"You're mine now, priestess. Our fates are sealed."
Liora sat up with a jolt, her heart racing in her ears. The voice resonated in her skull, deep and compelling, a whisper drenched in thunder.
She looked around the cell. Cold stone. Iron bars. No one.
But the air still buzzed with his presence.
"No," she murmured, hands pressed to her ears. "This isn't happening."
"You feel it too."
Her eyes widened. She hadn't imagined it. He was inside her head.
"Get out," she hissed.
Silence.
She thought for a moment that he obeyed. Then—
"I'm tied to your soul, girl. I couldn't abandon you if I tried. Which I do. Desperately."
She jumped off of the stone bench, panic beginning to boil over. The emblem on her forearm burned hot, as if it knew she was afraid.
"Stop talking to me! You're a monster!"
"And you're an idiot who meddled with what she shouldn't have known. Yet here we are."
In the corner was a tin cup of water, and she threw it at the bars. It fell and clanged, and fell with a splash.
There were footsteps in the hall. The guard reappeared a moment later, scowling.
"What now?" he barked.
"I must speak with the High Council," Liora said, struggling to sound calm. "You've made a mistake—"
"The error was allowing you so close to the holy seal to begin with," he snarled. "The council is already discussing your future."
"My fate?" she echoed.
"Most anchors have a short life span," he added with a grim smile. "Too risky."
Before she could reply, he banged down the slide on the viewing slot and she was left in darkness.
"They are going to kill me," she thought, her heart racing.
"Not if I reach you first." Kael's voice rumbled once more. "You die, I die. That means keeping you… inconveniently necessary."
She sank back down. "You aren't offering to rescue me, are you?
"Do not take necessity for mercy."
---
Elsewhere — Sky Domain High Council Chamber Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! A group of elders Maintain peak state Go up to several poles that look like vast sky peaks between deep breaths, bang these poles with bang bang bang ten times.
"The girl must be executed."
The words echoed throughout the sparkling crystal chamber. High Myron, clad in golden robes, was standing at the center of the dais. His hand fell on the table of marble.
"She's the one that really kind of anchors that," he went on. "As long as she exists, Kael Draven will remain at large."
"And if we slay her then we risk the vengeance of the soul-bind," Councilor Arin protested. What if the severing isn't so effortless? Somewhat less convincing is the worry that it might prompt his return in some other form.
"Safer to have a go at that, than let the Night Sovereign go unchallenged," Myron snapped.
A younger councilor also spoke, haltingly. "There's another way."
All eyes turned to him.
"The forbidden scrolls tell of the Severing Ritual. It can break a soul-bond. Painful. Dangerous. But it's been done."
"And the girl?"
If she can survive … she'll be free. And so will he."
" Then we are losing our one lead on the Sovereign.
Silence.
"Then we force her to pick," Myron said harshly. "Survive the ritual… or die."
Back in the cell
The door creaked open. Two guards entered.
"Up," one snapped, pulling her from the ground by her arm.
"Where are you taking me?"
"To the Ritual Hall," the other said. "Your fate's been decided."
They drug her through the cold, winding halls, far above the city lights in Sky Domain. Her bare feet scuffed across crystal floors as the symbol on her arm throbbed harder.
"What are they doing?" Kael demanded in her mind.
"They're going to cut the rope."
A beat of silence.
"That rite has not been used for hundreds of years."
"Then you know it?" she asked, surprised.
"It's fatal. Whoever to both of us if disrupted."
"I thought you wanted it shattered."
"Not like this."
They approached a towering obsidian door, with runes scorched into the rock that smouldered a faint crimson. The guards pushed it open, and she smelled the odor a burning herbs and blood as they entered.
She attempted to struggle, but the guards' hold was secure.
A circle of runes illuminated on the floor. The chains at its hub awaited.
"No. I'm not doing this."
"You have no choice," Councilor Myron stepped up with a bone dagger. "Lie down."
Liora shook her head. "There's got to be another way.
"There is," he said calmly. "Survive the ritual. Or don't."
They pressed her down and chained her wrists to the stone floor. The blade turned red-hot with energy.
She looked up, heart racing. "Kael…"
"I'm coming."
---
The mortal forest And elsewhere..
Kael's eyes snapped open. He spread his arms out, his form crackling with magic.
"Damn the seals," he snarled.
Shadowy wings sprouted from his back, arching out to wrap the sky. Trees bent away. His being was surrounded by the crackle of lightning.
He rose higher than the sounds over the speed of sound breaking through the rift of worlds.
---
In the Ritual Hall
Myron began chanting. The blade slashed down the mark on her arm.
Agony shot through Liora as her back arched. From the hinge of her wrist came spilling light, which flooded the room.
"She's rejecting it!" someone yelled.
"No—she's fighting it!" another voice shouted.
The mark glowed violently. The chains cracked.
And then—
A thunderous crash.
The hall's walls burst inward in a maelstrom of black mist and lightning. Guards flew backward. The High Councilors hurried back when a figure came through the fog.
Kael Draven.
Hair like night. Eyes like storms.
And rage etched into every inch of him.
"You lay a finger on her again," he said like ice and fire, "and I will erase your entire bloodline."
The guards aimed their weapons. Kael waved a hand.
They fell. Unconscious.
He stepped inside the circle. Looked down at Liora. She was shaking and nearly unconscious, blood falling from her wrist.
Kael dropped to one knee and ran his fingers over the sigil.
It shotup—flaming light-out-[44] flashed—
And all at once, the soul-bond locked itself of its own volition, brighter, harder.
The High Councilors recoiled in horror.
"It's... permanent this time," Arin whispered.
Myron's features were twisted in anger. "You've doomed us all!"
Kael got up, carrying Liora in his arms.
"No," he said. "You did that when you tried to weaponize a soul."
Then he disappeared into the mist.
---
In the forest clearing
Liora awoke to warmth. Not the hard stone of a prison. Not the burning fire of pain.
She lay on a bed of moss covered by a heavy black cloak. A soft breeze rustled leaves overhead.
And Kael was sitting in sight of her, his back toward her, watching the horizon.
She sat up. "Why did you save me?"
He didn't look back.
"Because if you die, I die."
"Is that all?"
A long pause.
Then—
"No," he said.
Before she get could more, the earth shook.
Kael stood. "They have dispatched something after us.
"What is it?"
He whirled, silver orbs shimmering.
"The thing they made to kill me if I ever got away."
The moon was blotted out by a shadow.
And the beast descended—ten feet of steel and blood, eyes aflame with divine fire.
Liora gripped his arm. "What do we do?"
Kael's mouth tilted into a wicked grin.
"We fight."