The battlefield was still cloaked in smoke, mist, and shards of shattered frost. Some of the White Dwarves lay broken, while many of the Wild Butterflies beat their torn wings in stubborn defiance. The Undying Warriors fell again and again, only to rise once more, pulled upright by Zytherion's necrotic magic.
Above the chaos, Aoleria hovered in the air, her crystalline wings shimmering with a fragile light—a beacon of hope amid despair. Below, Zytherion's forces showed no sign of retreat. If anything, they thrived on the battle's carnage. Yet the dark lord's eyes never left Aoleria.
Zytherion dismounted, stepping into the fray. With every footfall, the ground withered, and flowers shriveled into ash. And yet, when he looked into Aoleria's eyes, something flickered inside the abyss of his soul—a spark he could neither extinguish nor name.
"Your light burns me," he confessed, his voice laced with both fury and desire. "And yet, I cannot stay away from you."
Aoleria fought to suppress the storm within her. Her duty was to protect her realm, her people. Yet his words stirred something forbidden in her heart.
"Your destiny is darkness, Zytherion. Mine is the path of ice and life. We can never be one."
Still he drew closer, until his hand nearly brushed hers.
"We cannot… but perhaps we should."
The whisper was swallowed by the roar of the battlefield, a secret meant only for her. Aoleria's heart raced, a dangerous tremor coursing through her veins. From above, the Wild Butterflies shrieked in warning, dragging her back to reality. She pulled away, wings flaring as she soared once more into the sky.
Zytherion watched her ascend, a storm tearing within him—rage entangled with longing. He raised a hand, unleashing a torrent of black fire toward her. Aoleria deflected it with a shield of ice, the clash exploding in sparks of frost and shadow.
It was not a battle to destroy one another, but a battle to test the limits of their resolve. The battlefield echoed not only with war cries but with the whispered truth neither dared to speak aloud.
This was only the beginning.