The fall didn't end.
Seraphina tumbled through a sky of black flame and silver ash, her body weightless yet pulled in every direction. There was no ground. No up or down.
Only darkness.
And voices.
Whispers clung to her skin, hissing secrets that didn't belong to her.
> "She killed him."
"She was never meant to choose."
"The gods have already written her end."
She gritted her teeth, fists clenched.
"I'm not here for their permission."
And then—
The fall stopped.
She landed with a soft thud on black sand that shimmered with faint light. The air here was cold—not winter's bite, but the chill of forgotten things.
A realm that existed outside of time.
The Forsaken Realms.
---
Scene Break – A Familiar Flame
She stood slowly.
All around her, fragments of memories floated—ghostly projections of lives unlived. Broken vows, aborted futures, cursed love.
And far in the distance… a crimson thread glowed faintly.
She knew that thread.
Her hand reached for it instinctively.
Kaelith.
She ran.
The sand shifted beneath her feet. Shadows rose in her path—figures with no eyes, no mouths, only echoes. One stepped in front of her.
"You don't belong here," it croaked.
She didn't stop.
The shadow reached for her—
She slashed it down with a blade of light summoned from her palm.
"I've never belonged anywhere. Doesn't mean I stop fighting."
The thread led her into the mouth of a broken cathedral, suspended in air.
And inside—
She saw him.
---
Scene Break – The Prince in Chains
Kaelith hung in mid-air, suspended by cords of shadow and flame. His head was bowed. His chest barely moved.
But his soul—
His soul still flickered.
"Kaelith!" she shouted.
He didn't stir.
A cruel voice echoed through the cathedral.
> "You were warned, Seraphina. No soul leaves the Forsaken Realms."
She turned—and behind her stood a figure cloaked in ash. No face. No name. Only power.
> "You've come to steal him back."
"I've come to take what was never yours."
> "Then pay the price."
The shadows surged forward.
Seraphina called on the Heart. Her body burned as the runes activated—but this time, the magic didn't obey. It lashed out, wild and unstable, as if the realm itself rejected her presence.
"Damn it—" she snarled, trying to force the glyphs into focus.
> "You think love can rewrite fate?" the voice sneered.
"No," she growled.
"But I've killed fate once already."
---
Final Scene – A Shattered Bond
The shadows closed in. Seraphina fought, blade in hand, light in her veins—but for every one she cut down, more rose.
Behind her, Kaelith stirred. His head lifted slightly.
"...Sera…"
Her heart caught.
He was still fighting. Still holding on.
"Hold on!" she screamed. "Just a little longer!"
But the shadow-king lifted his hand—and the cord suspending Kaelith's soul began to glow red-hot, burning.
Seraphina dove forward—
But before she could reach him—
The cord snapped.
Kaelith's soul began to fall—spiraling into the chasm beneath the cathedral.
And Seraphina jumped in after him.