Light erupted from Ethan's chest, carving through the crypt like a blade.
The Keeper's scream tore through the collapsing chamber as his form dissolved into pieces. Stone rained down around them, the ceiling giving way to a sky bleeding green fire.
Mara dragged Jarek through the crumbling doorway, his severed arm still dripping void-black blood.
"Ethan!"
He floated above the ruins, the dagger's hilt protruding from his sternum. Gold and black energy spiraled around him, forming a cage that stretched toward the Thirteenth Star's gaping jaw.
The celestial serpent thrashed, its constellation teeth grinding as it fought the binding.
"YOU CANNOT CAGE ME!"
Its voice shook the earth.
Ethan's body convulsed, veins bulging with competing energies. The dagger's glow intensified, and the Star screamed.
Jarek collapsed against a fallen pillar, pressing his stump against his chest to staunch the bleeding.
"He's... using the dagger as a conduit." His breath came in ragged gasps. "But the void's still in him. It'll eat him alive before—"
A shockwave knocked them both flat.
The Star's serpentine form coiled tighter, its celestial flesh tearing as golden threads stitched through it. Ethan hung at the center, his body the anchor point between destruction and salvation.
Mara's fingers dug into the scorched earth.
"We have to pull him out!"
Jarek grabbed her wrist.
"Touch him now and you'll sever the connection. The backlash will vaporize this entire valley."
Above them, the Star's eye fixed on Ethan.
"YOU ARE MINE, DUSKHEIR."
Ethan's head snapped up. His eyes burned with twin suns.
"No," he rasped. "You're mine."
He gripped the dagger's hilt and twisted.
The explosion shattered every remaining window in the ruins. Mara's vision whited out as a shockwave of starlight and void energy rolled across the landscape. When her sight returned, the sky was empty.
No serpent.
No green fire.
Just the pale glow of dawn creeping over the horizon.
"Ethan!"
She scrambled over broken stone, boots slipping on debris. She found him curled in the crater where the altar had been, the dagger reduced to molten waste in his grip. His skin was a battlefield, golden sigils flickering weakly against the void's creeping black stems.
Jarek limped up behind her, his face ashen.
"He's alive?"
Barely. Ethan's breath came in shallow, wet gasps. The void corruption had reached his jawline, black veins pulsing toward his eyes. But when Mara touched his cheek, his eyelids fluttered open.
"...did we win?" he whispered.
Mara's throat tightened. Around them, the ruins stood silent. No whispers. No laughter. The Keeper was gone. The Star was gone.
"Yeah." She squeezed his hand. "We won."
Jarek sank to his knees beside them, staring at the sky.
"It's over."
A breeze stirred the ashes around them, carrying the faintest whisper.
"Nothing ends."
Ethan's fingers twitched in Mara's grip. The golden sigils along his arms dimmed further. She recognized the signs, his body was losing the fight against the void's corruption.
"We need to move," she said, sliding an arm under his shoulders. "The Order's remnants will come searching."
Jarek nodded, pushing himself upright. His remaining hand trembled as he gestured east.
"Blackstone. The Order's main stronghold. If there's any record of how to stop this corruption..."
Ethan coughed, black spatter dotting his lips. "Mara." His voice was barely audible. "If I turn... if the void takes me..."
She hauled him upright with more force than necessary.
"Shut up and walk, Duskheir."
As they staggered from the ruins, none of them noticed the single green ember still burning in the crater's depths.