Together.
The archshuddered.
A burst of heat and chill erupted through the room as our joined magic branded itself into the stone, searing a new seal—ourseal—into the very bones of the gate. Not a glyph. Not a rune.
A soulprint.
His mark.
Mine.
Interlocked, bound, eternal.
The Rift howled, the sound like the death of empires.
It tried to resist.
Itfoughtus.
The arch cracked. The air trembled. Something vast and formless on the other side reached out?—
—andwe said no.
Our joined magic flaredbrighterthan the stars, a final detonation of light and dark that drove the godling scream back into its prison.
And then?—
Silence.
The runes went dark.
The archstone cooled beneath our hand.
The Rift… closed.
Not healed.
Butcontained.
Like a wound bandaged, still festering, still dangerous—but no longer bleeding into the world.
We collapsed in a heap of light and shadow and breath.
Two again.
But never the same.
~ Devin~
I came back to myself with the taste of starlight in my mouth.
The floor was cold beneath me—stone veined with blood and ancient magic. My limbs felt foreign, heavy, too full and too empty all at once. My body remembered the fire. My soul remembered the light.
And when I closed my eyes…
I saw it.
Not shadow. Not the familiar comfort of darkness.
