The Shape of What Comes Next

The wind over Kur'thaal was still seething when Seraphine vanished beyond the broken horizon, her wings a dim streak of fading light.

Lioren stood silent, staring at the place where she'd disappeared. His breath came slow, his aura trembling faintly around him like mist refusing to settle.

Vael landed beside him, the air between them dense and charged.

"What the hell was that?" Vael asked, voice tight, jaw clenched.

Lioren turned toward him slowly. "I didn't want it to happen that way."

"She came here. Disguised. She lied, Lioren." Vael's runes were flaring again, his emotions raw beneath his calm exterior. "She almost killed you."

Lioren shook his head, his tone heavy. "No… she didn't want to kill me. Not at first."

"Then what?" Vael stepped closer, his hand grazing Lioren's. "What did she want?"

Lioren looked up at him, and for a moment, the light in his silver eyes dulled. "She wanted me to come back. She begged me. She… she said I'd already made a choice. That I chose you."

Vael's expression faltered. He opened his mouth, but said nothing.

"I didn't deny it," Lioren added, quietly.

Vael exhaled, his fingers curling around Lioren's wrist gently. "And… would you have? If she offered you the perfect future, wings restored, throne returned, your name carved in the stars again?"

"No." Lioren didn't hesitate.

Vael's eyes darkened with something tender and fierce. "Then whatever happens—whatever realm, whatever war—I'll stay with you."

They stood in silence, watching each other in the quiet aftermath.

Then Vael brought the weight back into the room.

"She won't be the last," he said.

Lioren looked away, jaw tightening.

"Now that you've defeated her—Seraphine of the Lunar Wings, the most radiant of all the High Guard—they'll come," Vael continued. "All of them. The Council, the elite. Not because you betrayed them, but because they're afraid of what you might become.

Lioren nodded. "I know."

"And we can't face them alone."

There it was. Truth, unwrapped.

Lioren turned to him. "We'll need help."

He paused. "Lilith."

But Vael immediately shook his head. "No. Not yet."

"She has power. Knowledge. She—"

"She always knows more than she says," Vael snapped. "And I don't want to owe her. Not unless we've run out of every other option."

Lioren didn't press. He simply nodded, softly, his gaze searching Vael's.

They returned to the tower under the blackened sky, walking in silence through the scorched halls. Every echo of their footsteps reminded them that they were still standing, still breathing, still side by side.

Once inside, Vael lit a small brazier, its flame flickering low with Abyssal fire, soft enough to cast shadows across the stone walls.

They lay down together, arms brushing. Not speaking for a while. Just breathing.

Then Vael exhaled a sigh through his nose. "Perhaps… they won't come. Perhaps you scared them off."

Lioren looked at him with a crooked smile. "You think I'm that terrifying?"

Vael chuckled. "You cast out Seraphine. Not defeated. Thrown. With tears in her eyes. Believe me, I was terrified."

Lioren snorted softly, then turned onto his side to face him. "Do you think she'll tell them?"

Vael didn't answer immediately. He looked into the dark ceiling above, then whispered, "They don't need her to."

Lioren's smile faded.

And then, after a moment of quiet, he added in his mind the thought that would not leave him alone:

Queen Rishe will not stop.

Not until she feels safe.

Not until I'm no longer a threat.

Not until… I'm gone.

He didn't say it aloud.

He just turned to Vael and pulled the blanket a little closer over them both.

They slept—entwined, silent, watched by no one but the stars.

But the darkness knew.

And Asphodel was already preparing its answer.