Kaelen returned to the camp a hollow shell of the warrior who had left. Valerius and the fifty riders were instantly alarmed by his empty scabbard.
"Your Highness! The blade! Where is the Sun Blade?" Valerius demanded, clutching his own sword.
"It is... securing our survival, Commander," Kaelen stated flatly, his exhaustion profound. "We are safe for one year. The Sea Witch agreed to a magical bond. She needed the blade to stop a catastrophic flood that would have drowned all of Solaria."
The men exchanged disbelieving glances. The idea of the Heir of the Sun surrendering his birthright to a creature of the deep was a monumental act of heresy, or, perhaps, genius.
Kaelen dismissed them curtly and retreated to his tent, refusing food or water. He stared at the spot on his palm where the invisible bond lay, feeling the weight of the Sea Witch's ancient, chilling magic wrapped around his soul.
Meanwhile, deep in the cavern, Lysandra was fighting a battle no human could ever understand. The power of the Sun Blade was immense, but it was also alien to her. It burned with a chaotic, terrestrial fire that fought against her cool, oceanic magic.
She had lied to Kaelen, partially. The Heart of the Abyss was unstable and did need the Sun Blade. But her true purpose was far more desperate than simple stabilization.
As she plunged the tip of the golden sword into the core of the glowing orb, the light flared again, blindingly, and the magic of the two worlds fused. Lysandra gasped, the power surging through her.
"Elder Thalassa! The process is beginning! Quickly!" she commanded, her voice ringing with newfound strength.
Thalassa, the nervous crab-like advisor, scurried forward. "Mistress, are you sure? The prophecy said this mixing would be fatal!"
"It will be fatal for the Gloom!" Lysandra shot back, sweat beading on her pale brow. "The Solarian Sunwells are dying because your ancestors, Thalassa, used their fire to permanently cap the greatest source of pure magic! The Heart of the Abyss is not just an orb; it is the sealed heart of the world's magic, and the Gloom is a result of Solaria suffocating it for centuries."
Lysandra pressed the Sun Blade deeper. "The Sun Blade is the key! It is the most concentrated Solarian energy left. I am not simply stabilizing this Heart. I am using the blade's power to break the Sun-Seal your dynasty imposed, and finally free the trapped magic to flow back into the world, healing both the sea and the land!"
She released a wave of power. The Sun Blade, instead of being consumed, began to melt and dissolve into the magical core, permanently bonding the Sun magic with the Sea magic.
As the blade vanished, a torrent of raw, restorative energy exploded outward from the orb. It wasn't destructive; it was life. The cavern filled with an ethereal light that glowed gold and silver, pulsing with the heartbeat of a world suddenly revitalized.
Lysandra sank to her knees, exhausted but triumphant. She had done it. She had healed the world, but in doing so, she had destroyed the Heir of the Sun's last symbol of power and started a brand new, dangerous connection between their worlds.
"The prophecy... did not speak of healing, Mistress," Thalassa whispered, looking at the glorious, terrifying light. "It spoke of a clash that would bring dawn or drowning."
"We chose dawn," Lysandra stated, her voice trembling slightly. "But the cost is heavy. I am now bound to the Sun-Prince. The blending of the blade's power with mine has created a connection—a Soul Tide. Kaelen and I, the Heir of the Sun and the Sea Witch, are now inextricably linked. I can feel him, Thalassa. I can feel his rage, his loss... and his power."
She stood, and the first thing she did was look toward the surface, knowing Kaelen was there. He was disarmed, stripped of his magical heritage, but she felt his soul burning with a fierce, lonely intensity that resonated with her own power. The bond was a chain, but it was also an intimate, terrifying gateway.
"He will come back," she predicted, a strange mix of fear and anticipation in her tone. "He will seek revenge for the loss of his blade, or he will seek answers to the power he now feels flowing back into his scorched earth. And when he returns... I will be
ready