As each second passed, the light swelling from Aria's body grew blinding.
Her silver hair shimmered, strands slowly turning into liquid gold. Her tears struck the ground like molten droplets of light—golden, burning, alive. Power pulsed violently beneath her skin, rushing through her veins like a storm that had finally found its vessel.
Duke Raelin's ancient voice echoed somewhere beyond the light, repeating the prophecy he once prayed would never come true.
Alwin was thrown backward, unable to even stand as the shockwave struck his chest.
Abigel forced himself forward. Every step felt unbearable, as though his heart were being torn apart from the inside—because he could feel everything through their connection.
Her power.
Her grief.
Her rage.
Her despair.
All of it flooded through him like a blade carving into his soul.
She was no longer herself.
"Aria!" he shouted. But she did not even react. Her eyes were distant, lost somewhere beyond the world, drowning in the fading rhythm of Icarus's heartbeat.
"Aria, you need to stop. Hold on to yourself. This isn't what he wanted!"
Abigel reached for her shoulder, forcing himself through the crushing pressure of her aura. His fingers barely brushed against her—
When suddenly, a violent force blasted him backward.
A voice echoed across the forest, ancient and overwhelming:
"Do not touch my master."
Behind Aria, a figure slowly emerged from the storm of golden light.
Not Kirael.
Not any familiar they had ever seen before.
A golden familiar emerged from the veil of light as though the sun itself had taken shape. Its body was neither fully beast nor spirit, but something ancient that existed between both realms. Layers of molten-gold feathers and crystalline scales covered its form, each piece shimmering like liquid dawn beneath the stars. Vast wings unfurled behind it, trailing threads of radiant light that drifted through the air like fragments of a forgotten constellation.
Its eyes were the most unsettling part—two glowing amber orbs without pupils, deep enough to resemble miniature suns trapped behind glass. Whenever it blinked, faint golden runes appeared briefly across its skin before fading away again. A crown of curved horns, resembling polished celestial metal, framed its head and gave it the appearance of an ancient divine guardian. Legends claimed that only one such familiar could exist within an era, bound not by contracts, but by fate itself. It was said to appear only before those chosen by the heavens—or those destined to bring ruin to them.
Aria's familiar had finally awakened.
The pressure pouring from it forced Abigel to one knee. The earth beneath him cracked apart as if unable to withstand its existence.
For Aria, everything was moving too fast.
She could no longer tell what was real and what was not. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears while the voice deep inside her mind became clearer—no longer broken whispers, but something complete. Ancient. Powerful.
It was calling to her.
Let it out.
The words echoed through her soul like a command.
Aria's trembling fingers tightened around Icarus one last time. Tears continued to fall from her eyes, but now even they no longer felt human.
For a brief moment, her expression went blank.
As though something inside her had finally snapped.
Then suddenly—
The light exploded outward in one final surge before vanishing completely.
Her body went limp.
Without another sound, Aria lost consciousness and collapsed forward, falling into darkness without any awareness of what she had just unleashed.
The day ended with the never-setting sun diminishing into the western sky as Aria finally collapsed.
Her grip around Icarus loosened, his body slipping from her trembling arms. Before she could fall completely, Abigel caught her. He had forced himself through the storm of power just to reach her, exhaustion carving through every part of him.
But then he noticed something else.
A faint hope.
A tiny presence no one else had sensed.
The realization made his eyes widen.
It was enough for Selene to run toward her child without hesitation. By the time she arrived, Abigel was already holding Aria carefully in his arms. Selene touched her daughter's freezing cheeks, her fingers trembling slightly.
How many times had it been now?
Selene had spent her entire life trying to protect Aria from the cruelty of the world, yet somehow trouble always found her daughter first—as if fate itself refused to leave her alone.
And this time…
the trouble had nearly driven Aria to destroy herself.
The aftermath moved quickly. Soldiers evacuated the forest while the wounded were carried away under the leadership of Alwin and Tristan. Orders echoed through the ruined grounds as panic slowly settled into exhausted silence.
Only Lilly's body remained behind longer than expected.
No one knew what should be done with the body of a traitor.
Or perhaps… the body of someone destroyed by love.
Was it worth it in the end?
The question lingered heavily in everyone's minds.
For love, there was always something worth risking everything for.
But obsession was different. Obsession consumed until nothing human remained.
Still, too many questions remained unanswered.
How had Lilly obtained the soul-binding dagger?
How did she know it was Icarus's greatest weakness?
And most importantly—
Had someone been guiding her from the shadows all along?