I watched my greatest creation fall to the bloodied ground, feeling little but shock and disbelief. I hoped Protis would fight on, rejuvenate themself, and possibly escape, but not… not die. Not here, not now! Not like this!

The Sorcerers fighting the priests turned in surprise at our arrival and quickly went to redirect their attacks. Though most of our Soulborne and the remaining sorceii were dealing with a sizeable Reaver rearguard, our lone Soulborne that threw the axe launched itself upon the near-defenseless Sorcerers. I struck as well, bisecting Spells and bubbling flesh, running past. Eudoxia was with me, helping to end Maecia's Sorcerers as they inflicted fatal damage on the Soulborne. And so, it was just Eudoxia and me left.

"Maecia!" I roared. "Face me!"

She was running away toward the ivory chamber from which Emalia had shouted her call for aid.

The priestly Sorcerers tried to stop her, joining together to send out a warding Spell of Corruption, sufficient against most enemies, though horribly under-strength against Maecia. She swatted their attacks aside without much of a thought. A killing blow would follow.

Before she could attack them, I summoned my strength with a deep breath and channeled the writhing Souls around us in a concentrated blast of Soulfire. Anticipating me, Eudoxia matched my assault with a Spell of her own, weakened as it was by her lack of Artifacts, which were handed over to me.

Maecia looked over her shoulder and redirected her efforts, blocking our attacks, sending them dissipating into the ceiling. It was no simple feat for her, strong though she was; Maecia stumbled back and braced herself on the wall, glaring at me. I knew what that look said. I knew what it meant. Still, she was powerful and continued forward, attacking the priests before Eudoxia or I could manage another offensive.

Thus, I had to stare in anger and failure as the priests were consumed by Soulfire. But she was not finished, for my sister summoned up yet another Spell, this time for a different target.

Sovina had retreated from the corpses of the Reavers she'd slain to Emalia, blocking the way into the room, her saber held before her. A small tidal wall against an oncoming tsunami, insufficient in every regard.

I would not, could not, let them die like this. With a shout, I tore what energy I could to blast Maecia yet again with another ray of Soulfire. The effort nearly collapsed me, draining my personal reserves. Eudoxia caught me, and I watched as Maecia didn't just deflect my blast but redirected it. Her eyes burning a fiery hue, she caught my Soulfire and sent it at Sovina and Emalia.

Eudoxia tossed up a distant ward, but she was nearly as drained as I was, and the Soulfire easily smashed through it, hurling onward.

I saw their deaths, impossible to avoid, as written in fate as carvings in stone.

And yet, Sovina stepped forward and swung her blade. The air distorted around her, breath puffing out, visible and misting, as she brought down the saber and split the Soulfire. The green rays of necromantic death exploded in an eye-searing blast. I winced but couldn't look away.

Sovina's skin crawled with blackened veins, her eyes darkened with burst veins, her flesh paled, her whole body tremored, and yet, she stood.

She stood.

But Maecia just continued forward, preparing another attack.

I was still too weak, too emptied, to try and catch it. I stumbled and caught myself, muscles too feeble to stand, let alone give chase and fight. "Go," I whispered to Eudoxia, pushing what Artifacts I could upon her. "End this!"

She did not complain or hesitate but took them and ran ahead as I collapsed, weakened and half-broken, reduced to a feebleness I hadn't felt since the Crown of the Column. Since the priest had nearly killed Demetria, Emalia, and Sovina before my very eyes.

I gritted my teeth and pushed on. I would not lose here. We would live on.

The dream of Pethya would live on.

…

Emalia stood frozen as Sovina wavered, slowly swallowed by Corruption. She didn't know what to do. How to help. How to fight. And even if she did know such things, she could barely move, horribly terrified, gut-punched with shock.

During it all, despite it all, Maecia advanced.

Sovina raised her saber once more, though Emalia could tell she was barely standing upright. Trying to fight on, ever the hero. Finally, Emalia made herself move and grabbed Sovina under the arms, pulling her back.

"What are you doing?" Sovina grated out.

Gods, she was so cold! "Saving you!"

Sovina resisted her grasp, trying to stand on her own again to face the approaching Maecia. "I will fight."

"You've done what you can, now, please stand down!"

"Never." Sovina tore herself from Emalia's grasp and lurched forward to attack Maecia with a snarl.

Emalia stumbled, trying to catch her, failing, only able to stare on in dread as Maecia prepared a Spell to strike Sovina down. Her companion, her guardian, her only true love. The sickly green ray formed upon her fingertips, bubbling and caustic, air hissing cold all around. It would fly as fast as an arrow, far quicker than Emalia could hope to move.

This was it. Sovina wouldn't be able to block a second Spell. The dance was up.

"Please, stop!" she screamed.

The Spell launched, hissing and burning through the air. And exploded. It was as if it hit an invisible surface, detonating, dissipating harmlessly, turning Greyskin corpses to bones and ash. Eudoxia? No, she was too far, too weak…

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Ignatia stepped up past Emalia, face rigid in intense focus, eyes burning like murky, copper-colored flames. She exhaled, sagging enough that Emalia leaped over to grab her, steadying her against the wall. But she could not linger, for Sovina was still in danger, as she was pushing up, intent on striking Maecia down.

But the Sorcerer was not beaten. Far from it.

Such casting should have wrought her out into nothing, but her reserves seemed limitless, as she kept coming, launching another Spell. From behind, Eudoxia tried throwing up some kind of shimmering, greenish ward around Maecia that shattered almost instantly as her Spell split in two barbs. One wove around and struck Eudoxia through her chest, eliciting a grotesque gasp as her skin turned ashen grey and eyes and veins blackened like Sovina's, though progressing far quicker. A fatal blow. The other barb went for Sovina, who tried to deflect it as she had miraculously done to the Soulfire. The Spell deflected off her sword and glanced off her arm, rather than her chest, sending her toppling with a horrible cry of pain as the Spell carried on, blasting into Ignatia's hasty ward, cracking it. The New Pethan archon shuddered, face contorted in pain.

Emalia knelt by Sovina as, suddenly, all three of her allies were killed or disabled, leaving her alone against Maecia, who continued forward, unstoppable.

She looked into the other woman's eyes as she neared, moving to pass, and found sorrow there. Pain. Guilt. Remorse.

How could you? Emalia thought as Maecia slipped past Ignatia, gasping for air, and Sovina, writhing on the ground. How could you!

Emalia launched herself at the other woman, taking her by surprise with a small gasp.

She tackled the Sorcerer, nearly knocking her to the ground. Emalia tried snatching away Daecinus's diadem but missed and clawed at Maecia's face instead. The woman hissed and pushed back, gaining an arm's distance before Emalia grabbed her again, slamming her into the wall. She went to grab her knife and stab when she was struck with an incredible cold. A searing cold. The blade fell from her twitching fingers as all went black with pain.

It was like the Kosican Mountains when she almost died, buried in the snow, consumed by the spirits that mimicked Raizak. The Spell in the Crown of the Column. The attack upon the ship outside Novakrayu.

Once again, a Sorcerer was trying to end her.

Agony. Loss. Emptiness. The torture of a Soul forcibly separated from one's body, torn and sheared and ripped to bits by manner of cruel will.

But Emalia had been here before.

She did the only thing she could do to survive: she focused on her bond to the living, to the beauty in the world around her, the potential, the wonder, the curiosity. To the people. She thought of those hopeful faces of the lost of the city as she preached, her friends depending on her. She thought of Sovina.

What was love, what was faith, what was hope if not the belief in something greater, even in the face of total darkness? What was Sorcery but darkness? What was life but light? And what was the former against the latter? Nothing.

The Spell wavered, failing to take purchase, thick on her skin like oil.

She grabbed Maecia by the neck and squeezed, staring into this lost, evil woman's eyes as they bulged in confused fear and desperation.

"My Soul is not yours to take," she hissed, wringing Maecia's life away.

The woman's eyes flicked to the side, and Emalia sensed something shift beneath her feet. Intuition saved her as she leaped back, abandoning her attack just in time to avoid a massive hand swiping through the air like a sword blade. She stumbled and fell, gaping at the near-headless Dead monstrosity lurching toward her with choppy, staggering movements. Emalia scrambled back, allowing Maecia to slide away, escaping toward the room.

And yet, not all were beaten.

Daecinus stood where Eudoxia had fallen, who was now missing. He shouted out, "Another step, and I will use Soulfire to end you. It may kill me, but it will take you as well."

…

My sister paused and turned to face me. The Behemoth also halted, mere steps away from killing Emalia, who somehow lived through Maecia's Spell. The former priestess limped over to Ignatia and helped her stand, the two of them positioning themselves between Maecia and the ivory chamber. Or, perhaps more importantly, the stash of powerful Artifacts somehow hidden inside.

"Do not be so confident, Brother," Maecia said, voice echoing through the near-silent hall, only gasps of pain to accompany the eerie stillness. "I hold a reserve for my Spell yet. But I can burn it to eliminate all of you."

"Then why haven't you?" I asked.

She shook her head and went to move on.

I prepared to suck in the Soul energy necessary for a ray of Soulfire, deadly though it might be to my own Sorcerous capacity, risking fatal Corruption.

Maecia stopped and whirled around. "Daecinus!" A shout of warning, almost begging.

"What will it be then?" I asked, paused with a significant well of power held within. "Will you not at least talk? Let us find some kind of understanding?"

"I know what you're doing."

"Trying to find peace in this madness?"

"Delaying me." She glanced to the side and sent the Behemoth lumbering ahead to the chamber.

I grunted in frustration. "Ignatia."

The half-conscious archon blasted the creature with a Spell of Death.

Maecia hissed out and went to strike down Ignatia, so I threw up a ward with what little energy I had, blocking it.

"Stop fighting me!" she shouted, glaring back at me, eyes wet with tears. "Don't make me kill you!"

I proceeded through the pain. "Do as you must."

"I'm trying to spare you, don't you understand?"

"It is over, Maecia."

Her scowl quivered and bent, eyes flaring red with summoned power. "You're damning them to suffering! To destruction! You burn Souls away for petty politics. I am trying to save them! To stop this perpetuated evil for good!"

"Surrender," I replied, stepping forward.

"What you're doing is evil."

"What I am doing is necessary."

The hall surged with a tingling cold, but this was not Maecia's Sorcery, for she turned in shock, staring down toward the chamber where Eudoxia had escaped while Emalia had provided her an unknowing distraction. Thank you, I thought, throat tightening, as I leaped forward, grabbing Maecia, preventing her from rushing to stop my Magistros of Hubris.

"Stop!" she screamed. "Don't do this!"

I tackled her to the ground. She stared up at me, eyes burning with anger and horror, but before she could strike at me, Emalia scrambled forward and snatched away the diadem. I grabbed it, Sorcerous capacity rushing through me, not quite rejuvenating my exhaustion, but helping. Maecia sagged against the stone, her struggling weakening.

"I'm sorry, sister," I whispered.

"Think of Pethya, please!"

"It is already done."

"No! Think of the dead! Those damned by my failures. Think of their peace! Each Spell cast brings pain and death… It… It will never end." She was crying now, guilt surfacing in all its bloody agony. A visceral, consuming emotion I knew well. "Don't we owe it to them? Don't they deserve peace?"

"Yes," I said to the waves of power pulsing over us. "They do."

Maecia was strong enough yet to kill me, even without the diadem. To kill all of us. And yet, as the Artifacts were drained, my sister did not even attempt to touch Sorcery. She knew she'd lost the battle.

And as horrid as it was, we both knew it was not over.

Not until one of us had won for good, securing the future as we saw it.

And so, I picked up Emalia's dropped dagger and squeezed it tightly in my fist, body shaking, tears welling and blurring my vision. "I will fix it, Maecia. I promise you I will make it right, but not before I've secured our people's future."

She looked up into my eyes, brow bent in pain of loss, in the torment of failure. "I betrayed you. I betrayed all of our people. Forgive me."

"I forgive you," I said, voice cracking. I forced myself to meet her eyes as I pressed the blade in. "Now, please forgive me, Sister."

She gasped as the knife entered her chest, sinking into her heart. To the raging Sorcery, the world cold as the most frigid winter, filled with searing life and twisting agony, Maecia whispered with her last breath, "Save them, please."

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