The first chain snapped with a sound like thunder tearing the universe apart.
Kaelen flinched as the vibration rippled through the cavern, shaking the ground beneath their feet.
"Run," the candle-bearer hissed.
But they didn't move. None of them could. The whisper had grown into a voice that filled every atom of the air.
"Why flee what you are?"
Another chain broke, sending sparks of light and shadow raining down like meteors. The serpent crashed through the ceiling above, landing in a coiling storm of fury between them and the central pillar. Its void-like eyes locked on Kaelen.
The candle-bearer's voice was a trembling shout. "It's not here for us—it's here to keep that bound!"
The chained presence laughed—or maybe the sound just formed inside their skulls.
"It cannot hold me. You cannot resist me. You are mine."
Lyra's molten blade trembled in her grasp. Her eyes flicked toward Kaelen, unfocused, as if seeing something else—someone else.
"Lyra," Kaelen said, stepping closer. "Stay with me."
She blinked, confused. "Kaelen? But… you left me. On the ridge. You burned me alive."
His heart seized. "What? That never—"
Her blade came up, pointed at him. "Don't lie to me!"
The serpent struck then, a blur of shadow and scales, but instead of crushing them, it slammed into the pillar itself. The impact rattled the cavern, but the remaining chains held.
"Help me," the voice crooned through Lyra's mind. "Kill him, and I will set you free."
Kaelen's fire blazed bright, cutting through the illusion for just an instant. "Lyra, fight it! This isn't real!"
For a heartbeat, she hesitated. Then her eyes cleared—and together they turned their weapons on the serpent.
The battle was chaos incarnate. Fire and molten steel against coils of living shadow. The serpent fought not to kill, but to restrain—every strike aimed at driving them back from the pillar.
And still, the voice laughed. Another chain snapped. The light it released was blinding.
The candle-bearer screamed over the din: "If the last chain breaks, everything dies!"
Kaelen met Lyra's eyes across the battlefield. There was no time left.
"Then we break something first," he said—and hurled himself straight at the central pillar.