The watcher's scream tore through the stair like thunder. Its colossal form writhed, void-fire spilling from the crack where Kaelen's blaze and Lyra's blade had struck together.
The eye in its chest split open wider, fury burning inside it. Darkness lashed outward in a frenzy—tendrils crashing against the stair, smashing stone, clawing for their throats.
Kaelen roared back, unleashing a storm of golden fire. His flames didn't just burn—they sang, carrying the echo of defiance. Lyra fought at his side, every strike of her molten blade carving through the void's onslaught. The candle-bearer held their tiny flame high, its light weaving between them, knitting their strength into one.
The watcher's voice thundered, desperate and venomous.
"You cannot sustain it. All light fades. All unity fractures. This is truth."
Kaelen staggered under the weight of its words—the doubts still clawed at him, whispering of failure, of ash. But then he caught Lyra's eyes. She wasn't looking at the watcher. She was looking at him, steady and fierce, as if daring him to falter.
He didn't.
He pressed forward, fire blazing brighter than ever. "Maybe every flame burns out," he shouted, "but not before it changes the dark!"
Lyra struck at the same moment, her sword cleaving down into the watcher's eye. The candle-bearer's flame surged, pouring light into the wound.
The watcher convulsed, its scream shaking the stair to its foundation. Shadows peeled from its form, ripping away like torn banners in a storm. The void-fire sputtered, its tendrils shriveling to smoke.
For one breathless instant, the stair was filled with nothing but light.
And then—the watcher broke.
Its vast form shattered into fragments of darkness that dissolved into the void, leaving only silence behind. The stair, once trembling, grew still.
Kaelen dropped to one knee, chest heaving, fire dimming. Lyra stood beside him, sword lowered, her breath ragged but unyielding. The candle-bearer fell to the ground, cradling their tiny flame, which now glowed steadier than ever.
For the first time since they entered the stair, the void felt… shaken.
But before relief could take root, the silence cracked.
From the dark above and below, countless unseen voices rose in unison—cold, mocking, endless.
"One falls. Infinity remains."
Kaelen's fire flickered. Lyra's grip tightened. The candle-bearer whimpered, clutching their flame.
They had won a battle. But the war had only just begun.
---