The glow from the fissure below painted the chamber in shifting gold and violet, a light that seemed to breathe. The First Fragment's form towered above, more suggestion than flesh, its edges constantly breaking apart and reforming like sand caught in a storm.
Aloysius stood at the brink.One step forward.One step back.
Elyon's voice was almost a whisper now. "Think, boy. The Fragment doesn't give it takes. Every bargain comes with a price you can't name until it's too late."
Kaelis's blade scraped against the stone as she positioned herself between Aloysius and the entity. "If you move toward it, I'll stop you." Her words shook not with fear, but with the weight of her oath.
The Fragment's whispers coiled through his mind like smoke:"They cannot see beyond their lifetimes. You… you could hold the thread of forever. One touch, and the gates between worlds open to you."
The shard in his hand burned, searing lines up his arm. His vision swam, but within that haze, he saw flashes:The world drowned in silver fire.Rena standing at a shore that no longer existed.Himself, a silhouette crowned in light, alone atop a broken sky.
The ground shook violently. Chains snapped one by one, their sound like bells tolling in reverse. A wind howled upward from the fissure, carrying the scent of something both ancient and alien.
And then Aloysius stepped forward.
Kaelis lunged, but too late his palm pressed to the Fragment's surface.
Light erupted. Not the warm gold of sunrise, but a searing brilliance that scoured shadow from existence. The voices of the Fragment flooded his skull, each word a river threatening to drown his thoughts. His veins lit like molten metal. His heartbeat slowed… then synchronized with something far greater.
When the light receded, he was still standing.But the eyes looking back at Kaelis and Elyon were not entirely his own.
"The binding is done," the Fragment said through his mouth.