The last champion's blade descended, a streak of molten light aimed straight for Lyra's heart. Time seemed to slow. Kaelen's scream tore through the void, but his legs refused to move fast enough.
Lyra didn't flinch. She raised her blaster, eyes steady, her whole body trembling but unyielding. "You'll have to burn through me first."
She fired.
The blast struck the champion's chest, tearing through its armor in a burst of radiant shards. The creature staggered, its blade skidding off the stone an inch from her shoulder. Lyra rolled aside, heart pounding as the fissure's edge crumbled beneath her.
Kaelen lunged, swinging the relic in a wide arc. The blade of starlight clashed against the champion's wing, slicing it clean through. The creature shrieked, stumbling back—yet instead of falling, its wing reformed instantly, symbols weaving it whole again.
Lyra scrambled to her feet, fury etched across her face. "We can't kill it, Kaelen! It won't stay down!"
Kaelen's grip on the relic tightened until his knuckles turned white. His chest heaved, the heat threatening to consume him. The First Thread's voice whispered, softer this time, coiling through his mind.
"Yes. Stop resisting. One stroke, one surrender… and I will show you how to end them."
The temptation clawed at him, a promise of power and release. His arm trembled as the relic's light blazed hotter, brighter—ready to obliterate the champion in a single devastating strike.
"Kaelen!" Lyra's voice cut through, sharp and desperate. She saw the change in him, the fire in his eyes. "Don't you dare let it win. Don't you dare leave me alone."
Her words tore him back from the brink. He gritted his teeth, forcing the relic's glow to steady, bending it to his will instead of the Thread's. "No. We do this our way."
The champion roared and dove again, wings spread like a storm. Kaelen sidestepped, slamming the relic into the glyphs at his feet. Light erupted in a spiral, catching the champion mid-flight. Chains of energy lashed out, binding its arms, its wings, dragging it down toward the glowing fissure.
It thrashed violently, the ground cracking under its fury. For a moment, it seemed the chains would snap. Kaelen strained, every muscle screaming as he forced the relic deeper, pouring his own energy into the seal.
Lyra ran to his side, dropping her blaster to press her hands against his. Together, they drove the relic down, their combined will igniting the glyphs in a blinding storm of light.
The champion screamed—a sound like galaxies shattering—before the ground swallowed it whole. Silence fell.
Kaelen collapsed to one knee, sweat dripping down his brow. Lyra knelt beside him, gripping his shoulder. "You did it. We did it."
But Kaelen didn't smile. His hand still burned with the relic's power, and the First Thread's whispers lingered in his skull.
"Three chained. None destroyed. They wait, Kaelen. And one day, you will join them."
Above, the colossal eye narrowed, its voice rumbling like an approaching storm.
"You resist, yet you cannot break free. Very well. You are no longer children at the gate. You are pieces upon the board. The true game begins now."
The void shuddered, stars shifting as if the entire fabric of space was rearranging. New glyphs lit across the horizon, forming patterns that spiraled endlessly into the distance.
Lyra's hand found Kaelen's, grounding him. "Whatever this game is… we'll win it."
Kaelen stared into the endless spirals, the relic humming with dangerous anticipation. "Then we'd better learn the rules—before they consume us."