The battlefield was quiet now, but the silence was worse than any roar. Smoke curled across shattered ground, ashes drifting in violet light that still lingered in Mae's veins. Her chest heaved, lungs burning, chains coiling and writhing as if they had a life of their own. The champion had not moved, but its presence pressed down on her, massive, patient, waiting for the fracture to falter.
Mae's knees buckled, and she sank to the scorched earth. Her fingers clutched at the chains, trying to steady them. Kaine's golden light had vanished. The echo of his command lingered. Run. His sacrifice still radiated warmth in her memory, but it was gone. She was alone.
Behind her, faint movements caught her eye. Ashar's flames smoldered, Riven's wings trembled, and Sethis' shadows curled like serpents across the cracked ground. Lucien did not rise. Fear twisted in her stomach, tighter than the chains around her arms.
The champion shifted, slow as a mountain, eyes locked on her. The ground trembled again, sending jagged cracks toward her knees. Mae's heart hammered. The fracture inside her pulsed violently, responding to the monster before her. Her chains flared, wrapping tighter, hot as molten metal, yet she did not release them.
"I can't," she whispered, voice hoarse. "I don't know if I can-"
"You can," Lucien said, his voice a shadow behind her. He had not moved closer, yet somehow, she felt his presence, chains vibrating in resonance with hers. "You survived worse. You will survive this."
Her violet eyes flickered. The champion's face, a mask of chains and void, loomed closer, and yet, it did not strike. It was studying her, testing her, waiting for the fracture to show weakness. Mae swallowed hard, drawing strength from Kaine's sacrifice, from the Fallen, from herself.
A shudder ran through the ground as the champion shifted its weight. The Forgotten that had lingered in the shadows dissolved into smoke, leaving nothing but ash in their place. Mae's chains surged outward instinctively, lashing across the battlefield, slicing at debris and lingering energy. Sparks flew, blinding in the dim violet glow.
Her mind raced. If I falter, I'm done. But the fracture stirred beneath her ribs, demanding release. Power hummed in her veins, raw and untamed, threatening to consume her. She clenched her teeth, forcing it down, coiling the chains around her wrists tighter, letting them hum in quiet resonance.
Then the champion spoke, a sound that was a thousand screams layered into one, shaking Mae to her core.
"You cannot contain it."
Her chains flared violently, the ground buckling under the strain. Mae's scream tore through the quiet battlefield. Her power surged, violet light spilling from her, lighting the smoke like fire on glass. And yet, the champion did not attack. It only watched, its void-filled eyes fixed, patient, immense. Mae realized something. This was not just a battle. This was a test. A measure of the fracture's will and hers.
Riven moved then, dragging himself forward on bloodied wings. "She can't hold it forever," he gasped. Ashar's flames roared low, flickering across the battlefield. Sethis' shadows tightened around him, coiling in protective anticipation. The Fallen were battered, but alive. And Mae was the center.
Chains coiled, violet fire humming louder, Mae rose. She met the champion's gaze, defiance burning in her eyes despite exhaustion. Every inch of her body screamed to run, to collapse, to surrender, but she did not. The fracture pulsed in response, and for the first time, she felt a thread of control.
"I will not falter," she whispered, her voice a delicate thread woven through the electric hum of the swirling energy around her.
The champion shifted once more, its colossal arm rising with a deliberate grace that belied its immense power. Mae's chains sprang to life at the slightest movement, shimmering with a fierce luminescence, twisting and lashing outward in a dance of deadly precision, poised for action. The ground beneath the champion's foot splintered and cracked, sending fragments of earth flying. An electric tension hung in the air, heavy with the weight of expectation, as onlookers held their breath, captivated by the imminent confrontation.
Faintly, almost imperceptibly, Mae heard it. A pulse beneath the ash, beneath the broken earth. Something stirring, something new. The others began to regroup, moving closer despite their injuries. Riven leaned on Ashar's shoulder, wings clipped and scorched, but his eyes were sharp. Sethis's shadows pulled inward, a protective wall around Mae. Lucien finally rose, chains smoldering, his gaze locked on the champion, and then on her.
Mae's chains coiled around her wrists like serpents ready to strike. But she lowered them slightly, exhausted. The battlefield felt endless, the ashes endless, the threat endless. Kaine's light had been the only thing holding her together in that final moment, and now it was gone. She had survived, barely, and yet the fracture throbbed beneath her chest, whispering for release, for destruction, for something she could not yet name.
Ashar's voice broke the tension, low and grim. "We lost him," he said. The words carried through the smoke, heavy with grief. Riven swore under his breath, wings folding around him protectively. Sethis's shadows flickered, almost like a shiver, and Lucien did not speak, only stared at the looming champion, jaw tight. Mae clenched her fists.
Chains flared again, violet light rippling across her arms. She could not grieve properly, not now. The champion had not moved, but its presence still pressed on her. Every step it could take, every swing of its arm, could end everything.
And yet, even in that moment of exhaustion, even with Kaine gone, Mae felt the fracture stir differently this time, as if it had recognized something in her, as if it waited, testing her patience, testing her resolve.
The battlefield held its breath. The Fallen gathered close, battered, grieving, and unbroken. And the champion remained, patient, colossal, its eyes fixed only on her.
Mae inhaled sharply, chains humming. She would need more than defiance. She would need a strategy. She would need everything Kaine had given her and more.
The silence stretched on, heavy and suffocating, as if the world itself held its breath. The ashes, gray and lifeless, shifted restlessly in the cold wind, swirling like memories lost to time. Somewhere deep beneath the cracked and shattered ground, an unsettling pulse throbbed rhythmically, a dark heartbeat echoing in the stillness. Mae's violet eyes narrowed, their striking hue reflecting a mix of determination and apprehension. At the same time, the heavy chains around her wrists tightened, biting into her skin as if responding to the tension in the air.
The fracture had awakened. And it was listening.