"Selene..." Moaito's voice was sharp and cold as a blade in the vast cavern. "A priestess of Grimhold. One trusted by Elara. And you... you betrayed them."
A sorrowful, yet utterly unrepentant smile appeared on Selene's lips. "Betrayal? No, Ancient One. I merely... saw a greater truth. Priestess Elara and the others cling to the echoes of the past. But I... I hear the silent song of the future. And that song speaks of nothing but the peace of nothingness."
Sere shuddered at the young woman's calm, faithful demeanor. It was far more terrifying than Kael's passionate fury. "It's not nothingness!" Sere cried out, her voice echoing in the crystal's flickering light. "It's death! An annihilation that leaves nothing behind!"
Selene's eyes shifted to Sere, her gaze filling with an almost maternal pity. "Ah, little girl. You are still filled with the noise of emotions, hope, pain. The Void silences all that noise. Like a deep sleep. Painless, eternal peace."
"That's a lie!" Moaito shouted, raising Lumer and Umbra into a defensive stance. "You are just a tool, Selene! The Void found your weakness, your sorrow, and poisoned you!"
"My weakness?" Selene's voice caught a tremor, a passion, for the first time. "I feel this world's pain, Guardian! Every loss, every tear, every regret! Even the walls of Grimhold groan under the weight of this pain! I wanted to stop feeling it. And the Void gave me that choice. It is not a poison, it is an antidote!"
This confession revealed her motivation. Kael desired power and a new order. Selene only wanted an end to pain.
Selene turned back to the crystal. "And now... I will inoculate the world's heart with this peace. I will free it from this endless cycle of suffering."
"Stop!" Moaito commanded.
But Selene placed her hands on the crystal. At her touch, the dark veins within the crystal instantly surged, spreading faster, penetrating deeper. The crystal's rhythmic pulse became erratic, turning into the palpitations of a suffering creature.
Moaito attacked. Yet Selene seemed to expect no physical assault. Lumer's strike of light could not pierce the invisible shield of pure nothingness that suddenly manifested around her. The light was absorbed, vanished, upon the shield.
"Here, in this ancient place, your physical strength is meaningless," Selene said, her voice now seeming to come from the cavern itself, not an echo. "This is a battle of wills."
Sere watched helplessly. Moaito's attack had failed. The Threshold Stone on her chest was pounding madly, telling her she had to do something. But what?
Then, High Priestess Elara's words came back to her: "It is the world's memory. You may face echoes of the past there."
They couldn't fight physically. But perhaps they could fight in another way.
Sere dropped her sword. She closed her eyes and focused all her attention on the Threshold Stone. She tried to use it not as a weapon, but as a bridge. She extended her mind towards the suffering crystal, towards the world's heart.
And instantly, a flood of images and emotions overwhelmed her.
The joy of the first sprouting seed...
The pride of a mountain rising...
The curiosity of the first human footprints...
But then... the pain of wars. The agony of fires. The sorrow of losses. The grief of fallen kingdoms. An accumulation of millennia of pain.
This was what Selene felt. It was unbearable, crushing pain.
But within the same flood were other things:
A mother's love for her child...
A vow of friendship...
Hope resisting adversity...
The peace of a sunrise...
Dreams woven under the stars...
Sere fought not to drown in this emotional tide. She tried to project her intent, her voice, to the crystal.
"Yes!" she whispered, from her mind and heart. "There is pain! So much pain! But look! There is love too! There is hope! This pain is the price of love! This loss reminds us of the value of what we have! You want to erase the pain, but with it, you will erase everything! Beauty, joy, love... EVERYTHING!"
The moment Sere's mental cry made contact with the crystal, something happened. The crystal's sickly vibration shifted for a moment. The spread of the dark veins within it slowed. It was as if the world's heart was responding to this hopeful, life-filled voice.
Selene stepped back in shock. "This... this is impossible..."
Moaito saw the opportunity. He did not attack. Instead, he focused, adding his own energy, his own ancient, balanced presence, to Sere's mental call. His light and shadow, combined with Sere's pure intent, created a powerful, purifying wave of energy flowing into the crystal.
Two opposing forces – destructive nothingness and resilient life – clashed on an invisible battlefield, within the world's heart.
Selene screamed – this time a sound filled with pain and betrayal. "NO!"
But it was too late. The united will of Sere and Moaito was stronger than hers. The darkness within the crystal began to recede, to dissipate. It was slowly replaced by a clean, clear luminescence.
Selene understood her defeat. The infinite void in her eyes gave way to deep weariness and hurt. She looked at Sere one last time.
"I hope," she whispered, her voice almost inaudible, "you can find peace in this noisy world."
And then, like a shadow, she drifted away into the dark corners of the cavern and disappeared. Following her was impossible.
Sere, breathless, collapsed to her knees. The mental battle had exhausted her far more than any physical fight.
Moaito knelt beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You stopped her," he said, his voice filled with deep respect. "You stopped her just by speaking and feeling."
From above came the sound of hurried footsteps. Korvan and a group of Naje warriors descended the stairs. Korvan's eyes widened as he saw the cleansing crystal.
"My gods... you did it."
Moaito stood up. "Yes. But we only won a battle. Selene escaped. And she represents something far more dangerous than Kael: betrayal and despair from within."
Sere, still trembling, got to her feet. The Spine of the Earth now pulsed with a strong, healthy rhythm. But the taste of victory was bitter. Selene's last, hurt look remained etched in her mind.
Saving the world wasn't just about fighting monsters. It was also about reaching the souls lost in the dark corners of the human heart. And that was a much more difficult battle.