The tower groaned around them, flames licking the ceiling. But at the center of it all, time stood still.
Haken held Vivi like he was afraid she'd vanish. She held him like she'd never let go.
"You broke through for me," he whispered.
"No," she said. "For us."
And then—a sound.
Low. Rhythmic. Ancient.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
A heartbeat. Not hers. Not his.
The tower was alive.
"What is this place?" Vivi asked, stepping back, eyes scanning the walls.
"The inside of the curse," Haken said. "And the seal."
He looked down at his hands—they were flickering between human and wolf, shadow and light.
"There are three bindings," he continued. "The first was placed on me as a child—when I turned before the moon."
"The second?" she asked.
"When I chose to protect you instead of kill for him. It rewrote the curse… made it deeper."
He looked at her, expression pained.
"And the third… is what's left. The final choice."
Suddenly
Viper appeared.
Not in shadow, not half-formed—fully real. Cloaked in fire and silk, with eyes like poisoned stars.
"And here we are," he said calmly. "The last act before the world begins again."
Vivi stepped in front of Haken.
"I know who you are now."
"Do you?" Viper asked. "Do you know who you are?"
He waved a hand—and the room changed.
🔮 The Truth Revealed
They stood in a memory. Not theirs.
The Queen—Vivi's mother—stood before a circle of hooded figures.
"She will be my daughter," Avaline said. "But she will also carry the seal."
"Then the price must be paid," said a robed figure.
A sword. A cut. Blood spilled from Avaline's palm—dripping onto a flame-shaped brand.
That brand was pressed onto a newborn's chest.
Vivi's.
"The seal wasn't just inside you," Viper said now. "You are the seal."
Vivi staggered.
"You lied
"They all did. Your mother most of all."
Back in the tower—
"So what now?" Haken said, standing beside her.
"Now," Viper said, "you give her up."
"Never."
Viper raised a hand. Fire coiled into a blade.
"Then die."
---
💥 The fight erupted.
Haken leapt—his form between wolf and man, silver eyes blazing.
Viper dodged, struck, twisted flame into claws.
Vivi stepped into the circle. The heart of the tower. And from her hands: light.
She wasn't casting spells.
She was breaking locks.
One by one—she shattered the bindings.
First: Haken's curse.
Second: The seal on her soul.
And the third?
She turned to Viper.
"This is for me," she said, "and the girl you tried to control."
She spoke her name once more.
I am Virelya."
The tower screamed.
Viper fell back, roaring as the light carved through him like truth.
But before he vanished, he whispered—
"You've only delayed it. The gate is open now. And I am not the only thing waiting behind it."
Then—he was gone.
Haken collapsed, breathing hard. His body was whole.
His soul—free.
Vivi knelt beside him.
You're safe," she whispered.
"So are you."
But deep in the ruins of the tower…
Something else had woken.