Ember's POV
I'm falling through complete darkness when hands catch me.
"Got you." Lyra's voice. Impossible, but real.
I crash into her arms, and we tumble onto solid ground. My whole body aches. My chest feels hollow where the soul bond used to be.
"Lyra?" I gasp. "How—what—you're here?"
"Long story." She helps me sit up. We're in a cave lit by glowing crystals. "I followed you through the Veil. Took me a while to find the crossing point, but I made it. I've been tracking you for hours."
"Kaelan broke the bond." My voice cracks. "He's dying. We're both dying."
"You're not dying. Look at yourself."
I look down. I'm glowing. Not with fire magic—with something else. Silver light pulses under my skin in rhythm with my heartbeat.
"What is this?"
"I don't know, but it started the moment you fell through that wall." Lyra pulls out a device that looks like a magical compass. "And it's leading somewhere. North. Toward something called the Moon Temple."
Kaelan's last words echo in my head: "Find the Moon Temple. The real prophecy is there."
"He knew," I whisper. "He knew breaking the bond would trigger something."
"Who knew? What are you talking about?"
I fill Lyra in quickly—the Consortium, the fake prophecies, Kaelan's sacrifice. With every word, her eyes get wider.
"So everything they told you was a lie?" she asks.
"Everything. The thirty-day deadline, the two prophecies, all of it. They were herding us toward a forced bond." I stand up, wobbling. "But Kaelan figured it out. He broke the bond to free us from their control."
"And now you're both dying."
"Maybe. Or maybe we're being reborn into something else." I touch my chest where the bond used to be. It's not empty anymore—it's filling with that silver light. "We need to get to the Moon Temple. Now."
"That's going to be a problem." Lyra points at the cave entrance. "Because they're looking for you."
Voices echo from outside. Consortium mages, searching the ruins.
"She has to be here somewhere!"
"The bond signature vanished in this area. Spread out!"
Lyra and I press against the cave wall, barely breathing.
"How many?" I mouth silently.
She holds up eight fingers. Too many to fight.
Then I hear another voice that makes my blood run cold.
"Ember Ravencrest!" Celeste's voice rings out. "I know you can hear me. Come out, or I start killing people. Starting with your mother."
My hands clench into fists.
"It's a bluff," Lyra whispers. "She wouldn't kill her own aunt."
"Yes, she would." I've seen the madness in Celeste's eyes. She'd kill anyone to get what she wants.
I step toward the entrance, but Lyra grabs my arm.
"Don't. That's what she wants."
"I can't let her kill my mother!"
"Your mother is already dead."
The new voice makes us both spin around. A woman emerges from the shadows of the cave—tall, silver-haired, with eyes that glow like moonlight.
"Who are you?" I demand, fire sparking in my palms.
"Someone who's been waiting for you to wake up." The woman smiles. "My name is Selene. I'm the keeper of the Moon Temple. And your mother sent me to find you before she died."
The words hit me like a physical blow. "No. She was alive ten minutes ago. I saw her—"
"You saw her in the dungeon. That was ten minutes ago in your time." Selene's face is sad. "But you fell through a time rift when Kaelan broke the bond. It's been three days down here. Three days that your mother spent leading the Consortium away from this location. Three days before they finally caught her."
I can't breathe. "She's dead?"
"She died protecting the secret of the Moon Temple. Protecting you." Selene gestures deeper into the cave. "She wanted you to know the truth before they twist it further. Come with me. Quickly."
"This could be a trap," Lyra warns.
"Everything is a trap." I follow Selene anyway. What choice do I have?
We move through twisting tunnels that seem to go on forever. The silver light under my skin grows brighter with each step.
"What's happening to me?" I ask.
"You're awakening." Selene doesn't look back. "The bond you shared with Kaelan wasn't your true bond. It was a forgery, created by the Consortium to control you both."
"Then what's my true bond?"
"You're about to find out."
We emerge into a massive underground temple. The ceiling is so high it disappears into darkness. The walls are covered in silver writing that glows and shifts.
And in the center, floating in a beam of moonlight, is a crystal the size of my head.
"The Moonstone," Selene breathes. "The source of all soul bonds in both realms. The Consortium tried to corrupt it centuries ago, but they failed. Instead, they created the fake prophecy to manipulate people like you and Kaelan."
I approach the crystal slowly. It pulses in time with the silver light in my chest.
"If I touch it?" I ask.
"You'll see the real prophecy. The one the Consortium has been hiding for six hundred years." Selene's expression is grave. "But Ember, once you see it, there's no going back. You'll understand what you truly are. What you were always meant to be."
"Will it save Kaelan?"
"That depends on whether you're brave enough to accept your destiny."
Outside, I hear Celeste's voice getting closer. She's found the cave entrance.
I have seconds to decide. Touch the crystal and learn the truth, or run and stay ignorant.
Through the hollow space where the bond used to be, I feel something. A whisper. Kaelan's presence, faint and dying.
He's still alive. Barely.
I reach for the crystal.
The moment my fingers touch it, the world explodes into silver fire.
Visions flood my mind. Not of Kaelan—of someone else. Someone I've never seen but somehow know down to my bones.
A woman with flames for hair and eyes like the sun. Standing beside a man made of living shadow.
They're not Kaelan and me. They're our originals. The first soul bond, created six hundred years ago.
And they're not two separate people.
They're one being split into two forms.
The truth crashes over me like a wave: Kaelan and I aren't meant to bond. We're meant to merge. To become what we were before the Consortium split us apart.
One being. One consciousness. One god.
"No," I whisper, pulling my hand back.
But it's too late. The crystal has already shown me everything.
The real prophecy isn't about saving the realms or destroying them.
It's about ending them entirely—and creating something new in their place.
And I'm the trigger.
The crystal shatters.
Silver light explodes outward, and I hear Kaelan's voice in my head—not through a bond, but through something deeper. Something ancient.
"Ember. I remember now. I remember what we were. What we have to become."
"We'll lose ourselves," I think back desperately. "If we merge, Ember and Kaelan will cease to exist."
"I know. But everyone else will live. Both realms will survive."
"There has to be another way!"
"There isn't. I'm sorry."
The temple begins to collapse. Selene grabs Lyra and drags her toward an exit.
"Ember, come on!" Lyra screams.
But I'm frozen, staring at the shattered crystal.
Celeste bursts into the temple, her face twisted with fury. "What did you DO?!"
"I learned the truth," I say quietly. "And now I have to make a choice."
Become one with Kaelan and save everyone while losing myself.
Or stay Ember and watch both realms burn.
The ceiling starts to cave in.
And in my mind, Kaelan whispers: "Whatever you choose, I'm with you. Always."
Even if always means we cease to exist.