Chapter 100 Fractured

Chapter 100 Fractured
NYX

I felt my body dying three floors away.

Arcturus had breached the wards. Found the chamber where Isolde protected my comatose form. Was draining me. Consuming me. Erasing me second by second.

I have to go back. I told Father through our shared consciousness. Have to defend my body before—

You can't. The moment you leave my body, you'll be vulnerable. Arcturus will sense the transfer. Will attack during the transition. You'll die before you reach yourself.

Then I die here instead. Slowly. While he feeds.

Father was silent. Calculating. Then: There might be a way. Dangerous. Possibly fatal. But possible.

Tell me.

We split. Completely. You take partial control of my body. I take partial control of yours. We exist in both simultaneously.

That's impossible. One consciousness can't operate two bodies at once.

One consciousness can't. But we're connected. Through blood. Through bond. Through the vessel. His thoughts raced. We share the load. You pilot both bodies with my guidance. I anchor both with your power. Together we might manage what neither of us could alone.

Might?

It's the best I've got. You have a better plan?

I didn't. My body was dying. Father's body was needed to fight Malakor. We were out of time and options.

Do it.

The split happened fast. Violent. Like tearing reality in half.

Suddenly I existed in two places. Father's body in the great hall. My body in the warded chamber. Both at once. Both demanding attention. Both screaming for focus.

I nearly shattered. Consciousness fracturing under the strain.

Breathe. Focus. I've got you. Father's presence surrounded me. Steadying. Anchoring. Left hand. My body. Right hand. Your body. Separate them mentally. Don't let them blur.

I tried. Barely managed it. My left hand—Father's hand—moved sluggishly. My right hand—my actual hand—opened my eyes.

Saw Arcturus looming over me. Feeding. Draining.

Saw Isolde fighting him. Void magic against void being. She was losing.

"Stubborn child." Arcturus didn't even look at me. "Just die quietly. Make this easier."

Not happening. I forced my body up. Every movement agony. "You want me dead? Earn it."

He turned. Surprise flashed across his non-face. "You're awake. How—"

I hit him with time magic. Pure. Concentrated. Years pouring into him. Making him experience mortality. Making him age.

He screamed. Pulled away. Part of him crumbled. But not enough. Not nearly enough.

"That trick worked once. Won't work again." He adapted. Shielded himself. "I've learned. Have countered. Your time magic is useless now."

Father, I need help. Need void power. Need—

Can't give it from here. I'm fighting Malakor. If I drop focus, he kills fifty people.

Through Father's eyes, I saw it. The great hall. Malakor tearing through resistance fighters. Rowan bleeding. Theron barely holding. Chaos. Death. Slaughter.

Two battles. Two bodies. Both failing.

We need to end this fast. Both fights simultaneously.

How?

An idea formed. Terrible. Beautiful. Possibly suicidal.

The Soul Cages. Arianna said Vesper made three. One for each sibling. We used Serath's. Where are the other two?

Unknown. Could be anywhere. Could have been destroyed centuries ago.

Or could be exactly where Vesper left them. In her personal vault. Hidden. Waiting. I pushed my body upright. "Isolde! Vesper's vault! Where is it?"

"The Shadowlands. Deep. Impossible to reach during battle." She blocked another strike from Arcturus. Barely. "Why?"

"Because the other two Soul Cages might be there. Might be—"

"Are there." She smiled. Blood streaming from her mouth. "I've known for years. Never told anyone because they're too dangerous. Too easy to misuse."

"Can you get them? Now?"

"And leave you alone with Arcturus? You'll die."

"I'll survive. Maybe. Long enough." I gathered power. "Please. Trust me."

She hesitated. Then vanished. Simply gone. Transported to the Shadowlands through void magic.

Leaving me alone with the First of the First.

"Brave. Stupid. But brave." Arcturus moved closer. "You just sent away your only defender. Now you die. Alone. Afraid. Forgotten."

"I'm not afraid. And I'm not alone."

Through Father's body, I felt it. The connection between us. The bond that let us share consciousness. Share power.

Share magic.

Father. I need everything you've got. Every drop of void power. Every scrap of Shadowborn essence. Right now.

You'll burn out. Your body can't handle that much power.

Then we make it handle it. I opened both bodies. Both channels. Let power flow between them. "Let's show this ancient thing what modern cooperation looks like."

The void poured through me. Through both bodies. Through the connection binding us.

In the great hall, Father's body glowed black. Pure void. Pure darkness.

In the chamber, my body ignited with the same power. Amplified. Doubled.

Arcturus's eyes widened. "That's—impossible—you can't channel that much"

"Watch me." I struck. Both bodies. Both directions. Pincer attack through space and time.

Father's body hit Malakor with everything we had. Void against void. Darkness against darkness. The ancient vampire never saw it coming. Never expected a frontal assault that powerful.

My body struck Arcturus. Not with time magic. With pure, overwhelming force. Shadowborn power channeled through a time-walker's precision.

Both ancient vampires screamed.

Both began crumbling.

But I was burning out. The power was too much. Consuming me from inside. My body couldn't hold it. Couldn't contain the forces flowing through me.

Nyx, stop! You're killing yourself!

I know. But I'm taking them with me.

I pushed harder. Felt my body start to fail. Felt Father's body responding. Felt the connection between us fraying.

Worth it. If it killed both siblings. If it ended this. Worth it.

Isolde reappeared. Two crystals in hand. Soul Cages. She threw one at Arcturus. One at—

The great hall. At Malakor.

Through space. Through time. Through impossible distances.

Both crystals hit. Both shattered. Both released their magic.

Light exploded. Arcturus solidified. Became flesh. Became mortal. Vulnerable.

In the great hall, Malakor screamed the same. Trapped. Contained. Mortal.

"Now!" I shouted through both bodies. "Kill them! While they're trapped!"

Rowan didn't hesitate. Forty resistance fighters swarmed Malakor. Blades finding flesh. Destroying. Ending.

I grabbed a knife. Drove it into Arcturus's heart. Twisted. Felt him dissolve.

Both siblings died within seconds of each other.

Silence fell. Complete. Devastating.

I collapsed. Both bodies simultaneously. Power spent. Consciousness fracturing.

Nyx! Father's panic flooded through our bond. Stay with me! Don't scatter! Don't—

"I'm here. Still here." Barely. "Did we win?"

Through Father's eyes, I saw the great hall. Malakor dead. Resistance fighters wounded but alive. Rowan standing. Theron breathing.

Through my own eyes, I saw the chamber. Arcturus dissolved to ash. Isolde bleeding but functional.

"We won." Father's voice was hollow. Exhausted. "All four siblings dead. Only Morvenna left."

"Then we finish this." I tried to stand. Failed. Too weak. Too burned out. "We end her. Tonight. Before—"

The vessel shattered.

Not physically. Metaphysically. The mental construct holding Morvenna. The prison containing her.

It broke.

And I felt her consciousness flood into the physical world. Into freedom. Into rage.

"No." Isolde's voice was horrified. "She waited. Waited until you were exhausted. Until the collective was weak. Until—"

Morvenna materialized in the great hall. Right in front of Father's body. Right where forty wounded, exhausted fighters were barely standing.

"Hello, descendant." Her smile was terrible. "Thank you for killing my siblings. For doing exactly what I wanted. For weakening yourself perfectly." She raised her hand. Power gathered. More than before. Fed by chaos. By death. By the fear and trauma of the last hours. "Now die. And let me reclaim what's mine."

She struck.

Father's body didn't move. Couldn't move. Too exhausted. Too split. Too broken.

The attack was going to kill him. Kill me. Kill everyone.

Then Sera stepped between us.

"No." Her voice was steel. "You don't get him. You don't get to win. Not after everything."

Morvenna's attack hit her full force.

Mother screamed. Flew backward. Hit the wall. Didn't get up.

"Mother!" I screamed through Father's mouth. Tried to reach her. Body wouldn't respond.

Through our bond, I felt it. Mother's life fading. Heart slowing. Dying.

Because she'd taken a hit meant to kill instantly.

Because she'd sacrificed herself to save us.

Because she was my mother and that's what mothers did.

"Touching." Morvenna's voice was casual. Amused. "But ultimately pointless. Now. Where were we?" She prepared another attack. "Ah yes. Killing the king."

The throne room doors exploded.

Cassian stood there. Golden. Perfect. Radiating power.

Behind him, two hundred vampires. Every noble house. Every bloodline. United.

"Morvenna." His voice carried across the hall. "First Darkness. Shadowborn Queen. Mother of our bloodlines." He smiled. "We have a proposition. One you're going to accept."

"Oh?" She paused. "And what proposition could you possibly offer that interests me?"

"Surrender. Immediately. Or we collapse this entire palace on your head with you inside it." He gestured. Two hundred vampires began chanting. Power gathering. Massive. Coordinated. "We spent the last hour evacuating everyone. Placing charges. Rigging supports. This building is coming down in sixty seconds regardless. You can leave peacefully and live. Or stay and die in the rubble. Choose."

Morvenna looked around. At the wounded fighters. At Father's exhausted body. At me barely conscious. At Mother bleeding out.

At the two hundred vampires ready to destroy everything rather than let her win.

"You'd destroy your own palace? Your own seat of power?"

"We'd destroy the world before we let you rule it." Cassian's smile was cold. "Thirty seconds."

She studied him. Then laughed. "Well played. Fine. I leave. For now. But this isn't over."

"It never is." Cassian gestured. "Go. Before I change my mind and bury us all."

Morvenna vanished. Gone. Escaped. Alive.

But not victorious.

Not today.

I crawled to Mother. Felt her pulse. Weak. Fading.

"Hold on. Please. Just hold on."

Her eyes opened. Found mine. She smiled.

"Told you... we'd find... a way." Blood on her lips. "Always do."

Then her eyes closed. Heart stopped.

And the bond between us went dark. Something that whispered in the void's voice and promised power I should never have.

And it was only just beginning to wake up.