The words slammed into my mind like war drums, pounding in rhythm with my pulse. My fingers clung to Malvor's arm, my lifeline, my anchor, but his hand on my shoulder trembled. He tried to make his voice sound like iron when he said, "Stay close. Don't leave my side."
But the lie was there, flickering in his eyes. That dull tan bleeding through the gold. The sheen of sweat on his brow. The tremor in his breath. The cracks in the mask he always wore for me.
"Malvor?" My voice came sharp and soft at once, steel wrapped in silk. A command. A plea.
"I won't let him in. I won't-" His voice cracked, splintering under the weight he carried. "Not without my-"
CRACK. The air ripped open. The walls bled their colors, melting like a storm of liquid light. The ceiling twisted. And Aerion's voice roared through the breach: "You are a flaw! A fracture in the divine design!"
Malvor flinched. My Malvor. He recoiled. His hand slipped from my shoulder, clutching the bedpost as if wood could hold him when divinity couldn't. Gold shimmered faintly across his skin, then dimmed. The light bled out of him. "I'm… I'm sorry, Asha." His voice wasn't a god's voice anymore. It was small. Weak. His knees buckled.
"No. No, you're not-" I surged forward, catching him as he collapsed. Too heavy. Too limp. His head fell against my shoulder like he'd already surrendered. I saw it in his eyes. The raw, naked fear. The golden light fading, his pulse stuttering beneath my fingertips.
"Asha…" A single tear slid down his cheek, liquid sunlight. "I can't-"
Thunder ripped through the room, but it wasn't thunder. A shockwave. The world itself convulsed. Malvor jerked once, fingers twitching like he was reaching for me. Then... Nothing.
His eyes dulled. His weight sagged. His breath stilled.
"No. No, no, no-" My voice cracked. My hands shook him, desperate. "Malvor, please-" My magic sparked against his chest, wild and desperate. Golden light sputtered like a dying flame, but it wasn't enough. His warmth was leaving me.
Aerion's voice thundered above it all, sharp and cruel: "You were never meant to be. I will sever you from them. I will sever you from him."
Tears burned down my face. Panic twisted sharp into fury, raw and primal, clawing its way out of me. "Aerion." My voice was a whisper, but it carried, cutting through the storm. "You won't take him from me. Not again."
My magic surged, no longer a flicker, but wildfire, ripping through me, devouring me. Pain became power. Despair became a weapon. "YOU WON'T TAKE HIM FROM ME!" The room exploded in light and chaos. My power lashed out, storming against Aerion's presence. He laughed. Cold. Untouched.
"You are a fracture in the design," he thundered, his form twisting into a silhouette of law and dominion. I hurled my magic again, wild, desperate, but he sliced it apart, snapping each flare into clean, perfect lines. "Chaos cannot defeat Order," he declared. "I am the Law. I am the Truth. And you-"
The world folded inward. Gravity slammed me to my knees, pressure clawing into my bones. My vision blurred, my lungs fought for air.
"Don't you dare-" I gasped, forcing the words past the crushing weight.
"You defy?" His voice was a storm. "Then I will teach you the cost. Kneel!"
The command hammered through me. It should have shattered me. But it didn't. My legs buckled. My spine bent. But I forced myself up again. My jaw clenched. My eyes burned. "No."
The pressure snapped. Nothing happened.
Aerion's fury stuttered, confusion leaking beneath it. "KNEEL!"
I stood. Shaking. Breaking. But I stood. I didn't understand why. Only that I couldn't bend. Wouldn't. Something inside me was iron. He felt it too. I saw it. The cold dread under his rage. "You… shouldn't exist."
He batted aside my magic, but I saw it: the chill in him. His decrees had no weight here. His laws, empty.
"YOU SHOULDN'T EXIST!" His voice cracked. He screamed, frantic. "I will erase you! I will unmake you! I will write you out of history!"
He didn't want to kill me. He wanted to unwrite me. I didn't see his fear. I saw his hate. His rage. I felt it pressing on me, trying to crush me into silence. No. No more. I hurled my magic, not at him, at the walls. Reality split open. A crack tore wide beside me, swirling light and shadow.
"NO!" Aerion roared. "YOU WILL NOT-"
I didn't wait. I lunged, my bones screaming, my magic tearing itself apart as I flung myself into the rift. Darkness swallowed me. Cold. Silent. Endless.