Location: Ravenspire Vale — Eye of the Eclipse
POV: Seris Valen
The world had dissolved into flame and shadow.
Seris floated above the battlefield—her feet no longer touching earth, her body aglow with power that wasn't hers. Threads of darkness coiled around her limbs like lovers, whispering in tongues only gods understood.
Below her, men screamed. Wolves howled. Magic collided with steel. Ashren fought like a fury beneath her, his blade singing through corrupted flesh, eyes always flicking upward—to her.
But Seris could no longer speak.
Because Thamaris had taken the throne inside her.
---
The Inner War
Inside her mind was a cathedral of bone and starlight.
Seris stood alone in the center, surrounded by mirrors. Each one reflected a version of her:
The girl who never fought back.
The child who begged the gods for mercy.
The woman soaked in blood, laughing.
The vessel—cold, beautiful, empty.
Thamaris stepped out of the dark—formless, faceless, vast.
> "This is mercy," the voice crooned. "I will end your pain. You need only surrender."
Seris clenched her fists.
"I don't want mercy. I want freedom."
The cathedral cracked.
---
Ashren's Reach
In the real world, Ashren sprinted through fire toward her.
"Seris!" he shouted, blade drawn, cutting down two of Thamaris's heralds that lunged from the void. "You have to fight it!"
A pulse of black energy threw him back.
But he rose again. Bloody. Stubborn.
He pulled something from his belt—a charm. Her mother's necklace. The one Seris had thrown into the sea years ago.
"I dove for this," he said, lifting it high. "I held my breath in the dark, because I couldn't let you drown."
Her body convulsed.
The shadows shrieked.
And for a moment… the light in her chest flickered.
---
A Fracture in the Divine
Seris screamed—a sound that shattered windows and burned the clouds.
From her back, wings of raw magic burst forth—half light, half dark. Her skin cracked with runes. Her eyes turned molten gold.
And for the first time…
Thamaris stepped out of her.
A figure of divine horror—half-dead god, half-nightmare star.
Ashren stood between them.
Breathing hard. Blade raised.
"Then let's finish this."
---
Final Scene — The Eclipse Breaks
Above them, the red moon cracked.
The blood eclipse began to fade.
But on the ground, a greater war had just begun.
Seris fell to her knees, free of Thamaris… for now.
But the god was loose.
And Caelis was coming.