Caelan's POV
I woke up screaming.
At least, I tried to scream. But something was wrong with my voice. It came out as a sound I'd never made before like wind chimes and thunder mixed together.
Caelan? Aria's voice in my head, panicked. What's happening? Where are we?
I tried to answer, but I couldn't form words. My body felt strange. Too light. Too... different.
Then I realized something that made my heart stop.
I could see.
Not the darkness I'd lived in for two years. Not the magical sight Aria had shared with me during the battle. Real sight. True sight.
I was staring at my hands except they weren't exactly hands anymore. They glowed with soft blue light, translucent and beautiful. I could see through them to the ground below.
Caelan! Aria's thought was terrified now. Look at me!
I turned and saw her. Really saw her for the first time.
She was beautiful. Silver-blonde hair that seemed to float around her face. Violet eyes wide with shock. And like me, her entire body glowed with blue light. We were both translucent, like ghosts.
Or like magic given form.
What happened to us? I managed to say out loud. My voice still sounded wrong layered, like multiple people speaking at once.
We're... inside the Heartstone, Aria thought, looking around in wonder. We're part of it now.
She was right. We stood in a vast space that seemed to exist inside the blue glow itself. The chamber walls were gone. Instead, we were surrounded by swirling energy the Heartstone's power, flowing around us like water.
And we could feel everything. The temple above us. Dante and Elira sleeping in the hall. The forest outside. The whole world, connected to us through the stone's magic.
It was overwhelming. Terrifying. Amazing.
Are we dead? I asked.
I don't think so, Aria thought. I can still feel you through the bond. And I can feel... myself. We're still us. Just... different.
I looked down at my glowing hands again. Tried to make a fist. My hand passed right through itself.
The Oracle said we'd transform, I said bitterly. I guess this is what she meant.
A voice echoed through the space not the Oracle, but older. Ancient. Male and female at the same time.
You have done what we could not, the voice said. You saved yourselves. And in doing so, you saved everything.
Who are you? Aria demanded.
We were the first, the voice said. Two figures appeared in the blue glow a man and a woman, as translucent as we were. The original creators of the Heartstone. We gave our lives to seal the void a thousand years ago.
The woman smiled sadly. We've been trapped here ever since. Conscious but unable to leave. Unable to die. Eternal prisoners of our own sacrifice.
Horror washed through me. That's what we are now? Prisoners?
No, the man said firmly. You are different. You completed the bond before fully sacrificing yourselves. You chose each other, not just duty. That changes everything.
The woman stepped closer. We can offer you a choice. The same choice we wish we'd had.
What choice? Aria asked.
Remain as you are part of the Heartstone forever, powerful but trapped. Your bodies will fade, but your consciousness will endure, protecting the world for all eternity.
Or? I demanded.
The man smiled. Or you can leave. Return to your bodies. Live your lives.
Relief flooded through me. Then we choose to leave! Obviously!
But there is a cost, the woman said gently. If you leave, someone must take your place. The Heartstone needs protectors. It needs sacrifice.
My hope crashed. So we just trade places? Someone else gets trapped forever?
Yes, the man said. Unless...
Unless what? Aria thought desperately.
Unless you can heal the Heartstone completely, the woman said. Seal the void permanently, so it needs no more protectors. No more sacrifice.
I looked at Aria. Through our bond, I felt her confusion matching mine. How do we do that?
The ancient couple exchanged glances.
You must go into the void itself, the man said. Find the source of the corruption that keeps trying to break through. And destroy it.
That sounds incredibly dangerous, Aria thought.
It is, the woman agreed. The void has consumed countless souls. It will try to consume you too. But if you succeed, the Heartstone will be whole. And you'll both be free to live as you were meant to.
And if we fail? I asked.
Then you become part of the void, the man said quietly. Lost forever. Not even death. Just... nothingness.
Silence filled the space.
Aria's thought came soft and scared: What do we do?
I thought about it. Really thought about it. We could stay here trapped but safe. Or we could risk everything for a chance at freedom.
We go into the void, I said firmly.
The ancient couple looked shocked. You would risk oblivion?
We've been risking everything since the moment we met, I said. Why stop now?
Caelan's right, Aria thought, her determination rising. We didn't sacrifice ourselves just to become prisoners. We fight.
The woman smiled proud and sad at once. You are braver than we ever were.
We were wrong to stay, the man admitted. Wrong to accept our prison. Thank you for being stronger than us.
The ancient couple began to fade. The path to the void opens soon. You'll know when. Be ready.
They vanished completely.
Aria and I stood alone in the blue glow, processing everything.
We're really doing this? I asked. Going into actual nothingness to fight some corruption monster?
We're really doing this, Aria confirmed.
I laughed. It sounded wild even to my own ears. We're insane.
Completely insane, she agreed. Then her thought turned gentle. But I'm glad I'm insane with you.
Same, I said quietly.
The space around us began to shake. The blue glow pulsed like a heartbeat.
What's happening? Aria thought.
Then we both felt it our real bodies, still in the temple chamber. Still alive. And someone was touching them.
We could see through the Heartstone's power: Elira and Dante, standing over our collapsed forms, trying desperately to wake us up.
They think we're dead, I realized.
We have to show them we're not, Aria thought urgently.
We both focused, trying to send a message through the stone. Trying to let them know we were still here, still fighting.
The Heartstone pulsed brighter. A message appeared in glowing letters on the chamber wall:
WE'RE ALIVE. DON'T GIVE UP ON US.
Elira gasped. Dante's eyes went wide.
They're in there, Elira whispered. Inside the Heartstone.
How do we get them out? Dante demanded.
Before anyone could answer, the temple shook violently.
We felt it through our connection to the stone something massive was approaching. Something dark and terrible and wrong.
Marcus had returned. And he'd brought something with him. Something from the void itself.
Through the Heartstone's awareness, we saw him standing at the temple entrance with an army of shadow creatures the same kind that had attacked us before, but hundreds of them now. Thousands.
And at the center of the horde, a figure made of pure darkness. The void corruption itself, given form.
It spoke with a voice like grinding stone: GIVE ME THE HEARTSTONE. OR EVERYONE DIES.
Dante and Elira drew their weapons, but they were only two people. Against an army of nightmares.
We have to help them! Aria screamed in my mind.
We're trapped in here! I shouted back. We can't
The space around us split open. A doorway appeared not leading out to the temple, but leading down. Into darkness. Into the void itself.
The path had opened. The ancient couple had said we'd know when.
That's the way to stop this, Aria realized. We go in there, we destroy the corruption, and we save everyone.
Or we die trying, I added.
Or we die trying, she agreed.
We looked at each other two glowing souls standing on the edge of nothingness.
Together? I asked.
Together, Aria confirmed.
We clasped hands and stepped through the doorway.
Into the void.
Into the dark.
And the last thing I heard before everything went black was Marcus's cruel laugh and the sound of the temple walls beginning to crumble.