The veil felt like falling through a dream you couldn't wake from.
Elara's breath caught as she crossed the threshold. The moment her foot passed through the gate's burning edge, heat folded into cold, light bent into shadow, and the world twisted itself inside out. Raphael was right behind her, his hand catching her wrist before the tether of reality could fully snap.
They landed—together—on stone.
Not stone from Vaelreach. This was smoother, older, and humming with something ancient. A vast circular platform stretched around them, floating above a void of fire and mist. Chains—massive, ethereal—snaked through the sky, anchoring unseen monuments across the plane.
"Elara?" Raphael's voice was strained, his grip tight.
"I'm here," she said, rising slowly.
Above them, the sky burned in hues of crimson and violet. Below, the void churned like a restless sea. The pendant around her neck flickered but didn't glow.
"We're in the Veil," she murmured.
"And not alone," Raphael added.
Across the platform, a figure waited.
Niko.
He looked older. Worn. His clothes were torn, and his wrists bore the red glow of magical shackles. But it was him.
"Elara…" he whispered.
She ran.
But the moment she crossed halfway, a flare of flame erupted between them, forming a barrier. She slammed into it, rebounding with a cry.
Niko winced. "He still holds the key. He's here."
Raphael joined her, daggers drawn. "Then let's find him and end it."
From behind them, laughter echoed—low and knowing.
The masked one.
But here, in the Sovereign's realm, he didn't wear the veil. His face was visible—pale, eyes gleaming red, his skin cracked like scorched earth. A fragment of the Sovereign lived in him.
"I warned you," he said. "This was never your battle to win. Only your path to walk."
Elara stood, fury tightening her jaw. "You said I awakened the Sovereign. But I saw what's truly here. He's not risen—not fully."
"Yet," the man corrected.
Her pendant pulsed. The chain—now glowing from her wrist—responded to the plane.
"He's still bound," Raphael said. "Which means there's still a chance."
The masked one stepped aside.
"Then come, flame-bearer. Come see what your soul's light has stirred."
They followed him across the platform. Elara's steps were cautious, her thoughts spinning. Niko's presence was real—but this place distorted everything. She couldn't trust what she saw, yet her heart refused to deny him.
Beyond the edge of the platform stood a temple, half-sunken into mist. Its gates were carved with fire runes. The masked one gestured toward it.
"In there. The chamber where he sleeps. Touch it, and you break the last seal. Free your brother—and him."
Elara's fists clenched. "Why Niko? Why use him?"
He smiled. "Because you would never let him go."
Her anger spiked. Fire shimmered up her arms—but Raphael stepped closer.
"We're doing this together," he said quietly.
She looked at him. For a moment, the chaos faded.
"Together," she echoed.
Inside the temple, the temperature dropped.
It was silent.
A single altar rose in the center, surrounded by glyphs. A cocoon of red flame hovered above it—containing something twisted, monstrous… and inside it, faintly, a figure burned.
The Sovereign.
But just beyond the flame, chained to a spire of crystal—Niko.
He looked up, eyes glassy. "Don't…"
The masked one raised his hand.
The crystal platform lifted. The cocoon cracked.
The pendant on Elara's chest burned white.
"Only you can choose," he said. "Save your brother—and doom the world. Or seal the Sovereign—and lose him."
Tears blurred her vision.
"Why can't I do both?"
"Because the Sovereign's soul binds to the one who loves the sacrifice most," he whispered. "You are the gate. Niko is the key. The flame must claim one."
She stepped back.
Raphael caught her. "Elara—"
"I have to choose."
He nodded. But his eyes shone.
"Then let me be the shield."
"What?"
Raphael stepped forward, drawing a dagger—not to fight, but to offer.
"Take me instead."
The masked one laughed. "You are nothing. She doesn't burn for you."
Raphael looked at Elara. "But I do. For her."
Elara's heart shattered.
The flame inside the cocoon flared—responding.
"You love me," she whispered.
He nodded.
"And I won't let you die for me," she said.
She walked toward the altar, her hands trembling.
"I've made my choice," she said.
The pendant rose from her chest, spinning.
"Niko," she whispered, "I love you. But I won't let the world die for it."
She struck the ground with the pendant.
A shockwave erupted.
The cocoon exploded in fire.
The Sovereign screamed.
The chains pulled tight.
The masked one shrieked, body dissolving into ash.
Niko cried out—but light enveloped him.
And then—silence.
Elara opened her eyes.
She was lying on grass.
Raphael beside her, injured but breathing.
Niko…
Gone.
But not dead.
A flicker of his light lived in the chain on her wrist. A promise. A bond unbroken.
She wept.
And Raphael held her.
"You saved him," he said. "In a different way."
She nodded, silent.
The gate behind them smoldered.
But the world was whole.
The Sovereign was sealed.
And she was still Elara.
But no longer just the flame.
She was its master.
And Raphael?
Her anchor.
The fire flickered low across the stone floor, casting strange shadows on Elara's face. Her breath hitched as she stared into the void where the Sovereign had once roared. The storm was gone. The silence felt almost unreal.
Raphael stirred beside her, his voice hoarse. "Is it over?"
Elara didn't answer right away. She touched the chain on her wrist—the only thing left of Niko now. It pulsed faintly. Not with magic, but memory.
She stood slowly. Her body ached in places she didn't know could hurt. The toll of wielding the flame, of holding the Veil within herself, was more than she expected. But she bore it.
Because she had chosen.
She walked to the edge of the cliff where the temple once stood, now crumbled into the mists of the Veil. Raphael joined her, his hand brushing hers.
"We'll find him again," he said quietly.
Elara nodded. "I know."
The ground beneath them began to rumble softly. The sky above, once stained with violet and crimson, slowly returned to the soft hues of dawn. The Veil was mending. The chains in the sky pulled taut, reasserting their ancient bindings.
But the platform they stood on—the last bridge between realms—was fading.
Raphael tensed. "We need to go."
Elara looked once more at the place where Niko had vanished. "Goodbye," she whispered.
They ran.
The exit gate shimmered ahead, weakened but still open. As they reached it, the ground cracked beneath their feet. Raphael leapt first, turning to pull her through.
Just before she crossed, Elara looked back—and saw a single blue flame flicker where Niko had been.
Hope.
She stepped through.
They emerged in Vaelreach again. The sky was clear. The wind was still. And the cliffside… was whole. As if the battle had never happened.
But they remembered.
Kaelen rushed toward them from the tower ruins. "You made it!"
Elara collapsed to her knees, exhausted but alive.
Tarin, bruised and limping, joined them moments later. "The masked one?"
"Gone," Elara said softly. "He was just a vessel."
"And the Sovereign?" Kaelen asked.
"Sealed. For now."
"But not forever," Raphael added. "The bond is broken. But cracks remain."
Elara stood. "Then we'll be ready. Next time."
She looked at her team—bruised, battered, but united. Kaelen. Tarin. Raphael.
And the empty space where Niko should've stood.
She clutched the chain again. It glowed faintly.
"I'm going to find a way to bring him back," she said. "No matter how long it takes."
Raphael didn't try to stop her. Instead, he stepped closer, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "You won't do it alone."
Their eyes locked.
The flame no longer consumed her—it obeyed.
And beside her, Raphael stood as the one soul who had loved her enough to burn.
They turned away from the ruins, walking toward the horizon as the sun rose over Vaelreach.
The world was quiet.
But Elara's journey was only just beginning.
And in the distance, the flame flickered once more.