The broken Hourglass bled golden sands into the void, and every grain that fell tore deeper into reality. Fragments of the past flickered, shuddered, and collapsed, replaced by burning fire and dissolving time.
Alexander's flame blazed like a second sun, scorching through wave after wave of twisted guardians. Their howls rang out not in pain, but in endless echoes—reflections of battles long lost, kings long dead, monsters unburied.
He cut through them without hesitation, every strike a promise, every burst of fire fueled by the name he could not forget.
Isabella.
But even as he fought, the Hourglass's cracks spread wider, and its voice thundered across the void.
"To free one, you will unmake all. Is your flame so blind? Is your love so cruel?"
Alexander snarled, flames wrapping his fists. "Call it what you want. I'll burn the world if it means she isn't chained."
---
The Endless King Moves
Far from the Gate, the Endless King's throne shuddered violently, shadows writhing as fissures of golden light split the floor beneath him. He lifted a hand, and the chains binding Isabella rattled like serpents in agony.
Isabella screamed as fire surged through her bonds. The visions of Alexander's battle burned into her mind until she could hardly see.
The King's voice was sharp, desperate.
"If the Hourglass falls, you fall with it. Everything you are, everything you remember—gone."
Her body trembled, but her eyes burned with defiance. "Better nothing than your cage."
The King's shadows flared, forming a crown of writhing black smoke above his head. He clenched his hand, and the Gate across the chamber began to fracture.
"Then he forces my hand. If he cannot be stopped, he must be destroyed."
---
Isabella's Choice
The chains around her wrists trembled, half-melted by the echo of Alexander's fire. She felt their weakness, their loosening. But she also felt the weight of the truth pressing in on her chest: if he shattered the Hourglass, it wasn't just the King who would burn.
It was everything.
Her voice broke as she whispered into the storm of fire and visions, hoping he could hear her.
"Alexander… stop. Please. If you destroy it, you destroy yourself."
The words barely reached him, carried on a trembling current of power. For the briefest moment, his fire faltered, his chest heaving as the weight of her voice struck him deeper than the Hourglass's accusations ever could.
---
The Hourglass Reveals the Crown
The Hourglass pulsed, its sands twisting together, forming an image within its cracked core—a crown unlike any Alexander had ever seen. It was made of flame and shadow, eternity bound in a single shape.
> "This is the true throne. This is the fire's inheritance. To claim it is to rule what cannot be ruled."
The vision struck both Alexander and Isabella at once. They saw a king cloaked in fire and ash, crowned not by mortal hands, but by eternity itself.
Alexander's knees nearly buckled under the weight of it. His flame lashed out, not entirely his own anymore, surging toward the crown as if drawn by fate.
Isabella cried out, chains rattling as she struggled forward. "No, Alexander! Don't take it! That's not freedom—it's another prison!"
But the fire was already reaching.
---
The Endless King's Fury
The Endless King's scream tore through the throne room, a sound like a thousand kingdoms burning.
"You would dare wear my crown?"
Shadows erupted, lashing out across the chamber, aiming to sever Isabella before she could reach him.
And in the void of broken time, Alexander's hand stretched toward the Crown of Ashes, fire searing bright enough to make eternity itself tremble.