Chapter 117

***Allen***

Silence. A very deafening, endless silence. I didn’t know how long I had been unconscious, but the moment I woke up, I was drowning in it. There was no clash of swords, no screams of agony, no battle cries. Only a vast, hollow stillness. I sucked in a sharp breath, feeling the weight of my own body pressing against the scorched ground. My muscles screamed in protest as I forced myself to move. Pain radiated through every inch of me, but I gritted my teeth and pushed past it. I opened my eyes, trying to take a view of my environment. And I wished I hadn’t. Because the battlefield, the very same place where warriors clashed, where the war for our existence had reached its peak, was gone. In its place was a wasteland of ash and molten rock, stretching endlessly in every direction. The sky was neither the deep crimson of war nor the familiar blue of home. It was a void, a colorless abyss where nothing moved, nothing breathed. “Lyra... Tharos... Kael... where are you?” My voice was hoarse, barely more than a whisper, but I forced their names past my dry lips. “Thalos... Elara...” For a moment, there was nothing. Just the hollow echo of my voice bouncing off the lifeless remains of what once was. Then, movement. A groan, followed by a soft cough. I turned my head, relief washing over me as I saw Kael stir a few feet away. His armor was cracked, his face smeared with dirt and dried blood, but he was breathing. “Kael!” I forced myself forward, my limbs sluggish as I crawled to his side. “Kael, wake up.” His eyes fluttered open, the usual sharpness in them dulled. “Allen...?” His voice was weak, but I had never been so grateful to hear it. I grasped his arm, helping him sit up as he groaned in pain. “We survived,” I said, barely believing the words myself. “We’re alive.” Kael exhaled heavily, his gaze scanning the wasteland before us. “Is this... Drakora?” I looked around, my stomach twisting at the thought. Was it? Or was this some twisted in-between, caught in the merging of worlds? A sudden rustling drew our attention. Lyra. She lay motionless a few yards away, her normally pristine silver hair streaked with soot and blood. Tharos was next to her, his massive frame barely stirring. I didn’t think. I ran. Sliding to my knees, I placed my fingers against Lyra’s neck, searching desperately for a pulse. For a few agonizing seconds, I felt nothing. Then, the faintest thump against my fingertips. “She’s alive,” I breathed, looking at Kael. “Help me.” Before I could finish, another voice cut through the silence. “She saved us.” I turned sharply. Thalos was awake, sitting up with one hand clutching his head. His dark eyes, usually so guarded, were filled with something I had never seen before, something close to reverence. “She saved us all,” he repeated, his voice laced with disbelief. Jane. Memories came rushing back, hitting me like a tidal wave. The explosion of power. The golden light swallows everything. The way Morgath screamed as his existence was unraveled before our eyes. The way Jane stood at the center of it all, burning brighter than the sun itself. Where was she? I stumbled to my feet, ignoring the pain screaming through my body. “Jane!” I shouted, my voice breaking the unnatural silence. “Jane, where are you?!” No answer. A cold weight settled in my chest. Then, the air shifted. A faint glow shimmered in the distance, almost imperceptible at first. Then it grew brighter, flickering like a candle in the wind. Kael noticed it, his hand tightening around the hilt of his sword. “What is that?” I didn’t answer. My feet moved on their own, carrying me toward the light. The closer I got, the stronger the glow became, twisting and bending like liquid fire. And then, as if the universe itself had been holding its breath, the glow took form. A figure. Slender. Familiar. Unmistakable. Jane. She stood at the center of the devastation, her long hair flowing like molten gold, her body bathed in the eerie light. But something was wrong. I stopped a few steps away, my heart pounding. “Jane?” She lifted her head slowly. And I felt my breath catch in my throat. Her eyes. They weren’t the warm, determined eyes I knew. They weren’t even human anymore. They glowed with an unnatural radiance, shifting between gold and white, swirling with an energy that made the very air tremble. She looked at me. No, through me. And then she spoke. “Allen,” she said, her voice layered with something else, something inhuman. “It’s over.” The world around us pulsed, the very fabric of reality twisting at her words.