Sera's POV
We're not dead.
I open my eyes to darkness and pain. Every part of my body hurts. I'm lying on something hard and cold stone floor, maybe.
Is everyone alive? Cassian's voice comes from nearby.
Groans answer him. At least we're all conscious.
Where are we? Lyra asks, her voice shaking.
Nyx creates a small ball of light in his palm one of his remaining god-touched abilities. The light reveals we're in a massive cave. We fell through a crack in the mountain and landed on an underground slope that dumped us here.
Above us, the crack has already sealed itself. The living mountain closed its wound.
We're trapped inside.
Please tell me there's another way out, my father says.
Nyx raises his light higher, revealing the cave extends deep into the mountain. There's always another way. Question is whether we'll survive finding it.
Kael tries to stand and gasps in pain. His shoulder is bleeding worse now. The serpent bite has turned the skin around it black.
That's poison, Nyx says grimly, examining the wound. Stone serpent venom. It turns your blood to rock slowly.
How slowly? Kael asks through gritted teeth.
You have maybe six hours before it reaches your heart.
The words hang in the air like a death sentence.
There has to be a cure, I say desperately.
There is. Moonflower extract. But it only grows in one place the gardens of the First Temple. Nyx looks at me. The place we're trying to reach.
Of course. Of course it's at the temple.
Then we move faster, Cassian says, helping Kael to his feet. We get through this mountain, find the temple, save Kael, and destroy the gods' power source. Simple.
Nothing about this is simple, Kael mutters, but he manages a weak smile.
We gather what's left of our supplies. We lost most of them in the fall. Three people didn't survive their bodies lie broken on the rocks behind us. We can't even bury them properly.
Mira says a quiet prayer over them while I fight back tears. These people died because they followed me.
They died free, Lyra whispers, reading my expression. That meant something to them.
We move deeper into the cave, following the only path available. Nyx's light guides us through twisting tunnels. Water drips somewhere in the darkness. Strange echoes make it sound like voices whispering.
After an hour of walking, the tunnel opens into a huge chamber. And that's when we see them.
Statues. Hundreds of them. Life-sized figures carved from stone, positioned all throughout the chamber in frozen poses of terror.
What is this place? Lyra breathes.
Nyx walks closer to one statue a man with his mouth open in a scream. These aren't statues. These are people. Stone serpent venom's final stage. When it reaches your heart, you turn completely to stone.
We all look at Kael. His face has gone pale.
How many people tried to reach the temple? Cassian asks quietly.
Thousands, over the centuries, Nyx says. The gods made sure no one could destroy their power source. Every person who tried is here, frozen forever as a warning.
I walk through the forest of stone people, my heart breaking. A woman holding a child. An old man reaching toward the exit. A group of warriors standing back-to-back.
All of them chose freedom. All of them died trying.
We're going to end up like them, my father says, his voice cracking. Sera, we need to turn back.
There is no back! I snap, turning on him. The mountain sealed the entrance. The only way out is forward, through the temple. So we either keep going or we give up and die here. Your choice.
He flinches at my anger but nods.
We keep moving. The chamber of stone people gives way to another tunnel, this one sloping upward. We're climbing now, which means we're getting closer to the surface. Closer to the temple.
Kael's getting worse. He's leaning heavily on Cassian, his skin taking on a gray tint. The black veins from his shoulder have spread to his neck.
How much time? I ask Nyx quietly.
Three hours. Maybe four if he's strong.
Not enough. We'll never make it in time.
Unless...
I stop walking. An idea forms in my mind a terrible, desperate idea.
Sera? Cassian notices I've stopped. What's wrong?
I gave up my power to stay human, I say slowly. But what if I could borrow it back? Just for a moment?
Borrow from where? Lyra asks.
From the source. I point ahead, toward where the First Temple must be. The gods' power source is basically concentrated prophecy magic. If I can reach it, if I can touch it for just a second, maybe I could use that power to heal Kael.
That's insane, Nyx says. The source is pure divine energy. It would burn a mortal to ash.
But I'm not a normal mortal. I was immune to prophecy magic before. Maybe I still am.
Or maybe you die instantly, Cassian says. I won't let you risk it.
It's not your choice! My voice echoes off the cave walls. Kael is dying because he protected Lyra. Because he came on this journey with me. I'm not letting another person die for my cause if I can save them.
Kael speaks up, his voice weak. Don't risk yourself for me.
Too late. I already decided.
We keep climbing. The tunnel gets brighter actual sunlight filtering through cracks in the rock. We're close to the surface now.
Then the tunnel opens up, and we see it.
The First Temple.
It's massive ancient columns holding up a roof carved with symbols that hurt to look at. The whole structure glows with golden light. And in the center, floating above an altar, is a crystal the size of a person. Pure divine energy pulses inside it.
The source of all the gods' power.
That's it, Nyx whispers. That's what's keeping them alive, keeping them strong enough to enslave humanity.
I take a step toward it
And guards pour out from behind the columns. Not temple guards. Something worse.
They're made of pure golden light, shaped like humans but clearly not mortal. Divine warriors. The gods' personal army.
And standing in front of them, wearing a golden crown and smiling cruelly, is my sister Maya.
Hello, Sera, she says sweetly. I've been waiting for you. Did you really think I'd let you destroy the gods' power? They promised me everything eternal life, unlimited power, my own kingdom. All I had to do was make sure you never reached this temple.
She gestures, and the golden warriors raise their weapons.
I told you you'd fail, Maya says. And now you'll die here. All of you. Starting with your precious rebel lord.
She points directly at Kael.
A golden warrior draws a bow and fires.
The arrow streaks toward Kael's heart
My father throws himself in front of Kael.
The arrow pierces his chest.
NO! I scream.
Father collapses, blood spreading across his shirt. He looks up at me with tears in his eyes.
I chose wrong before, he gasps. This time... I choose you...
His eyes close.
And I feel something inside me shatter not with grief, but with rage.
Pure, burning rage.
The tiny spark of power I had left explodes into an inferno. Silver light erupts from my body, so bright that everyone has to shield their eyes.
I stride toward the power source, toward Maya, toward the golden warriors.
You want to see what happens when you push the Void-Born too far? I say, my voice echoing with power I shouldn't have. Let me show you.
I reach the crystal and plunge both hands into it.
Divine energy floods into me. It should kill me. Should burn me away.
Instead, it fills me. Completes me. Makes me whole.
I'm not becoming a god this time.
I'm becoming something the gods should fear.
The crystal cracks under my hands, and I whisper the words that will change everything:
I unmake you all.