As Daecinus slid the blade into Maecia's chest, finally killing her, Emalia rushed past to Sovina. Her partner was dying. Corruption, sinister and onyx-black, laced up her skin like cracks in porcelain, threatening to expand and shatter. The sight wrenched Emalia's heart as she tried to figure out what to do. How to help. Medicine? Some kind of aid?

No, think straight, she told herself, staring down at Sovina's contorted expression of anguish, writhing upon the stone ground. And then she remembered. Maecia, the Grand Observatory, her own healing! Of course!

"Daecinus! Ignatia!" she shouted out. "Please, I need your help here!"

They came over, Daecinus covered in blood, expression frozen in steely coldness.

Before either could speak, Emalia said, "Remember what we told you of my healing by Maecia's hand? How she transferred it to the Greyskin? You need to save Sovina!"

He exchanged a look with Ignatia, took a calming breath, and said, "I've never done that before… But even if so, we don't have a host—"

"Use me! Give it to me!"

His brow narrowed as he was about to object when Sovina's hand clamped down on Emalia's arm. She looked down at the stubborn, miraculous woman in shock.

"No," Sovina hissed. "Don't."

"I'm not going to let you die here!"

"It's my job to protect you," she growled out, each word a battle. "Let me do this."

Emalia wanted to tell her she didn't have a choice but… But she couldn't bring herself to do it. It would be wrong, wouldn't it? To betray her wishes like that? Still, she couldn't just sit there and let her die!

There had to be a way, an alternative… or else she'd make Daecinus do it. She simply couldn't let Sovina die.

She stared around, searching for something, anything, when the impossible happened.

…

Agony, pain, endless darkness.

Protis found the end to be not quiet, but full of despair as their Soul slowly leaked away.

Minute by minute, death reclaimed them.

And yet, during the distant battle, a wave of Sorcery surged all around. It was not much to consume. It was nearly nothing to a body as destroyed as theirs… But it was enough to give the Soulborne another brief chance at life, so they seized it, searching out a Sorcerer's corpse. They did not know if it was a priest or one of Maecia's people, but it did not matter. Protis bit down as Sorcery flared through the halls, feeding on flesh, on life.

As the battle faded and Sorcery waned, Protis forced themself to sit up, wobbly and weak though they might be. Everything was a blurry haze, dark and confused. And yet… And yet, they knew they were needed.

A familiar Soul was in peril, the death's scent thick in the air like smoke, filling Protis's mind at first with temptation, then with realization, and finally, unfamiliarly: fear. They stood and hobbled over to Daecinus, Ignatia, Emalia, and the lying form of Sovina, Corrupted and near death.

Emalia looked up at them, mouth open, frightened and desperate.

Protis knew what she was thinking, but would never ask. What she had recalled, for Protis was there and saw it before Maecia betrayed them.

A sacrifice.

A life for a life.

The instinctual urge to survive against the human desire to see one's friends live. Protis stared at Sovina's face, recalling one of the first commands Daecinus had ever given them: preserving innocent human lives was a worthwhile endeavor and should be pursued, given no excessive risks.

No excessive risks.

This is a command for a Soulborne still chained by obedience and limited in mind, Protis thought with a start. It is a command for the Dead.

But much had changed. Protis had changed.

They were no longer a mere creature of death. They were one of life.

Protis could choose.

"Use me," they said to Daecinus.

"Protis…" he asked, brow furrowed. Everything steeled over and cold. "Are you… Are you certain?"

The one borne of Souls, forged into something anew, looked down at Emalia, then into Sovina's cracked eyes, seeing her fear, her concern, her pain. Protis nodded. The voice of the hungry devourer, the dying creature—it faded. "My final duty," they said, "is to save my friend."

Daecinus swallowed and began to take on Sorcerous power, straining though it was for him.

Sovina looked at Protis and shook her head. "This is my burden," she whispered, barely able to form the words. "My charge."

Protis saw it all. The memories of the zealots, varied as they were, united by devotion and dedication. Protis saw their own memories since their raising outside Levanska. Those ardent believers should not have died as they did, but the past could not be changed. So Protis tried to be thankful for their Souls, and hoped, somehow, they would all understand and forgive what happened.

Protis met Sovina's eyes and felt the murky shadow burn away by something wonderfully human. "Your burden is not to die, but to live and protect another day."

Another burst of memories. Daecinus's past, somehow incorporated as Protis's own. A life of turbulence, love and loss, joy and pain, defeat and revival. A life dedicated toward Pethya, yes, but toward Demetria too. A life of service, of protection.

Could Protis aspire to something akin? Could they claim to be of the same stock as he? The same goodness? Did it transfer with their creation like Sorcery? Was it something so innate? Or was it developed and grown? Was it something a creature such as they could achieve?

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Protis tried to stand as tall as they could, embodying that heroism. "Thank you, Daecinus, for this life."

Their creator smiled a sad smile and said softly, "You are welcome." He placed a hand on Protis's own, drawing it close to Sovina's so he could touch both of them at once. "May you find peace beyond this life in what comes after. You have earned it, my friend." And then the world began to shift in color; the glow of candlelight faded, turning murky and dark. Even Daecinus's red eyes paled in hue.

"Thank you, Protis," Emalia whispered. "Thank you for everything."

Soulbornes felt no pain, and so this death came not with agony and suffering but with a calm finality. Protis closed their eyes and accepted the end with a smile. A final death to a life stolen from others.

A life gifted.

And just perhaps, a life earned.

…

The world was quiet, and for that, I was thankful. A distant wind whispered in the tunnels, memories of echoes of it heard, reverberated across stone. Like Souls drifting into some distant beyond.

I limped into the ivory chamber, feeling hollowed out. Protis was a piece of me, strangely pure, and had found some semblance of personhood… just for it to be stolen away by my own Sorcery. Twisted though it was by Maecia's hand, the fact still hurt. But this was not the only of today's hardships, considering the wanton death Maecia had brought here, from the battle outside Novakrayu, to the dozens of dead within, ending with her own demise. My sister, my friend…

I shook my head and rid myself of such thoughts, leaving Sovina and Emalia to share a moment of privacy after Protis's sacrifice, the transfer of Corruption successful. Her life saved. I was glad to see Sovina survive, even at Protis's expense. She was a good person and deserved to live and be happy, as did Emalia. Still, I felt sorrow at the loss. Anger at Maecia, but not just for her killing, but for her devotion to her mission, her unshakeable determination, and how many suffered because of it.

I had to learn from this. I had to learn from her.

We had to be better. Damn her, but I could never let something like this happen again.

Ignatia followed me, quiet and more anxious than I was to see what awaited us inside. The room was small and darkly lit, with only a smattering of candles there upon the tiles. Many tiles were cracked and broken, with sections torn from the dirt and smashed. The dirt? I thought, considering our depth, then went to the strange opening in the ground. A short drop down were a few more lit candles, illuminating a room cramped with statuette Artifacts akin to the one we found prior. But in the cleared center, perhaps where one was taken long ago, were two people. The priest Wracen held Eudoxia's body; she was thoroughly Corrupted, her skin seized by blackened veins all over like cracked porcelain, eyes open and lifeless and empty of color. My Magistros of Hubris was dead, sacrificing herself for the greater good, for our victory. What could be so antithetical to the accusation of hubris as that? As such a pure, selfless sacrifice?

Perhaps that was the true Supremacy. Not victory in war but selfless heroism in the face of impossible odds.

"She died from her efforts," the priest murmured, looking up to us. "It was too much power… Far too much."

I stared at him, searching for signs of Corruption. When a Sorcerer died from handling too much Soul energy, there was always a terrible consequence. And for something like this, I expected the worst. "How do you feel?" I asked.

"Unharmed. Yes, I, too, expected death being near this…" He shrugged and stared down at Eudoxia. "But it would not do to let her face the end alone."

I used Soulsight to observe the Artifacts. I expected only some of them to be drained and others still full, for the sheer power here ought to have been astonishing. But they were empty. All of them. How did she do it? How did she have the capacity to control so much Sorcery? It was akin to the broken portal in Drazivaska. No, more than that. Two, perhaps three, such broken portals. And the fact that she died without a horrible necromantic explosion? It was almost impossible to consider.

How was this stash even hidden here in the first place? I paused my consideration and looked at the room below again. Upon closer observation, the walls were not of timber but of the strange bone composite like the tiles, just mixed with what I would guess to be ash, small stones, water, and some sort of strong binding to make a cement.

"What is the ceiling made of, Wracen?" I asked.

He looked up. "Planks caked in plaster by the looks of it."

Ignatia frowned at that and spoke in Pethyan, "So the chamber somehow cloaked the presence of the Artifacts like the chamber does with Sorcery. But why?"

"This is a storage from before Vasia collapsed," I replied. "They must have lost track of it."

"Maecia knew of it somehow."

"She'd been planning this for decades." I sighed. "But then I was awakened and changed things."

"And it is a good thing you did."

I gazed at my subordinate. I wanted to argue, to blame myself further. For instance, there was the possibility that Maecia didn't need the city of people as fuel, and this was her source entirely… Could she do such a Spell with only those Artifacts? I didn't know. Doubtful, but she was more advanced than I. Such a rabbit hole of consideration was dangerous for second-guessing, even if I still believed my actions were justified. I sighed. Ignatia was right, of course. For all my faults and errors, Maecia's plan was too dangerous, too risky. It wasn't that I didn't have a choice in stopping her. I did. I've always had agency in my decisions, whatever my excuses. But stopping her was simply the right thing to do.

Now, I just had to do right by her death, by my decision, and save who I could.

"Come, Priest," I said below in Vasian, "let's bring you up."

…

Emalia held onto Sovina as tight as she dared. It was a delicate balance to strike, considering the danger of squeezing the life from Sovina's lungs. But gods, she was so afraid.

Finally, she let up and released her heroic, beautiful, wonderful protector. Her partner in every sense of the word… No, Sovina was greater than her equal, more than that. Her better half, if Emalia dared something so sappy.

"I hope I don't look as terrible as I feel," Sovina groaned, rubbing her face.

Those horrible marks of Corruption were gone, and while she didn't look healthy, per se, she was far better than before, now just appearing sick and exhausted. Emalia felt the same anyway. "You look better than one would expect after cutting Soulfire in half."

Sovina smiled, then groaned, doubling over.

Emalia caught her and rubbed her back in slow circles. "Is there anything I can do for you?" she asked.

"I'll be alright."

"You don't have to put on the warrior face for me."

"I will be fine," she insisted, squinting up at Emalia. "In a few days… This is nice. Thank you." And then she reached out and held Emalia's hand by the wrist, stopping her. "I need you to know that if this ever happens again—"

"We won't let it."

"If it does, then you need to let me protect you."

Emalia stiffened. "You are not responsible for me like that anymore."

"I couldn't live with myself if you died for me," Sovina whispered, staring at her. "I just can't allow it."

"And neither can I." That seemed to take Sovina back, oddly. Emalia leaned forward, tone insistent and brow bent in serious concern. "You make me feel safe, and I love you for that. But I love you for far more, Sovina, and I would give my life for yours as quickly as you would for me. I will respect your wishes, but you must respect mine. We're here for each other."

She bit her lip in thought, breaking eye contact momentarily, then looked back up at her and let out a long breath. "I love you."

"I love you too." She hugged Sovina and breathed in deeply, finally feeling okay after the fear and desperation of the last few hours. Well, the last few days, to be honest.

After a long moment, Sovina looked over to Protis's body, now withered, slowly disintegrating as if turning to ash or dust. "In the end, it didn't really matter what either of us wanted, did it?"

"Not quite." She was torn up, and suspected Sovina felt even worse, with Protis's end. "Protis grew so much, became so much more…" Emalia stopped herself from continuing, suddenly aware of how Sovina might take it.

But her love didn't seem to mind, looking at Protis's form dissipate with a sad fondness. "Our guardian."

Emalia murmured in agreement, voice cracking. How many times did that Soulborne save them? She shook herself and focused on the good, on their final moments when Protis seemed to find peace and contentment in their end. A kind of duty fulfilled or purpose achieved. A most admirable kind of end.

She helped Sovina stand. "Come, let's find Daecinus. There's going to be a lot of people out there to help. And a lot to put in order."

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