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September 4 - September 7, 2025
The Shadow Beast bounded up the hill toward her with Lance and Gabriel on its back, and Gwendalina’s lips parted in surprise. I could see another soul sitting astride that beast too, Azriel Orion behind his son, his expression a mixture of wonderment and concern.
I lovw that daddy orion went too
We threw our power against them, forcing the palace to bend to our will. They flew wide and the moment our loved ones were through, we locked them tight to buy them more time.
It was them!!!!
They took a passage in the direction of Lionel’s bedchamber – which was just a guest room thanks to the palace, my wife and I keeping him firmly out of mine and Merissa’s rooms.
Lmao perfect
Lionel roared in anger as he found himself unable to break through.
Lmae Lionel
“Stardust,” she called to the others and Lance nodded, shooting around the room with his speed and throwing every drawer out until he stopped before her again with a pouch in his hand and a grin on his lips. “Why didn’t you say so sooner, beautiful?” Lance said. “Show off,” Azriel smirked. Gwendalina cracked a laugh, but it was lost as Lionel collided with the side of the building, his talons tearing through the stone wall so the whole structure shuddered.
“A savage flame draws closer,” the stars whispered, something about the way they spoke making me think they might be startled.
Damn tory.
“Mother and father of the flames, a doorway parts, the souls of the dead will rush as one to seek the land of the living. If they cannot be stopped, all shall fall,” the stars hissed. “And this our responsibility how?” I barked. “Your daughter breaks the laws of old, bends the rules long ago set in place by the Origin as she walks here not in death, but alive with her heart still beating. You must thwart her in her path. Stop her from stepping through The Veil. This is your duty, do not defy it.” “How has she done this?” Merissa questioned in dismay, but I held no answer for her. “You must
...more
“It’s not the time for this,” I barked, looking to Darius and placing a hand on his shoulder, unsure what might happen next, only knowing that now was the time to speak any unspoken words between us. “Darius…I shed you of the Acrux name.” “Already happened,” he said. “When I married your-” “I shed you of the Acrux name,” I repeated louder. “I am proud to call you a Vega.” His next retort died on his lips, and I gave him a tight smile. “Say hello to my daughter from me.” “And make sure she gets home safe,” Merissa demanded, moving forward to embrace Darius and place a kiss on his cheek. “We are
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“Fucking stars.” I looked up at them but as a glittering golden sword appeared in my hand, I felt slightly less angry at them. “Each strike cast by the celestial swords will make a soul fall into slumber,” the stars hissed to us all. “Strike many. Strike all.”
Oh wow
“A door opens as it once did long ago!” Reth yelled. “Follow my lead. And keep your eyes from the gateway to the living once it parts. Resist its call, it is stronger than you can ever imagine.” “You’re not in charge here,” I barked, and he turned a smile on me. “Oh, but Savage King, I am the man who almost lived,” he said like that was supposed to mean something, then he cried, “Yah!” and charged away down the line of warriors.
100% Gareth
“Then let us forge a path for her that the stars cannot touch,” I breathed, our hands interlinking as always. Our power burst from us, tearing away in a flare of golden light that collied with the door and started threading a path for our daughter. It was a tunnel built of love and light, and the moment she stepped into it, the stars screamed, and the ground bucked beneath us.
Im afraid
But it was more than that, it was our sacrifice that truly kept them at bay. Our vow not to go to our daughter ourselves, and we paid the price of this act against the stars in the terrible ache that burned deep through our chests.
Wll that be enough?
Whatever Roxanya had done to reach this place, I prayed it had not cost her too much. But I knew The Veil would not get its chance to seize her yet, because Darius Vega would not let it be so.
DARIUS VEGA
I couldn’t make myself move from that spot, the sunshine beaming in from the windows, casting one side of my face in the light while the other was left in shadow. Like the two parts of my soul; the man I was when I was hers, burning bright and hot and full of life, and the one I had been in all the years before her, festering in a need for vengeance, drowning in my own failures.
She was fury given breath, her green eyes flashing with a deep and resounding rage.
Damn
She drew closer, the air between us growing thin as I took her in, this beautiful, broken, queen of mine.
Even as my lips devoured hers and she released a sound so full of love and hurt that it burnt me, there was something still dividing us. I inhaled her air, and she consumed my soul, but that line remained. It remained, and it grew until our kiss broke apart and we were left staring at each other, facing the fact of our reality.
One song. A few minutes stolen before it would be over.
They are out there fighting souls so
She was my light when I had been so lost in the dark. She was the mirror she made me face, the truth I needed to see. And still she’d loved me. She’d been the only one who ever could have looked at all of the darkness in me, who could have seen beyond what I had done and found something worth loving within it. She’d been forged for me by something so much more powerful than fate.
And if there was any chance at all of her making it listen then I was right there with her for the ride.
The way he flip flops
Ren
REN!!!!!
Azriel offered Serenity his hand and her eyebrows rose before she nodded and the two of them moved close in a dance that reminded me of the grand balls I had held at The Palace of Souls long ago.
Eeeeeee
“Do me next!” Radcliff jumped into Felisia’s path. “The dead Acrux didn’t achieve so much, And his brother was bigger too-oo-oo.” “Actually, don’t do me,” Radcliff grumbled, but Felisia sang on. “But the best thing about him was he wasn’t lame. And the fact he was hotter too-oo-oo.” “Oh.” Radcliff beamed. “On second thoughts, I rather liked that – but Lame Lionel isn’t bigger than me!” he called after her as she pranced away.
“Mother and father of the flames,” the stars’ whispered inside my head and I looked to Merissa, confirming she had heard it too. “You led the warrior souls well, and though you scorned us with your choice to let your daughter walk through into the realm of the dead, your sacrifice was acknowledged. You may have one ask of us in return for the preservation of The Veil. Speak it now and we shall deliberate upon its viability. You cannot ask for life, nor the death of those who live.”
Everyone began to bow with them, dropping to their knees and my eyes caught on Gabriel and Lance as they dropped down with smiles on their lips and a weight of reverence about them.
The stars pulled on my soul, stealing Merissa and I away and placing us before our daughters in the living realm, The Veil so thin that I could almost feel the wind against my cheeks.
“Crown the new queens, and weave a new path into existence, mother and father of the flames,” the stars encouraged.
im sobbing
“Has anyone seen Bob?” a Remnant swept down from behind me, flitting into my way and I wafted him aside. The power in the air was rousing them all from their seats, their forms becoming more tangible as they were drawn to witness this vital moment in time. “Wait…I am Bob!” the confused Remnant cried. “All this time I was seeking Bob, and I was he! Rejoice! Rejoice! Bob is me and I am he!”
Poor bob
“What’s that saying the Oscuras use? A morte…” “E ritorno,” Roxanya finished, and they thrust the heart of the star into the hole, fixing it back in place to the sound of a hundred Oscura Wolf souls howling around us in The Room of Knowledge, excited to get a mention.
“Hail,” Merissa whispered in fright. “Why is it mimicking them?”
Because we cant have nice things
“What does it mean?” I begged of Merissa, but she had no answer, and the silence that fell in The Room of Knowledge was so thick, that it seemed no one had an answer. “What does it mean!?” I roared to the stars, but they were quiet now, their new fate set. And whatever path was coming for those I loved, I feared it would be draped in peril.
Trust me i wanna know too
“This is not the end.” “No, but it is the beginning of some fresh new hell,” I sighed, kicking the seat in front of mine.
Truth
“Our kin falls. Their time is done. Pay your respects to the fallen star.”
A glimmer of light caught my eye lower down on the mountainside and my gut clenched as Lionel, his shadow queen, Tharix and Vard appeared via stardust swiftly followed by his cohort of bonded Dragons.
Fuck my life
“Come with me, Daddy.” Lavinia stepped onto an animal track that led higher up the mountain, bare toes pressing into the dirt. “For the love of the moon, will she ever stop calling him that?” Merissa cringed.
Merissa gets me
The stars were wild and furious, their laws thwarted once again and this, it seemed, was the final straw as a giant crack burst up the centre of the great orb. Shards of crystal shot out of it and the souls in the room scattered with cries of terror.
“What can we do?” I pleaded, but she shook her head, eyes wide and full of endless sorrow. “Nothing, Hail. Nothing but watch and pray.”
(Caroline and I take no responsibility for the actions of the stars so don’t come looking over here for your answers to that little nugget of shit.)
Im glaring
