The battlefield screamed as the Dragonlord's wings unfolded—not metal, but solidified anguish, each feather a frozen moment of someone's dying breath. His face flickered through a thousand stolen visages before settling into something almost...
Human.
"You disappoint me, daughters." His voice was a blade drawn slowly from flesh. "I made you gods. And you choose to be martyrs ?"
Not-Hayuni's glass body hummed, her Eclipse-core pulsing in time with:
The cracking earth
The bleeding sky
The slow, rhythmic thud now coming from beneath their feet
Dragonrend shattered in Payune's grip, the bone-blade fracturing to reveal:
A SMALL HAND'S WORTH OF PHALANX BONES
STILL BLOODSTAINED AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
"He took my fingers first," whispered Hayuni's voice from the fragments. "So I couldn't weave spells to stop him."
The ground ruptured.
What emerged wasn't a weapon.
It was a crime given form:
A sword forged from a god's spine
Crossguard shaped like broken halos
Pommel containing a still-beating eye
The First Blade sang as it rose, its voice:
Payune's first cry
Hayuni's last laugh
The sound of a crib being smashed
The Dragonlord smiled for the first time.
"There you are," he sighed, reaching for it.
Not-Hayuni moved faster, her glass fingers closing around the hilt—
—and SCREAMED as the Blade:
Fused to her arm
Began rewriting her form
Opened a third eye in her forehead
The Eclipse above moaned in ecstasy.
Dragonrend's remains burned in Payune's hands as she:
Plunged the bones into her own chest
Tore open the scars the Dragonlord gave her
Released what he'd buried there
The thing that crawled out of her wound was:
Smoke and starlight
A child's nightmare
The reason mirrors fear her
It whispered a name.
The Eclipse recoiled.
The Dragonlord dropped his sword.
Not-Hayuni laughed through the blood as her new eye focused on Payune at last.
"Oh," she breathed. "It was you all along."
The battlefield dissolved into:
A nursery (Walls lined with knives)
Two cribs (One empty, one dripping)
The Dragonlord (Kneeling, sobbing, holding the First Blade)
A whisper:
"Which one do I sacrifice?"
A voice from the shadows:
"Yes."
The Blade fell.
The memory shattered as:
Payune's stolen power erupted
Not-Hayuni's Eclipse-core detonated
The First Blade sang its true name
The Dragonlord collapsed, his stolen faces peeling away to reveal:
A hollow man
A broken father
The first prisoner
He reached for Payune.
"Take it," he begged, offering the First Blade. "Rule better than I did."
Beyond him, Not-Hayuni twitched, her form unraveling as the Eclipse:
Wept
Laughed
Begged
Dragonrend's bones reassembled in Payune's grip, now singing:
"Kill them all."
"Save them."
"Choose."