The sound of ice cracking echoed throughout the hall like the last gasp of a dying giant.
Colossal white plates collapsed upon one another, shattering into fragments that crumbled before even touching the ground, evaporating into a cold mist. The chaotic glow that sustained that monstrous form flickered… once… twice… and then faded.
Silence.
This time, a different silence.
Not heavy.
Not threatening.
A weary silence.
Kael remained kneeling, the crushed white heart still oozing between his fingers like thick snow that refused to disappear. His hand trembled—not from fear, but from utter exhaustion. Every muscle screamed. Every bone felt dislocated. His breath came in irregular gasps, as if the air had become something hostile.
He parted his fingers.
What remained of the heart turned to dust.
The last physical trace of Seraphyne dissipated into thin air.
For a few seconds, nothing happened.
Then, slowly, the hall began to react.
