Chapter 49 At the end of the day...

The cathedral stood in complete silence, its heavy air still rippling with the remnants of power. Dust settled like an ethereal veil, dancing in the pale light filtering through shattered stained-glass windows. The pedestal, once a beacon of ancient energy, lay cracked and lifeless beneath Mila's trembling hands.

A whisper, barely a breath, curled through the ruins.

"...this is only the beginning."

Mila's breath came in short gasps as she knelt before the ruined pedestal, she swallowed hard, her pulse hammering against her ribs. Her entire body trembled with the aftershocks of whatever she had just done. Her fingers still trembling from the energy surge.

The glow had faded, the golden symbols now nothing more than cracks in ancient stone. The ghostly woman was gone. The dark entity had been forced back into the abyss. Yet the weight of the encounter pressed down on her chest like a boulder.

Chad was beside her, his breathing ragged but steady, his grip tightening around the hilt of his blade. Across from them, Alex was still on his knees, his face shadowed in an unreadable expression.

Tristan groaned, his body shifting on the dusty floor as he pushed himself up. "Well… that was fun." His voice was laced with pain, but his smirk remained as he dusted himself off.

Chad, ever watchful, helped Mila to her feet, his gaze darting between the ruins of the pedestal and Alex, who was still reeling. "What the hell was that?"

Alex wiped blood from the corner of his mouth, laughing bitterly. "A lesson."

Chad's patience snapped. He grabbed Alex by the collar and slammed him against a cracked pillar. "You knew exactly what would happen, didn't you?"

Alex's smirk didn't waver. "Of course."

Mila stepped forward, her exhaustion battling with the fury bubbling inside her. "Then tell us—what else are you keeping from us?"

Alex's dark gaze flicked to her, then to the broken pedestal. "The prophecy isn't finished."

Chad's grip on Alex tightened, his knuckles turning white. "Explain. Now."

Alex exhaled, tilting his head as if considering his words. "You think you stopped it? That by cracking the pedestal, you sealed it away forever?" He scoffed. "You didn't break the prophecy, Mila. You triggered the final stage, "

The floor beneath them trembled. 

Tristan's hands went to his gun instinctively. "I hate when he's right."

A deafening crack split the air. The cathedral walls trembled violently, chunks of stone breaking free and crashing down around them. The pedestal—once dormant—began to glow again, faint but steady. It was no longer just a gateway.

It was a countdown.

Alex twisted out of Chad's grasp just as a monstrous force surged from beneath the ruins. The impact sent them all flying, slamming hard against the cathedral floor. Dust and debris clouded the air, choking out the dim light filtering through the broken stained-glass windows.

Mila barely had time to process what was happening before she felt a pulse—stronger than before. 

"Get up!" Chad shouted, dragging her to her feet.

The golden markings flickered back to life, spreading across the floor like veins of molten fire. The shadows swirled, coalescing into something massive.

And then it emerged.

A hulking creature, its form composed of darkness and shifting symbols, towered over them. Its molten eyes fixed on Mila.

Then the voice returned, deep and crawling through their bones like a slithering tide. "You are the vessel," it spoke, its voice shaking the very walls. "The final key." The entity tilt his head sideways. "Where… is the other?"

A cold chill ran down Mila's spine. The entity's golden eyes bore into her, "Twin suns of molten rage." Her breath hitched as she realized what it was asking.

 Mila felt her stomach drop. "No...Anna" she whispered

She wasn't here. The prophecy spoke of two, but only one had stood before the pedestal.

"Yes, Mila " Alex murmured, his voice calm. "And now, we're all going to pay the price."

But before Mila could answer, Chad stepped forward, his body tense. His voice, though calm, was edged with something sharp. "She was not meant to be here."

The entity tilted its head again, the darkness around it shifting. "Not meant… or taken?"

Mila's mind spun. What was it saying? Taken? By whom?

The shadows stirred, and the air thickened with something ancient and knowing. The entity let out a low, rumbling sound—a chuckle? A growl? It was impossible to tell. "Balance must be kept. One was absent, and so…"

Its gaze flicked past Mila.

"…another must take her place."

The creature lunged.

Tristan moved before he could think—before any of them could. He threw himself in front of Mila and Chad, firing round after round into the beast. The bullets passed through the shifting darkness like pebbles thrown into a storm.

"Move!" Chad shouted, yanking Mila back just as a massive claw slashed through the air where they had stood.

Tristan didn't move.

Mila turned, horror locking her breath in her chest.

The claw had caught him mid-step. It hadn't torn through him—it had gone straight into him. The shadows coiled around his body like living chains, sinking into his flesh, binding him.

For a moment, there was silence.

Mila's breath caught in her throat as realization dawned. The world seemed to slow as she turned, panic clawing up her chest.

"Tristan!!!" she screamed 

Tristan gasped, his eyes going wide as an inhuman force drained the life from him. His gun slipped from his grasp, clattering to the floor.

Mila let out another scream that tore through the cathedral. "No!!!"

Chad was already moving, his blade slicing through the tendrils, trying to break the creature's hold. But it was too late.

Tristan's body convulsed, his hands reaching toward them as if trying to hold on for just a second longer.

"Mila…" His voice was barely a whisper.

And then...

The creature ripped its claw free, and Tristan collapsed.

Time stopped.

Mila fell to her knees, scrambling to reach him. Chad was already there, pressing his hands over the wound, his breaths ragged. "You're okay. Just stay with us."

Tristan coughed, blood slipping from the corner of his mouth. His grip on Mila's wrist tightened. "Didn't… see that coming." He, tried to laugh, but it came out as a weak, trembling sound.

Mila shook her head violently, tears streaming down her face. "No, no, no. We can fix this." She pressed her hands against his chest, willing something—anything—to stop the bleeding, to reverse what had just happened.

But she felt it.

The life was already leaving him.

Chad's jaw clenched. He, turned sharply, his grief morphing into unfiltered rage. He, found Alex still standing, still watching.

"You did this," Chad growled, his voice raw with fury.

"It has to be this way, and you know it, Chad" Alex said.

Rage flared in Chad's eyes, and in a blur of motion, he was on Alex, gripping him by the collar and slamming him against a broken pillar. "You knew," Chad growled, his voice like thunder. "You knew this was going to happen."

Alex coughed, his smirk laced with something bitter. "Not my call."

Mila barely registered the sound of fists meeting flesh. Her world had shrunk to Tristan—his shallow breaths, his trembling fingers, the warmth of his blood soaking into her skin.

His grip on her wrist weakened. "Mila…"

She sobbed, shaking her head. "Don't. Please."

Tristan's lips curled into a weak smile. "You have to finish it."

His hand fell limp.

And just like that—

Tristan was gone.

Mila let out a wail so raw, so full of anguish, that it shook her to her core. She clutched him, rocking slightly, refusing to believe what had just happened.

Chad stopped mid-punch, his knuckles bloody, his breath ragged. The rage drained from him in an instant as he turned back to see Mila holding Tristan's lifeless body.

A hollow silence filled the cathedral.

The golden symbols around them pulsed once more, a cruel reminder that the prophecy was still unfinished.

Alex coughed, wiping blood from his lips. "Now… do you finally understand?"

Mila lifted her head, her tear-filled eyes locking onto his.

Alex's voice was barely a whisper. "The prophecy demands sacrifice."

Mila's hands curled into fists, her grief twisting into something new. She looked up into the glowing eyes of the entity...

Rage.

Determination.

And a terrible, undeniable truth.

Tristan had died for them.

But this was far from over.

This was war.