The acceptance which he was pretending to accept shattered.
Sol snarled inwardly, refusing to surrender even as death tightened its icy grip around him. His fading will igniting like dry tinder struck by lightning.
The cold darkness pressing in from all sides suddenly met fierce resistance.
Not like some worthless insect crushed underfoot. Not after everything I've endured. Not after how far I've come.
Memories of every battle, every triumph, every moment of growth flashed brighter. He had survived worse. He had risen from nothing. He had bent the rules of this world to his will.
I still have ambitions. I still have desires. Aunt Lyra, his cousins, Nia, Evara, Isylia, Kira, Zephyra, Zeyra. I-i… still have people waiting for me.
He had barely lived in this second chance.
He had barely scratched the surface of what he could become.
The thought of dying here, broken and humiliated by Vane, was unacceptable.
He still wanted to stand at the pinnacle of this world.
