26. Thyros #2
“We’re alive,” Ella said faintly, still staring at her glowing hands as though they belonged to someone else.
Ahead of us, the swirling darkness of Nox Eternum slowly receded beyond the viewport. Not far enough. Never far enough. But safer. For now.
Zapharos stood at the controls, blood streaked down one side of his face, his expression carved from exhaustion and iron determination. Golden light flickered around him as he guided the damaged ship through the currents away from the Abyss.
There was nowhere left to retreat. No hidden sanctuary. No reinforcements waiting beyond the stars. Only war. We all knew that.
Dravok suddenly stiffened beside Nadine. “The Hall of Seven.”
I felt it a heartbeat later. Mental voices collided against my consciousness, urgent, demanding, overlapping. What happened? Why are the Mmuhr’Rhong mobilizing? Zapharos?
The Hall.
The remaining Arkhevari commanders, scattered across the surviving fronts.
Zapharos closed his eyes briefly and projected his thoughts outward with enough force that even I felt the reverberation.
Seek cover. Consolidate your forces. Prepare for full incursion.
He paused. Then added grimly: The final war has begun.
Silence answered him. Not fear. Understanding. The kind that came when ancient warriors realized the battle they had dreaded for millions of years had finally arrived.
Beside me, Naeris trembled slightly. Emotional exhaustion. The revelations. The battle. The bond between us pulsed so intensely it felt almost unbearable not to be alone with her.
I sheathed my sword and pulled her gently into my arms. She came willingly and without hesitation, pressing herself against my chest with a soft exhale that nearly undid me. My hand slid into her hair.
“You fought well,” I murmured against her temple.
A sleepy smile touched her lips. “So did you.”
“You terrified me.”
That made her laugh softly. “I noticed.”
I tilted her chin upward until her eyes met mine. The fierce exhilaration from battle had faded, leaving something infinitely more vulnerable behind. “You cannot throw yourself at cosmic horrors armed only with a knife.”
Her expression turned entirely unapologetic. “But it worked.”
I stared at her for a long moment. Then I kissed her. Slowly this time. Not driven by battle or desperation. Just relief. Gratitude. Love.
The bond between us settled warmly around my ribs, soothing wounds I had carried since the moment I first opened my eyes in the Abyss. When I finally pulled back, her forehead rested against mine.
“You keep looking at me like I’m going to disappear,” she whispered.
The truth hit too close to old fears. “I’ve spent my entire existence believing anything beautiful would eventually be taken from me.”
Emotion flickered across her face. Then she cupped my jaw with astonishing tenderness. “I’m here, Thyros.”
A painful swell of devotion tightened my throat. Mine. Not possessively. Not cruelly. As though the universe itself had finally handed me something worth protecting.
Nearby, Ella flexed her glowing fingers in bewilderment. “How did I do that?”
Nadine was already pacing, distracted and breathless.
“There must be some kind of neurological amplification through the Aelyth bond combined with exposure to the Vessel and recovered ancestral memory patterns, except that explanation is scientifically insufficient because none of this should be physically possible?—”
Ella pointed dramatically. “See? This is why nobody asks scientists to make things romantic.”
For once, even Dravok looked mildly amused.
Then the temperature in the cabin dropped.
Every light flickered. A pulse of energy rolled through the ship.
I went instantly still. Something was here.
A figure appeared near the center of the cabin.
Not fully corporeal, it was more shadow than substance.
As though thousands upon thousands of tiny shards of light were struggling to assemble into a recognizable shape.
All of us froze. Naeris inhaled sharply. The figure was female. Beautiful. Ancient. And heartbreakingly fragile. I recognized her immediately. Not from memory, but from instinct.
Ashera.
Or what remained of her. Fragments drifted endlessly around her translucent form like broken stars.
Most flickered weakly, unstable and fading in and out.
But three shone brighter than all the others.
Three radiant golden pieces that seemed anchored somehow.
One burned with fierce warmth. Another with brilliant clarity. The third with luminous compassion.
My gaze moved instinctively toward Naeris.
Then Nadine.
Then Ella.
Understanding slammed into me hard enough to steal my breath. Not reborn. Fragmented. The realization barely formed before the figure lifted her head. Her eyes found us. Pain unlike any I had ever felt crashed through the cabin. Not physical pain. Loneliness. Grief. Endless waiting.
Then the mental force hit all of us at once. HELP HIM.
The command thundered through my mind with such overwhelming desperation that Naeris cried out beside me. The figure shattered into drifting sparks of gold. Then vanished.