerged from the shadows, her emerald cloak in tatters, her body a grotesque tapestry of flesh and void-black veins. But her eyes*her eyes were clear*.
*You didnt seal it," she said, her voice raw. *You *changed* it.*
Kaioss dagger was in his hand before Raine could blink, though the blade was little more than rusted scrap. *Stay back."
Elysa laugheda broken, hollow sound. *I'm not here to fight. I'm here to*warn* you." She lifted a trembling hand, pointing past the bridge's shimmering archway. *He's coming."
The sky *rippled*.
A figure stepped through the bridge.
Tall. Hooded. Golden-eyed.
The same figure from Raine's visions.
*Lorst,* Kaios breathed.
The name struck Raine like a physical blow. The Void's *will* made flesh. The Conclaves first and greatest sin.
And now, he was *free*.
--
Lorst moved like a shadow given sentience, his form flickering between solid and smoke. His golden eyes burned like dying stars, fixed on Raine with something between hunger and *recognition*.
*Little spark," he murmured, his voice the scrape of stone on stone. *You're done what even the gods could not."
gloves crackled, the Fire Ember flaring in response.*What do you
want?"
*What Ive always wanted." Lorst extended a hand, his fingers long and tapered, ending in claws of black crystal. **You."
Kaios lunged.
His dagger flashed, temporal energy rippling in its wakebut Lorst *caught* the blade mid-air, his grip effortless. The metal *screamed*, corroding instantly, black veins crawling up the steel.
*Out of time, walker," Lorst said, echoing Veyras last words.
Then he *squeezed*. The dagger *shattered*.
Kaios staggered back, his breath coming in sharp, pained gasps. His hair whitened further, the roots bleeding into platinum as his temporal energy frayed.
Raine *moved*.
Her crystallized fist slammed into Lorst's chest-and passed *through* him like mist.
*You cannot fight a shadow," Lorst whispered, his breath cold against her ear. *But you can *become* one."
His hand closed around her wrist.
*Agony.*
The crystals in her arm *blackened*, the corruption spreading like ink in water. The Embers *screamed* in protest, their energies clashing violently-and then-*Vision.*
*She stood in a hall of mirrors, each reflection a different version of herself: one crystallized, one consumed by shadow, one wreathed in flame. Lorst stood at the center, his golden eyes reflecting not light, but *absence
*The Conclave called me a failure,"
he murmured. *But I was the first*success*.*
*The mirrors shattered, revealing the truth:*
*The Rift was never a wound. It was a *cage*.*
*And Lorst was its prisoner.*
---
Raine wrenched free, gasping. The vision clung to her like a second skin, the truth of it searing into her mind. Lorst wasnt the Rift's master.
He was its *victim*.
*You're lying," she snarled.
Lorsts smile was a knife-slash. *Am I?"
The bridge *shuddered*.
A sound like breaking glass split the air, and the archway's shimmering surface *fractured*, cracks spiderwebbing across its span. Beyond it, the sky darkenednot with storm, but with *movement*.
Shadows. Hundreds of them. Slithering. *Hungering*.
*The Rift's children," Lorst said. *Theyve been waiting for you."
Lyria's hand clamped onto Raine's arm, her grip weak but desperate. *The bridge... it's not *finished*," she gasped. *You need the last Ember."
*The Void Ember is gone,* Raine said.
*No." Lyria's amber eyes burned. *It's in *him*."
The pointed at Lorst.
The truth struck Raine like a lightning bolt.
Lorst *was* the Void Ember.
The Conclave hadnt just imprisoned him.
They'd *made* him.
---
Lorst's golden eyes narrowed. *Clever girl."
Then he *struck*.
His shadow-claws lashed out, aiming not for Raine, but for *Lyria*.
Kaios intercepted, his body a blur of motion-but Lorst was faster.
His hand *pierced* Kaios's chest.
*Not# Raines scream tore through the ruins.
Time *stuttered*.
Kaios's silver hair *bleached* entirely white, his mismatched eyes widening as temporal energy *erupted* from the wound. His lips formed a single, silent word:*Run." Then-Lorst *ripped* his hand free.
Kaios collapsed.
And the world *ended*.
---
Raine's vision turned red.
The Embers *detonated* within her, their power surging in a maelstrom of fire, wind, and earth. The crystals in her arms *shattered*then *reformed*, their glow shifting to a searing, unstable violet.
She *remembered*.
Her mothers hands. Her city's spires. Kaioss voice in the dark.
And she *chose*. Not to flee.
Not to surrender.
But to *burn*.
Her fist connected with Lorst's jaw.
This time, he *felt* it.
The impact sent him reeling, his form flickering between solid and shadow. The bridge *shrieked*, its fractures widening as the Embers' power clashed with the Void's essence.
*You cannot win,* Lorst hissed, his golden eyes bleeding black. *The Rift*is* me."
*Then Ill take it *back*." Raine snarled.
She *plunged* her crystallized hand into his chest.
And *pulled*.
The Void Ember *screamed* to life, its darkness surging into her like a tidal wave. The pain was unbearableher veins turned to ice, her bones to glassb- ut she *held on*.
Lorst *howled*, his form unraveling at the edges. *Youll *kill* us both!"
*Then we die together," Raine gritted out.
The bridge *ruptured*.
Light and shadow *collided*, the force of it throwing Raine backward. She hit the ground hard, her vision swimming, her body alight with agony.
When the dust cleared, Lorst was gone.
The bridge stood whole.
And Kaios-
*Kaios was breathing."
Lyria knelt beside him, her hands pressed to his wound, her face pale with exhaustion. *I can't.