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The Lonely King hesitates, confusion flickering across the sharp lines of his face.

In that second, I reach for the bond I share with Sapphire.

Despite being dulled by my earlier withdrawal, it’s still there—warm and alive.

A heartbeat of starlight in the dark. And with it, my power surges, starting to melt the ice trapping me, fueled by an emotion so fierce it nearly overwhelms me.

The Lonely King steps back.

“What are you doing?” he demands, uncertainty creeping into his voice.

“You think you know loss?” I say, cold and lethal, my magic raging inside and around me.

“You know nothing. Sapphire isn’t just the one I love—she’s the core of who I am.

And if anything tries to take her from me, it won’t be numbness that awaits.

It’ll be vengeance. Cold, merciless, and absolute.

I would become the nightmare even you fear.

Because you underestimate how deep—how dangerous—my love for her truly is. ”

He falters, his corrupted blade shaking slightly in his grasp. “No,” he says, more to himself than to me. “That type of love isn’t strength—it’s madness. It will burn you from the inside out. It will consume you until you drown in it.”

“Then let it consume me,” I say quietly, my voice deadly calm. “As long as Sapphire’s there with me when the flames die out, I don’t care what else is left. Because as long as she’s with me, I’ll still have everything.”

Fear flashes openly across his face, raw and unchecked.

“No one can survive a love like that,” he snarls, desperation bleeding through every word. “It will rip you apart piece by piece, until there’s nothing left but ashes and regret. You’ll lose everything you are, and everything you could be. And then, eventually, you’ll become me.”

For a heartbeat, my breath catches as his words echo with a clarity I can’t deny. Because the destructive potential of my love—as obsessive and consuming as it’s become—is powerful enough to reshape me entirely. It already is reshaping me entirely.

And for her, I’ll let it.

“I’ll become whatever nightmare I have to be,” I say with absolute certainty. “Because without her, I’m nothing.”

I don’t wait for him to reply.

Instead, I focus on Frostbite, connecting to my sword on a level deeper than the physical. This blade was forged for precision, but it’s always known my heart. It’s been with me since childhood—it knows me better than anyone, except Sapphire herself.

It was there when I was trained to be cold and unfeeling. It was there when I met Ghost. It was there when I met Sapphire at the Maple Pig, when I saved her in the forest, and when I helped her through the trials.

It knows who I am. Not just who I was trained to be—but who I am.

And I can’t let this shadow version of myself win.

If he does, and if I fall into the magma below, I’ll be forced to leave her.

That would break her, and I won’t let her break.

I know what it feels like to be broken, and I’ll never let that happen to my Starlight.

Annihilation, the word echoes in my mind. Destroy him. Not for myself, but for her.

Silver-blue light emanates from my blade’s edge, brighter and clearer than the shadowy glow of the Lonely King’s corrupted sword. The air around me sharpens, temperature dropping—not with the brutal cold of winter, but with the precise chill of deliberate focus.

The ice around my legs begins to crack. And then, with a final surge of will, I shatter it completely, shards exploding outward as I free myself from the Lonely King’s burning ice.

“Impossible,” he breathes, his eyes wide. “You can’t?—“

I rush forward, moving with a speed and grace that surprises even me. My attack isn’t calculated or cold—it’s driven by passion, by purpose, by everything my father tried to train out of me, and by everything Sapphire has turned me into.

He raises his corrupted blade to block, but Frostbite slashes through it, shattering it in a spray of darkness and frost. And before he can recover, I scream with everything left in me and drive my sword into his chest.

Steam erupts from the wound, and lava sparks hiss around us as frost and fire collide.

For once, the Lonely King is silent. He just stares at me, shock evident in those silver eyes so frighteningly similar to my own as I twist the blade, cracks spreading across his body.

“Die,” I growl the same word I did to the fiery monster guarding the crater.

And then, with a final wrench, I pull Frostbite free.

The Lonely King doesn’t speak, doesn’t plead. He simply shatters, fragmenting into ice and shadow that evaporate in the volcanic heat.

My entire body is numb as I lower Frostbite.

Across the chamber, I see Sapphire standing alone on her platform, bloodied but victorious. Her shadow self is gone, and relief floods through me at the sight of her unharmed.

She gives me a small smile, and I know she feels as connected in this moment as I do. And even though I don’t know what I’ve become, she’s still looking at me like she sees the man I used to be. Like she still believes he exists—somewhere beneath the ice, the blood, and the frozen silence.

Maybe that’s the most dangerous thing of all.

Because I will do anything to keep her looking at me that way.

No hesitation, and no regret. I’ll stop time again, freeze the universe mid-breath, and erase anything that tries to take her from me.

And I won’t flinch while doing it. Because like I said to the Lonely King, she’s the only thing that matters anymore.

Not the court. Not the war. Not even the man I used to be.

Just her. My Starlight. My beginning and my end. The other half of my soul. And if loving her turns me into the monster I’ve spent my whole life fighting against, then so be it. As long as she’s mine, I’ll become whatever the world fears most, just to keep her next to me.

But while Sapphire and I have beaten our shadow selves, Thalia is on her knees on her platform, continuing to fight the corrupted version of Maeris. Her water magic explodes in chaotic bursts, waves crashing against stone and steam hissing into the volcanic air.

“You’re not him!” she screams. “You’ll never be him!”

Shadow Maeris moves with grace, dodging Thalia’s wild attacks. His expression remains blank, but there’s something cruel in his eyes that the real Maeris never possessed.

“You couldn’t save me,” he says, his voice an empty echo of the man she loved. “You never could.”

Thalia’s magic falters, water droplets hanging in the air around her. “Maeris...”

“All your strength, all your centuries of battle,” Shadow Maeris continues, circling her like a predator. “And when it mattered most, you failed.”

I grip Frostbite’s hilt tighter, helpless to intervene. This is Thalia’s battle, not mine. And the truth is… I have zero desire to intervene. Not when it would mean putting myself at risk. Because I won’t risk myself for anyone but her. Not anymore. Not again. Never again.

“I love you,” Thalia whispers to Shadow Maeris, her voice so pained that I’m taken back to the Tides, when Sapphire was motionless in my arms, and I thought she was gone forever.

I can still feel the terrifying emptiness, the numbing horror of a world stripped of her warmth, and the realization that without her, nothing mattered.

“And look where your love got you,” Shadow Maeris taunts Thalia. “Alone. Broken. Weak. ”

“I’m not weak,” she sneers, water swirling around her clenched fists.

“Then prove it,” he challenges, raising his weapon.

She launches herself at him with a primal scream, water surging in her wake. Her attacks are reckless and unbalanced, driven by rage and heartbreak rather than skill. But there’s power in her pain—raw, terrible power.

Power I recognize. Power I understand. Power that reflects my own—my devotion, my desperation, and my undying love for the star touched princess who lights up my dark, frozen world.

Shadow Maeris blocks Thalia’s initial assault, but she doesn’t relent. Her magic lashes out in jagged, unpredictable patterns, more emotion than technique.

“You think I don’t know pain?” she demands, water slicing through the air between them. “You think I don’t know loss?”

Shadow Maeris falters, the first sign of uncertainty crossing his features.

Her next strike catches him off guard, water condensing into a blade so sharp it gleams in the volcanic light. It slices across his chest, darkness spilling from the wound.

“You are not my weakness,” she declares, advancing on him. “You’re my strength.”

Shadow Maeris attempts to counter, but Thalia’s magic surrounds him now, water encircling him like a living thing.

“I loved Maeris,” she says, her voice dropping to a deadly whisper. “I will always love Maeris. But you? You’re nothing but a shadow.” She raises her hand, water surging in response, and sends it crashing into him.

Like mine and Sapphire’s shadows before him, he shatters into dust.

Thalia remains standing, her chest heaving, tears streaming down her face. Slowly, she sinks to her knees, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs, her grief radiating through the chamber.

The ground beneath us shifts again, our platforms retracting toward the center of the chamber.

As we descend, I catch Sapphire’s eye across the space between us. Her gaze is steady, unwavering—a beacon in this hellish place. A beacon in my life. No matter how deep the darkness claws at me, I always find her. I always will.

When our platforms lock together, I hurry to Sapphire’s side. I need her hand in mine like I need breath. Like I need blood. Like I need purpose. And finally, it finds hers, ice and water intertwining as our fingers lace together.

“You did it,” she murmurs, her free hand coming up to touch my cheek.

“We did it,” I correct her, pressing my forehead to hers. The contact steadies me. Grounds me. Burns through every part of me that wonders if my love for her is growing so much that it will consume me entirely, until I don’t know what else is left.

And yet, as her warmth floods through me, I’m reminded that I don’t care.

Let my love for her consume me. Let it rewrite me. Because with her, I’m finally the person I was always meant to be.

But the Pyros Vault doesn’t give us the generosity of a moment to recover. Instead, the ground rumbles, and the wall behind us splits down the middle, stone grinding against stone as it parts to reveal a cavern larger than the chamber we’re in now.

Rivers of lava snake across its floor, casting everything in a hellish red glow.

And there, suspended above a crumbling stone platform in the center of the cavern, floats a sphere of pure, condensed fire—pulsing like a heart, its light so bright it hurts to look at directly.

The Ember of Prometheus.