Silence.
Not the peaceful kind —
but the kind that waits to see who dies first.
Samuel didn't move, didn't breathe —
his hand still gripped Tristan's cooling fingers.
Zephira tested the Nexus again — her voice trembling:
"I… I can't feel his life-force."
Ignara stepped back, fire dimming.
"No. He was stable. He was healing."
Kaelen closed his eyes — devastated:
"The Earthheart rejects its prince…"
Mor'Kai's distant growl echoed from the smoke-filled chasm:
"You will watch him become the beast he deserves to be."
Samuel's chest tightened painfully.
"You shut up."
Void trembled around him like a living storm.
⸻
The Earthheart Awakens
The vines convulsed — tightening — pulling Tristan deeper.
Samuel panicked:
"No. No, no—!"
He tried cutting the vines with void force — but the roots absorbed it.
Daniel stumbled forward:
"Sam, stop — it's not killing him — it's… merging with him."
Kaelen's voice cracked as realization hit:
"The Nexus is rewriting his soul. Making him one with the Earth…"
Velyd whispered the horror:
"He won't just be a warlock anymore."
"He'll be the Earthheart incarnate."
A new kind of curse —
a new kind of power —
a new kind of destiny.
⸻———-
Tristan's Return
The chamber exploded with emerald light.
So bright it burned.
The vines split apart — revealing Tristan — floating mid-air.
His body pulsed with stone-like lines running under his skin — glowing like molten roots. His hair fell longer, threaded with streaks of crystal and deep green. His eyes…
His eyes were planetary — worlds spinning inside them.
He landed barefoot — and the rock beneath him grew — blooming into a living platform.
Samuel stepped forward, hopeful but terrified:
"Tristan?"
Tristan blinked — disoriented. And the entire mountain dipped in response.
Kaelen kneeled instantly:
"Your Highness—"
Tristan stared at his own hands.
"What… am I?"
Samuel reached out — gentle:
"You're Tristan. You're mine."
For a moment — everything was still.
Then Mor'Kai returned.
⸻——————————————————
The Bone General's Last Gambit
"You are not a prince anymore," Mor'Kai snarled, dragging himself from rubble. "You are a monster wearing a man's skin."
Tristan turned his head — slow — emotionless.
The air hummed.
Mor'Kai charged — scythe raised —
but with a single quiet gesture…
Tristan made the ground consume him.
Stone claws rose like a tidal wave — swallowing the Bone General whole — crushing armor, bones, and the curse-light within.
No roar.
No final word.
Just obliteration.
Dead.
For real.
⸻—————————————————————-
A New Fear
Everyone stepped back — even Ignara. Even Kaelen.
Zephira whispered:
"That wasn't healing… that was evolution."
Nysara swallowed:
"He can rewrite ecosystems with his pulse…"
Velyd narrowed her eyes:
"…and if his emotions trigger catastrophes…"
Daniel finished, dread overtaking him:
"…the rumors about Samuel being apocalypse… they might think Tristan is worse."
⸻———————————————————-
Samuel Approaches Him
Samuel moved slowly — steady, unwavering — ignoring the fear around him.
"Tristan."
His voice was a tether, soft and human.
Tristan flinched — like Samuel's voice was the only thing keeping him grounded.
"I heard you die," Samuel whispered.
Tristan's voice was deeper, resonant with earth:
"I promised I'd always come back."
Samuel smiled — relieved — grabbing his hand.
Tristan gripped back — strong — a little too strong.
Cracks spidered across the floor beneath Samuel's boots.
Tristan dropped his hand instantly — terrified of hurting him.
"I can't control this…"
Samuel cupped his cheek.
"You will. We'll handle it together."
And the Earthheart quieted.
⸻
The Realm Responds
Kaelen bowed — head low:
"My Prince… forgive my failures."
Tristan looked exhausted.
"Raise your head. I don't want worship. I want my home safe."
But a new voice cut in —
cold as a knife through trust:
"And what of the Void Prince?
Will you protect him even if the world burns for it?"
Velyd.
Her eyes were fixed on Samuel — distrust sharp and growing.
Samuel's heart tightened.
The fracture inside the Five…
…was beginning.
⸻
Femi's Move — Cliffhanger
Far above the Earthheart, in the void between realms…
Femi floated before a council of cosmic warlords — cloak swirling like a storm of shadows.
He smiled as a projection of Tristan's Earthheart transformation burned before them.
"Behold the new harbinger of destruction," he said smoothly.
"Samuel Herindor has crafted a weapon to end us all."
Queen Solene's solar flares darkened.
General Dracos' wings rattled steel.
Lady Virelith drew her blade — dripping venom from another dimension.
High Lord Kaelen's brother — Lord Vael — slammed his spear into the ground.
"This is war."
Femi's grin spread wider.
"Exactly."
The stars behind him bled red.
War drums began to beat.
—__________________________________
Samuel leaned into Tristan, voice raw with honesty:
"They're coming for us."
Tristan looked up — power blazing like molten mountains. Samuel watched in horror and awe,he low-key loved this new powerful raw version of the man he is slowly falling in love with.
Tristan said with so much aura and confidence
"Let them."
⸻————————————————————
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