"Aldric…"
My voice barely escaped as a whisper, nearly drowned beneath the rush of blood pounding in my ears. "Lysandra… she…"
Aldric followed my gaze. His face tensed, eyes widening at the sight of that glowing red light shimmering across her delicate face.
"No… no, this can't be."
Lysandra stood amidst the cracked altar, clutching her head. Her small frame trembled as if struggling against something unseen—something clawing at her mind from within.
"I… don't know why… I feel so angry…" she murmured weakly. Her hands began to shake, and then black magic sprouted from her fingertips like tiny claws. "Everything in my head… is screaming. Screaming at me to—burn everything."
I forced my body to rise, though the shards of Valion's magic still seared through my abdomen. Every motion ripped through me like blades, but I couldn't stop. Not now. Not when she—the child who was never meant to bear any of this—was being made into a vessel of the curse.
"Lysandra," I called softly, pushing through the tremble in my knees. "Look at me. Hear my voice."
She turned slowly. Red eyes—yet brimming with tears. She was still there. Still fighting.
"I… I'm not him. But he's inside me… I can feel him… whispering… forcing…" Her voice broke. "I don't want to hurt you, Seraphine… but I can't tell which thoughts are mine… and which are his."
Aldric stepped forward swiftly, drawing his sword and placing himself between us. "If Valion's made her his vessel… we can't let her live, Seraphine. You know that."
"No!" I cried, louder than I thought possible. "She's not Valion! She's Lysandra!"
"But if the shard of Valion's soul fully fuses with her… there might be no turning back. And that… could mean the end of everything."
I looked at Lysandra—the small girl shouldering a burden never meant for her. "We haven't run out of ways yet."
I staggered toward her, raising a hand to stop Aldric. Though blood still poured from my wound and my limbs trembled, I wouldn't let Valion win. Not through this child.
I knelt before her. "You're strong. You're different. You're not him. He's just using you as a road—but you are not the destination."
She sobbed. "But… he gave me strength. He said I could be important. That people wouldn't see me as weak anymore…"
I took her trembling hands. "You *are* important. Because you're *you.* Because you can hear the voices of souls before they even speak. Because your heart still shines—even when everything around you is dark."
She bit her lip, her body shaking. "But… he made everything feel easier…"
"But it isn't your strength. It's a chain." I pressed my hand gently to her chest, feeling a strange pulse—not from the heart, but from something else. "A shard of Valion's soul still floats inside you. Like mist looking for a home. It hasn't rooted yet."
Aldric approached cautiously, still on edge. "If there's a way… do it now."
My eyes turned toward the altar behind us. Cracked, but still glowing faintly. The crystal heart—once the source of the blood curse—still shimmered with a dying light. A source of power… or perhaps a new prison.
"As long as the blood curse still pulses, that heart can be used to draw in and seal Valion's shard. But only if Lysandra is willing to let it go."
"If I let it go… will I die?" she asked, a tiny voice full of fear.
"No," I said quickly, locking eyes with her. "But it will hurt. You'll have to fight him. Expel him. Reject his false promises."
Lysandra nodded slowly. "I'll try."
Aldric rested a gentle hand on her shoulder. "You're incredibly brave, Lysandra."
We led her to the altar. She knelt before the crystal heart, and I stood behind her, my hands on her shoulders.
"Breathe," I whispered. "Feel him. And push him out—with everything you are."
She closed her eyes. Her body began to warm. Black magic vapors rose around her.
Suddenly she screamed—a cry from deep within her soul. A burst of dark magic shot from her chest. The air around the altar split open, and from that shadowy rift, a shape began to form—a horrific face, riddled with holes and grinning with jagged black teeth.
"YOU CANNOT CAST ME OUT, LITTLE GIRL!" Valion's voice thundered.
"I CAN!" Lysandra screamed. Her body blazed with silver and rose-colored light, forming a glowing circle beneath her feet.
I pressed my hands onto the crystal and began chanting the sealing incantation. My voice quivered, but every word was laced with purpose: a will to end it all.
"In the name of all the souls I have burned, of the blood that has been redeemed… I close your gate, Valion."
The shadow wailed and thrashed. It lunged, snapped, clawed. But the altar pulled at it, arcs of magic crackling across every corner of the chamber.
"YOU HAVE YET TO KNOW TRUE DARKNESS—!"
"And you'll never get the chance to show it," I hissed.
In the final blaze of light, the shadow was sucked into the crystal. A blinding explosion flooded the room. Aldric and I shielded Lysandra with our bodies.
When it faded, Lysandra lay unconscious in my arms. Her breath still came. Her soul was intact.
I looked at the cracked crystal. It was dark. Lifeless.
Valion… was truly gone.
Beyond the altar, the fog that had hung for centuries began to dissipate. Warm sunlight broke through the cracks in the sky for the first time in ages.
Aldric embraced me from behind, his voice barely a whisper. "You did it…"
I rested my head against his shoulder. "Not yet. But… for the first time… we can breathe without fear."
We lifted Lysandra and slowly descended from the altar.
But as we stepped onto the stone stairway, the ground quaked again. Not from magic. But from something older. More ancient than the blood curse. Deeper than Valion's darkness.
We froze.
In the distance, the black mountain—long shrouded in clouds—began to crack. The tremors crawled into our very bones.
Aldric shut his eyes. "Don't tell me… that's still part of Valion…"
I clutched Lysandra tighter, replying in a whisper, "No. But it may be something… he awakened."
From the fractured summit, a blinding greenish light surged. The sky tore open. A winged figure—tall and radiantless—slowly opened its eyes. Eyes without pupils. Only light.
Its voice seeped into our minds like the echo of a thousand years.
"Astaria… you have broken it."
My heart plummeted. That name. Astaria. The bloodline of my ancestors. The name of a past I had tried to forget.
I held my breath.
"The blood curse was not the end… There is still… the soul pact."
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