SHATTERED BONDS
Flames curled up in the sky as the sanctuary trembled beneath the power that was released. The air was charged with tension and the firelight flashed on the stone walls, creating outrageous shadows. Elara leant back on the charred rock, her heart pounding, breath short.
"Lerder!" she shouted, coughing through the smoke.
He appeared through the blood running down his arm, his sword dragging against the ground.
"You have to get to the eastern passage. Now." Lerder whispered, with low voice.
Elara shook her head. "Not without you."
His eyes locked on hers—those storm-gray eyes, now weary but burning with something deeper. Love, regret, and purpose.
"Elara, if you stay, we both die. And the prophecy dies with us." Lerder uttered, pain filled his words.
"Then we die together." She responded.
He spoke under his breath. "Damn it, Elara."
Before he could speak again, a guttural roar shattered the moment. Malak emerged from the crumbling entrance, wings unfurled, eyes blazing with anger. Morwen followed, pale and elegant, like a ghost born of shadows.
"You thought you could run from fate?" Isadora sneered. "Foolish children."
Elara stood tall, defiance radiating from her. Her voice was steady. "We're not running. We're rewriting it."
The Oracle's revelation had shattered something fundamental inside Lerder. It's a revelation coming true before his eyes, he could not believe it would take place right this moment, when he never thought of it happening.
"Lysander was never meant to protect you," Isadora stated. "He was meant to mold you—into a weapon. Into a king."
"He raised me," Lerder muttered, fists clenched. "He said…"
"He said what you needed to hear to become what he needed you to be." Isadora spoke, loudly.
The truth settled like poison in his veins. Betrayal. Not by enemies, but by the only family he'd known.
Elara reached for Isadora's hand.
"What do we do now?" Elara asked.
Isadora looked at her—truly looked. Her strength wasn't in fire or prophecy. It was in her resilience. Her unwillingness to give up.
"We take back our fate." Isadora replied.
They barely had time to breathe before Kael burst into the sanctuary hall, face bloodied, eyes wild.
"They're coming. Malak and Morwen. They found the wards."
Lerder's jaw clenched. "We hold them off. We buy the others time to evacuate."
Isadora shook her head. "You won't survive that."
"Then we don't," Elara whispered. "But someone must buy time for others to escape."
Blades clashed. Fire roared. The mountain groaned under the weight of chaos.
Malak lunged for Lerder, claws gleaming with dark venom. Lerder ducked, countered with a slicing arc that grazed the beast's side. Malak roared in fury.
"You're nothing but a failed pawn, boy. You were always meant to fall." Lerder exclaimed.
Lerder grinned, blood in his teeth. "Then why are you bleeding?" Malak responded.
Meanwhile, Elara faced Morwen.
"You've no idea what's coming," Morwen whispered, raising her hand.
Shadows wrapped around her like serpents, reaching for Elara. But Elara lifted her palm—and light burst from her chest, pure and blinding. Morwen screamed, moving back.
"You're not just the chosen one," Morwen hissed. "You're the reckoning."
The power surged through Elara's veins, unstoppable, alive. But with it came pain. Her vision blurred, her heart faltered.
"Elara!" Lerder shouted, calling down a creature from the dark.
Elara fell to her knees, eyes glowing white, the prophecy burning inside her skull. The prophetic words inside her head says;
'One will fall. One will rise. And the price will be blood.'
She looked up. Lerder had taken a brutal hit—his shoulder torn, breath dropping.
"I see it now," she uttered. "The ending."
He knelt beside her, his fingers tangling in hers.
"Tell me." Lerder whispered.
"You die. I rise. Or... we both lose." She screamed.
He didn't move. Instead, he leaned in, resting his forehead to hers. "Then we find a third way."
Deeper Into the Sanctuary
Kael and Isadora battled to clear a path for the remaining survivors. Lysander appeared, wounds carved into his flesh, eyes haunted.
"I never meant for it to end this way." Lerder voiced, rightly.
Lerder's blade was at his throat in a flash. "You made me a weapon. Now you answer for it."
"You were always more than that. I just… didn't know how to let you be." Lysander acknowledged.
Elara stepped between them. "We don't have time for regrets. We have time for choices."
Lerder hesitated. Then dropped his blade.
"Then let me choose to help. One last time."
Lysander uttered, with willingness in her voice.
THE COLLAPSE.
The mountain cracked. The ceiling trembled.
"They're bringing the whole mountain down!" Kael screamed.
Elara looked at Lerder.
"You have to go now." She voiced.
"Not without you." Lerder replied.
She kissed him—fierce, desperate and final.
"Then we do it together." Elara said.
They ran, magic and steel cutting through the enemy, Lysander at their back. The ground split open as Malak roared, wings thrashing.
"This ends with your blood, girl!" Malak said.
Elara turned, eyes glowing. "Then come and take it."
Light burst from her again—but this time, Lerder joined her, his essence twining with hers. Power, prophecy, pain—they became one. And with it, a force surged that sent Malak and Morwen reeling.
But it came at a price.
Lerder collapsed.
"No, no, no!" Elara screamed, catching him.
"Worth it," he said, with a low voice. "You… worth it." His heartbeat faded.
She kissed him, power spilling from her lips into his.
"Come back to me. Please." Elara requested, emotionally.
The power of Love and her strength as the choosing one, made her wish come true. He lived, but the sanctuary didn't.
They stood at the edge of the rubble, the sky burning, the prophecy altered.
Kael lay dying beside them. Morwen and Malak had run away for their lives.
"We survived," Elara whispered.
Lerder took her hand. "For now."
"We both are meant to live and share lovely moments together" She pointed out, with a cute smile on her face.
"I will forever live for you, everyday. All I want is to see you happy." Lerder voiced.
"I would love to carry your kids and be yours forever." Chaewon said, filled with passion.
"You think the prophecy ends here?" Lerder said.
She laughed out loudly.
"Prophecy or not, I will forever be your main prophecy." Elara replied, with a romantic feeling.