Chapter 98: The Weight of Dawn

The wind carried the scent of scorched earth and new growth as Aurelia stood at the edge of the healing battlefield. Her hands trembled slightly at her sides, the golden light that once radiated from her skin now dim and uneven. She flexed her fingers, watching as faint sparks flickered and died across her fingertips. This was what it felt like to burn out—not with a bang, but with a slow, inevitable dimming.

Behind her, Kael's boots crunched on broken earth as he approached. The clear shard in his palm pulsed in time with her faltering heartbeat. "You're not fooling anyone," he said quietly.

Aurelia didn't turn. "I'm not trying to."

"You're dying."

A soft laugh escaped her. "Not dying. Just... becoming something else." The silence between them stretched, filled only by the whisper of grass bending in the breeze. Then— "We found Selene."

Aurelia's breath caught.

Selene lay curled at the base of a shattered oak, her body half-buried in soil that had tried to claim her in those final moments. Vines threaded through her fingers, their leaves long since withered to blackened husks. She looked peaceful, as if she'd simply fallen asleep waiting for spring.

Aurelia knelt beside her, ignoring the way her joints protested. The others hung back—Kael with his jaw clenched, Lucian's remnant watching with that hollow, shadowed eye. Her hands hovered over Selene's chest.

"Don't." Kael's voice was rough. "You can't keep giving pieces of yourself away."

Aurelia smiled. "That's the funny thing about light. The more you give, the more you have." The glow that spilled from her palms was different this time—not the blazing gold of her prime, but something softer, warmer. Like the first sunlight after a storm. It seeped into Selene's still form, coaxing color back into her skin, unspooling the death that had taken root in her veins. The blackened ivy crumbled to ash.

Selene gasped awake with a violence that sent the others stumbling back. Her eyes—still that impossible green—darted wildly before locking onto Aurelia. "You," she rasped. "You absolute idiot."

Aurelia swayed, the world tilting dangerously. Strong hands caught her—Kael on one side, Selene already struggling to sit up on the other. "That's enough," Kael growled.

Aurelia patted his arm weakly. "One more."

Lucian's remnant stood apart from them, his posture tense. The right side of his face was still marred by those blackened veins, his eye a swirling void. But when Aurelia approached, he didn't retreat. "You can't fix me," he said, voice flat.

"I know." Aurelia reached up, her fingers brushing the ruined side of his face. "I'm not here for the shadow." Her remaining light flared—a final, desperate spark—as she poured it into him.

For a heartbeat, nothing happened. Then—the remnant convulsed. His back arched as the shadows in his eye recoiled, crimson bleeding back into the whites. When he collapsed to his knees, it was with a gasp that sounded painfully human. "Aurelia?"

The voice was Lucian's. Truly his.

She smiled even as her legs gave out beneath her. "Welcome back."

The world faded in and out as strong arms caught her. Kael's frantic cursing. Selene barking orders. Lucian's voice, rough with disuse, demanding answers she didn't have the strength to give. It should have terrified her, this weakness. This ending.

Instead, Aurelia felt something she hadn't in centuries—relief. The weight of eternity lifted. The constant hum of power gone quiet. No more wars to wage. No more balances to maintain. Just... this. The press of grass against her cheek. The warmth of hands holding hers. The sound of her name, spoken not in reverence, but in fear. In love.

As darkness crept in at the edges of her vision, Aurelia realized—she was finally free.