The battlefield was eerily silent.
Ashes drifted through the broken landscape, settling over fallen ruins and shattered stone. The scent of charred earth and blood still lingered, yet no new battles raged. The war had ended here.
But victory felt hollow.
Aria stood at the heart of the devastation, her chest rising and falling in heavy gasps. Around her, the remnants of Saraphine's dark forces lay strewn across the field, their twisted forms unmoving. The Black Veil, once a barrier between worlds, had been torn asunder—and something had come through.
The Weever.
She could feel its presence pressing down on her, seeping into the very fabric of reality. The sky, once vibrant with the balance of light and darkness, had become distorted. Threads of golden lumina clashed against a swirling abyss, struggling, fighting, but neither winning.
The world itself was changing.
Her fingers curled around the Lumina Shard resting against her chest. It pulsed—but it felt different. Colder. Heavier. Wrong.
She had made a mistake.
A mistake she couldn't take back.
---
Celeste knelt beside Finn, her hands glowing as she worked desperately to stabilize him. His usually lively eyes were dull with exhaustion, pain creasing his features. Elyra knelt beside them, her hands trembling as she reached for her son's face, brushing his sweat-drenched hair back.
"You're okay," she whispered, though her voice cracked with emotion.
Finn gave a weak, pained smile. "You always worry too much."
Quinn was crouched next to Lyric, their hands entwined as he squeezed her fingers reassuringly. Her face was pale, her other hand pressed over her mouth as if trying to stop herself from breaking down.
Kael stood frozen in place, his sword still clenched in his trembling grip. His chest rose and fell unevenly, his breath shallow, controlled—but his knuckles were white.
Aldric wiped blood from his lip as he surveyed the battlefield. Sirius stood beside him, silent, his silver eyes trained on the sky.
"It's not over," Sirius murmured.
Aldric exhaled sharply. "No. It's only just beginning."
A deep rumble vibrated beneath them.
Aria's stomach clenched.
She turned slowly, her gaze locking onto the rift where the Black Veil had once stood.
And then she saw it.
A shape—a shifting, writhing darkness that defied form. Not entirely real. Not entirely bound by this world.
It was watching.
Her breath hitched. Her pulse roared in her ears.
A pressure—vast, unknowable, suffocating—pressed against her very soul.
The Weever.
Its presence was endless. Ancient. A force that had waited, lurking behind the Veil, orchestrating every moment, every loss, every choice.
Saraphine had been nothing more than a pawn.
The Weever had needed Aria.
And now, it had her.
A whisper—soft, curling like smoke—slipped through her mind.
"…Seeker."
Aria staggered back.
Her vision blurred, edges flickering with shifting light. The world around her twisted, rippling like water, and then—
Everything froze.
---
Aria couldn't move.
She felt weightless, suspended in an endless void.
The battlefield was gone.
The sky, the ruined city, her friends—all of it had vanished.
In its place was emptiness.
And the Weever was there with her.
It loomed before her, its shape ever-changing, shifting between shadow and something she could almost comprehend—but not quite. It had no face, no eyes. And yet, she knew it was staring at her.
Into her.
She felt it reach into her soul, twisting through her thoughts, her memories, her very essence.
A cold realization spread through her like ice.
It wasn't just looking at her.
It was claiming her.
A force wrapped around her, invisible yet undeniable, threading through her very being.
Her body shook violently.
No. No, she had to fight this.
But she couldn't move.
Her voice wouldn't come.
The whisper came again, softer, almost… amused.
"…You belong to me now."
And then—
Pain.
It wasn't physical, but it tore through her like fire, like shadows sinking their claws into her heart.
Aria screamed.
And then—
Everything collapsed.
---
Celeste's head snapped up.
Her heart stopped.
One moment, Aria was there, standing with them. The next—
She was gone.
Vanished.
Like she had never been there at all.
A sickening silence filled the battlefield.
For the first time in her life, Celeste felt pure terror.
"Aria!"
Her voice cracked, raw and filled with desperation as she rushed forward. She grabbed at the empty air where Aria had been, as if somehow, some way, she could pull her back.
Nothing.
Her hands trembled.
"Aria!"
Her cry shattered the silence, but there was no answer.
Then—Kael dropped his sword.
It clattered against the broken ground, the sound echoing like a funeral bell.
His hands clenched into fists. His entire body shook.
Finn, barely able to sit up, let out a strangled breath. His face crumpled, pain twisting through his exhausted features.
Lyric let out a choked sob, burying her face against Quinn's shoulder. Quinn wrapped his arms around her tightly, his face pale and stricken with grief.
Elyra pressed a hand over her mouth, silent tears streaming down her face. She turned toward Finn as if seeking reassurance, but he had none to give.
Aldric stared at the place where Aria had stood, his expression unreadable, yet his grip on Sirius's shoulder tightened.
Sirius exhaled heavily, his silver eyes dark with understanding.
And then—Dorian sank to his knees.
His fingers dug into the dirt, his shoulders rising and falling with uneven breaths. His head hung low, strands of dark hair falling into his face.
"No," he whispered. His voice was hoarse, empty.
She was gone.
Aria was gone.
A choked sob tore from Celeste's throat.
Her daughter—her child—had been taken.
No words were spoken after that.
Only silence.
A silence heavy with grief.
Elion arrived moments later, his boots crunching against the ruined earth. His face was streaked with soot, his once-proud stance weighed down by exhaustion. But his eyes still carried the fire of a warrior—a father who had fought with everything to protect his family.
He took in the scene before him: the shattered remnants of the battlefield, the broken city, the lingering scent of smoke and blood.
His gaze flickered over each face—Kael, staring blankly at the ground; Finn, trembling as he barely held himself upright; Lyric, sobbing into Quinn's shoulder. Aldric and Sirius stood side by side, grim and silent. Celeste was on her knees, her hands covering her face, her shoulders shaking with a grief too deep to name.
Something was wrong.
His breath caught.
"...Did we win?" he asked, his voice hoarse.
No one answered.
His heart pounded.
"Where's Aria?"
Celeste let out a strangled cry.
Elion's blood ran cold.
His gaze darted to Sirius, searching for an answer, but the man only placed a hand on his shoulder, his silver eyes dark with sorrow.
"Elion…" Sirius hesitated. "Aria is—"
"No."
Elion's voice cracked, raw and filled with disbelief. He shook his head, stepping back as if refusing to hear the words.
"No, she's not gone. She—she's here. She has to be here." His breath grew shallow, panicked. His hands curled into fists.
His gaze snapped to Celeste. "Tell me she's here."
Celeste sobbed harder.
Elion turned to the others. "Someone tell me where my daughter is!"
Silence.
Only the sound of the wind whispering through the ruins.
His knees buckled.
A hollow, aching emptiness filled his chest, swallowing the breath from his lungs.
The battle was over.
But he had lost his daughter.
And for the first time in his life—Elion Evercrest did not know how to fight this.