Elara's POV
We have to evacuate the citadel, Kaelen says, still holding me as fire rages outside the windows. Get everyone out before
Before what? I pull away to look at him. Before the volcano buries us? Before Morganna kills everyone anyway? Running won't stop her.
Neither will staying and dying!
I'm not planning to die. I walk to the window and stare at the burning message written in lava. Three days. But I'm also not planning to hand myself over to her like a gift.
Kaelen moves to stand beside me. What are you planning?
I don't know yet. I press my hand against the glass. It's hot from the fires outside. But there has to be a way to fight her. She's powerful, but she's not invincible. If she were, she wouldn't need me. She'd just take what she wants.
She needs you because of your absorption magic, Kaelen says. Only you can absorb the curse without dying immediately. Once you've absorbed it all, she performs the transfer ritual and steals both the curse and my immortality.
So we make sure I never absorb the full curse.
You absorbed a massive amount tonight. How much more do you think you can take before it corrupts you completely?
I don't have an answer for that.
The fires outside suddenly die. All at once, like someone blew out a candle.
The lava stops flowing.
Everything goes silent and still.
That's not normal, Kaelen mutters.
A knock sounds on the door soft, almost polite.
We both freeze.
Elara, dear? A woman's voice. Sweet. Familiar. May I come in? I brought tea.
My blood turns to ice.
I know that voice.
Kaelen's eyes widen. That's not possible. She can't be
I open the door.
My mother stands there. Not the magical echo from before this looks exactly like her, solid and real, holding a tray with two cups of steaming tea.
Hello, sweetheart, she says with a warm smile. I thought you might want some company after such a frightening evening.
You're dead, I whisper.
I am. But death is such a flexible concept when you have the right magic. She walks past me into the room, sets the tea tray on a table, and sits down like she belongs here. Come, sit. We have so much to discuss.
Kaelen positions himself between us, dragon fire crackling in his hands. You're not Celeste. You're Morganna wearing her face.
Clever boy. My mother's form shimmers and changes. Morganna sits where my mother was, smiling that cruel smile. Though I prefer to think of it as borrowing. Your mother had such a lovely face, Elara. So innocent. So trusting. She picks up a teacup. Right up until the moment I killed her.
The words hit me like a punch to the stomach.
What?
Did you really think she died in childbirth naturally? Morganna laughs. I was there that night. I watched your absorption magic activate to protect you, watched it drain her life force. And when she begged me to save her, begged me to let her live long enough to hold her baby... Morganna takes a sip of tea. I said no. I let her die. Because I needed you raised in suffering. Needed you broken and desperate.
Rage explodes through me. You murdered my mother!
I allowed nature to take its course, Morganna corrects. There's a difference.
I launch myself at her.
Kaelen tries to grab me, but I'm too fast. My hands reach for Morganna's throat
And pass right through her.
She's not really here. Just another magical projection.
Temper, temper, Morganna chides. That rage is good, though. Hold onto it. You'll need it when you finally embrace what you're meant to become.
I'll never become like you, I spit.
You already are. She stands, and her projection walks through the table like it's not there. You felt it tonight, didn't you? That rush of power when you absorbed all that curse magic. The way it made you feel strong. Important. Needed. That's addiction, darling. And the more you feed it, the hungrier it becomes.
Get out, Kaelen growls.
I'm not actually in, dear boy. This is just a message. Morganna turns to me. Three days, Elara. In three days, I'll return to this citadel with an army. We'll burn it to the ground and kill everyone inside. Unless you meet me at the old temple ruins at midnight. Come alone. Surrender yourself willingly. If you do, I'll spare the citadel and everyone in it.
And if I don't?
Then everyone dies. Every servant, every guard, every innocent person who ever showed you kindness. Their blood will be on your hands. Her smile widens. So really, you have no choice. You'll come to me. Because despite everything, you're still that scared little girl who just wants to save people.
She starts to fade.
Wait! I shout. Why? Why do you need me to come willingly? Why not just take me by force?
Morganna pauses, her projection flickering. Because the transfer ritual only works if the vessel accepts her fate. If you fight it, the curse will destroy us both. But if you surrender, if you choose to sacrifice yourself... She smiles. Then I become a god, and you become a footnote in history.
I'll find another way, I say desperately. There has to be another way to break the curse.
There isn't. I made sure of that three hundred years ago. Morganna looks at Kaelen with something almost like pity. I offered you my love, and you rejected it. You chose isolation over connection, pride over passion. So I cursed you to live with the consequences of that choice forever. Until now. Until Elara.
She turns back to me.
Three days, granddaughter. Use them wisely. Say goodbye to the people you've doomed. Make peace with your fate. And when midnight comes on the third day... Her eyes burn with triumph. Become the weapon you were always meant to be.
She disappears.
The room falls silent except for the sound of my ragged breathing.
Kaelen's hand touches my shoulder. We'll find another way. We'll fight her. We'll
How? I spin to face him. She's right. I can't let everyone here die because I'm afraid. And if running won't work, if fighting won't work, then what's left?
We have three days to figure that out.
Three days isn't enough!
Then we'll make it enough. Kaelen grips my shoulders firmly. Listen to me. I've spent three hundred years fighting this curse. I've tried everything magic, rituals, sacrifices, prayers. Nothing worked. But you're different. Your power is different. Together, maybe we can do what I couldn't do alone.
Or maybe we'll both die trying.
Then we die fighting. His silver eyes are fierce. I'm done being alone. I'm done watching people suffer because of Morganna's twisted revenge. If we only have three days, let's use them to become strong enough to destroy her.
Hope flickers in my chest. Tiny and fragile, but there.
How do we get stronger in three days?
We train. We learn to combine our powers like we did tonight. We turn your absorption magic and my dragon fire into something Morganna has never seen before. He releases my shoulders and steps back. But it's dangerous. If we bond our magic too deeply, we could become dependent on each other. If one of us dies, the other might die too.
I think of my mother's words. The warning about balancing creation and consumption.
I know, I say quietly. My mother's echo told me. But I don't see another choice.
There's always a choice.
Not good ones. I meet his gaze. So yes. Let's do it. Let's bond our magic and pray we're strong enough to survive what comes next.
Kaelen nods slowly. Then we start now. Tonight. We don't have time to waste.
What do we do first?
First, you need to learn to control your absorption. Right now, it's reactive you absorb magic that attacks you. But if you could absorb magic selectively, deliberately, you could drain Morganna's power before she could use it against us.
Can you teach me that?
I can try. He holds out his hand. But it means practicing with me. Letting my dragon fire flow into you over and over until you learn to control the flow. It's going to hurt. A lot.
I take his hand without hesitation. I've been hurt before. I survived.
This is different. This is magical pain. It burns from the inside out.
Then we'll burn together.
Something shifts in Kaelen's expression. The cold mask cracks a little more.
You're either very brave or very foolish, he says softly.
I thought we established I'm both.
He almost smiles. Then his expression turns serious.
Before we start, I need you to understand something. The more we bond our magic, the more I'll feel connected to you. And the curse punishes connection. Every moment we spend together increases the risk that it will try to kill you.
It's already tried to kill me multiple times. I'm still here.
Because you can absorb it. But absorption has limits. Even you can only take so much before
Before I break. I know. I squeeze his hand. But breaking is better than giving up. So let's train. Let's fight. And if we fail... I force a smile. At least we'll fail spectacularly.
Kaelen's lips twitch. Spectacularly. Right.
He leads me to the balcony. The volcano has stopped erupting, but the night sky glows red with residual heat.
Are you ready? he asks.
No. I'm not ready. I'm terrified.
But I say: Yes.
Kaelen closes his eyes. When he opens them again, they're glowing pure silver.
Then let's begin.
Dragon fire erupts from his hands not destructive, but controlled. A stream of pure magical flame that flows toward me like liquid light.
It touches my skin, and pain explodes through my body.
I scream.
But I don't let go of his hand.
Because somewhere in that pain, I feel power. Real power. The kind that could change everything.
The kind that could save us.
Or destroy us both.
And as the dragon fire pours into me and my absorption magic rises to meet it, I feel something new forming. Something neither curse nor blessing. Neither light nor dark.
Something that's never existed before.
In the shadows beyond the balcony, hidden from sight, Corvus watches with silver eyes that see too much.
Fools, he whispers. They have no idea what they're creating.
He pulls out a strange device crystal orb that shows images like a mirror.
Inside the orb, a figure stirs. Ancient. Powerful. Neither dragon nor human.
It's happening, Corvus says into the orb. Just as you predicted. They're bonding their magic. Creating the weapon.
The figure in the orb speaks, its voice like grinding stone: Good. When they've finished forging it, we take it for ourselves. The Dragon King and the absorption mage will have served their purpose. And then...
And then? Corvus asks.
And then we reshape this world into something better. Something pure. Something without curses or dark magic or twisted love. The figure's eyes glow. We burn it all down and start again.
Corvus closes the orb and tucks it away.
He takes one last look at Elara and Kaelen, silhouetted against the red sky, magic flowing between them like a living thing.
I'm sorry, he whispers. But some sacrifices are necessary.
Then he disappears into the night.
Leaving two people who trust him completely.
Two people who have no idea they're being used.
Two people who have three days to live.