Ash'Var was burning.
But it was not a fire of salvation. No divine light.
It was the sea of flames of a broken god — born from pain, loss, and the final decision of a man who had nothing left.
Shadow walked through the Palace of the Void. His steps made no sound. The ground no longer existed in space or time — he moved through memory, through nightmare, through what could have been.
Before him: the King. Or what was left of him.
A shadowy something. No body anymore. Only the idea of a will.
A black sun, floating at the core of the throne.
Millions of voices called out from it. Old shadows, fallen demons, lost gods.
"You are too late, heir of darkness. The world is dying — and you will be its last witness."
Shadow raised the demon blade. But it flickered.
Not out of weakness — but out of doubt. It wanted to know if he would truly do it.
"I have nothing left to save. No sister. No kingdom. No hope."
He stepped closer. Flames flickered over his skin — no longer demon flames, but something purer.
Saphira's sacrifice had changed something. Not only within him, but within the darkness itself.
The Void trembled.
"What are you?"
"I am the shadow you yourselves created."
And he charged.
The final fight was no dance — but a storm.
Shadow was a hurricane of black light. The Void shaped walls of memory, guilt, shadows of past enemies — but Shadow cut through.
Black. His father. Korr. Saphira. They all appeared as illusions — but he did not let himself be deceived.
"You live in me — not against me."
The Void resisted. It shaped itself into a dragon of empty prayers, a mother without a heart, a king without a face.
Shadow fought — and fell.
But he stood up again.
Over and over.
With every fall he lost a piece of himself — his humanity, his doubts, his rage.
And eventually…
he was nothing but will.
One last strike.
No scream. No anger. Only calm.
The blade pierced the core of the Void.
And the shadows…
fell silent.
A moment of absolute stillness followed. No light. No sound. No breath.
Then: explosion.
Ash'Var shattered.
The sky tore open.
The world screamed — not in pain, but in liberation.
Shadow stood amidst the ruins. Bloodied. Flames in his eyes. The blade broken. The horns burned.
He was human again.
The shadow warriors who had survived knelt. Not before a king — but before the one who had ended the war.
"I want no crown. Only peace."
He stepped up the stairs of the old throne. Did not sit. He burned it.
The crown of ash fell to the ground.
Shadow turned away.
Behind him, the first light in decades rose over Ash'Var.