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June 23 - October 23, 2025
“It doesn’t matter now. It’s too late. The equinox crests soon.” The Higher One moved, appearing in front of me. She reached out and grabbed my hand, holding it up to examine it. “And I do not see the mark upon your finger. It seems your time has run out. I guess he really did do it.”
You see, I was merely a distraction to keep you immobile while The Order worked. Because once you’re dead, I am finally free. We all are.
“Great. You’re awake. Now we can begin.” My head snapped up, and for the first time, I noticed Elianna and the rest of the council standing outside the circle.
You’re just a girl who gave up everything she had for the ones she loved. You deserve to be loved in return.”
You’re my sister. Our bond is stronger than blood or any stupid paper that says otherwise. Remember, I love you.” Her hand slipped from mine as she stepped back. “And hey, if you are going to be a monster, at least be a damn good one.”
Ayla. Was that my name, my true name? “Yes, it’s me.”
“I-I remember you. I used to visit you when I could, disguised as another. I gave you your first dagger. A blade made on Rashearim. I tried to keep you safe, Ayla.”
My last dying thought as that blade came closer was not the cruel grins of my enemies or the traitorous family that stood around me. No, it was of her. Dianna. Her laugh. Her warmth. The way she tasted, the way she felt. How she had held me, healing wounds that hadn’t mended in centuries. The way she spoke to me. How she had taken me across Onuna.
Gods don’t get cold.” I heard myself say, my voice broken and jagged as if a part of me was cracking wide open. I didn’t know what to do or how to heal him. Samkiel was the healer. I was a creature of destruction. His normally golden skin had turned that damned shade of gray I’d seen in my dream. “We do,” he took a gasping, rattling breath, “when we die.”
“I-I haven’t stopped thinking about you since I met you. Being with you, I finally felt what I wanted and had searched forever for. You woke me up and gave me reason. You made me feel like I was enough. I never felt like the World Ender with you. I never felt less. You are what I’ve been searching for my entire life. You, Dianna, had my heart long before I ever touched yours.”
One falls, one rises, and the end begins. So it was foretold the second Unir bound his son. One carved from darkness is you. One carved from light is him. The world will shudder as it does now. This is how the world ends.”
If there is a cost for resurrection, then so be it. I’ll pay it.” The alternative was losing him, which would never be an option for me.
If Roccurem is wrong, and I am truly out of time, if this doesn’t work, I want you to know that I am nothing like your father, Samkiel. I refuse to live without you. There will be no peace in this realm or the next. I will burn this universe down to embers for you. I will leave nothing untouched, taking apart anyone that’s ever hurt you piece by piece. So when you hear the screams from however far away you are from me. When you feel the very stars shake from the rage you aren’t here to pull me back from, when you hear them beg and plead for mercy, I need you to remember that it’s because you
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How deeply you must love someone that death itself fears taking them?”
“I fear no gods and no kings.”
Resurrection has a cost. Dread filled my being, and I wondered as sleep claimed me if I had paid with more than just the mark.
