MINUTES BEFORE DISAPPEARING ...
Aeryn watched it all from where she lay, breathing heavily as hot tears slipped down her pale cheeks. She had seen this exact scene too many times to count. The only difference was that those had been nightmares, and this was terribly, hauntingly real. The dark and red streaks of corrupt energy screaming toward the sky, the bodies of the fallen scattered beneath, and the canals of crimson blood running through the dirt... everything was the same.
As the suffocating dark magic choked the light out of the clearing, the voice of the entity from her fever-dreams began to ring in her ears, vibrating inside her skull like a heavy, leaden bell:
Ask the one who is the creator of everything for help... you cannot help them all on your own. Let it go... let it all go, and you will be saved.
The whisper was intoxicating, wrapping around her thoughts like a cold silk shroud, urging her to stop fighting and surrender to the endless quiet.
But where the Queen's spirit wavered under the weight of her nightmares, another girl's dreams were forcing her to stand.
Among the suffocating defenders, the twin sisters stood firm.
After tlyra attacked him, he was visibly agitated, his breathing shallow and his patience entirely gone. He did not want to waste any more energy on these children.
Before anyone could react, Maeron's physical form suddenly dissolved. He turned into a thick, choking cloud of pitch-black smoke. The darkness swarmed across the clearing, blinding the Omon warriors, making them cough and gasp as the cold, rotten stench filled their lungs.
When the smoke finally cleared, everyone gasped in pure horror.
Maeron had solidified once more, but he was standing directly behind Aeryn. His pale, powerful hand was locked tightly around her slender neck, lifting her slightly off her feet.
"I will kill her if you take one step closer," Maeron threatened, his voice echoing from the shadows, his eyes burning with a promise of absolute death. "I will tear her throat open."
The clearing went dead silent. Nobody dared to breathe. Vienna held her hand up, signaling the Omon girls to halt, her pale face tight with a desperate, agonizing helplessness.
In that frozen moment, as the cold edge of Maeron's threat lingered in the air, the world around Aeryn seemed to fall entirely silent. The roaring wind stopped. The gasping defenders vanished into a blur.
Time ground to a halt, and inside the quiet solitude of her mind, darkness folded inward.
Out from the abyssal shadow, the entity appeared before her once more. Its form was shrouded in endless night, its face unseen and unrecognizable, floating in a realm beyond mortal sight. Yet for the first time in her life, Aeryn felt neither fear nor intimidation standing before it.
Let it go, the shadow whispered, its voice resonating directly inside her soul without moving a single lip.
Is this the only way? Aeryn asked silently within her mind, her eyes fixed on the dark form.
"Whoever surrenders their will while remaining a doer of good shall find their reward with him", the shadow replied, its cadence ancient and sublime. "And no fear shall touch them, nor shall they grieve".
Aeryn felt a hot tear slice through the stillness of the vision. "Will no one else get hurt? My people... they are dying around me. Is there any possibility we will succeed?"
"Whoever is saved from the selfishness of their own soul, it is those who are truly successful"l, the entity murmured.
Aeryn fell silent. Her mind ceased its desperate racing. The shadow drifted slowly around her, invisible to the world outside, bound to her through telepathic channels deeper than physical reality.
I don't want to die... a faint, vulnerable whisper echoed from the depth of her spirit.
The shadow offered no immediate answer to her fear. Behind her, in the real world, Maeron held his hand at her throat, holding the promise of murder. But Aeryn realized then that she was not afraid of the physical death this man who looked like her father threatened. She was terrified of the existential abyss that waited beyond, terrified of losing her identity, losing the people she loved, and leaving her world shattered under the weight of rampant dark magic.
"I don't want to lose myself," Aeryn pleaded into the dark. "I don't want to lose everyone. I have to fix this! Tell me... tell me I can handle this! They think they win if I die... I cannot let my comrades and those who gave everything to protect me perish in vain!"
The shadowy entity paused, its voice echoing with a grave, majestic truth:
"Woe to every scorner and mocker, who accumulates power and counts it, believing his power will make him immortal. They are their own true enemies, and only destruction is waiting for them."
Aeryn held her breath in the stillness. "Who is he?" she asked softly.
"He is the light in every heart," the shadow answered, its tone radiating a breathtaking warmth. "He is the very air you breathe, the brightness of your eyes, every color in the color is him.Whoever turns their face toward Him while doing good has grasped the most trustworthy handhold. And to Him is the ultimate outcome of all matters."
Aeryn reached out within her mind. I...
Before she could finish her thought, the shadow began to dissolve like morning mist.
"Closer and closer to mankind comes their reckoning", its fading voice echoed into the ether, "yet, alas! Alas! they heedlessly turn away."
The vision snapped shut.
Aeryn returned to the physical world, hanging weakly in Maeron's iron grip. But the panic had vanished. A profound, otherworldly calm settled over her heart. The surreal trance had cleared away every last shred of doubt. She did not fully understand what she was, nor did she fully grasp power inside her nor did she understand the divine nature of the force that watched over them. But she understood the truth she had avoided for so long: her greatest power to save them all was to let go of her crown, her fear, her mortal hold on the world, in a name it was called Greed.
Slowly, a soft, incredibly peaceful smile spread across Aeryn's pale lips. She looked at Vienna, giving the pale Regent a subtle, knowing wink, a silent passing of the crown, a final trust placed in her hands.
Then, Aeryn lowered her eyes to Rissa, who was kneeling in the dirt, clutching her own bleeding shoulder. Aeryn reached down with a trembling, weak hand, gently stroking Rissa's tangled, tear-stained hair.
"No... no, no..." Rissa sobbed, her voice breaking into a desperate, frantic whisper. She grabbed at Aeryn's hem, her chest heaving. "Please, Aeryn... no, don't do this... don't leave me..."
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