Chapter Eighty-Eight:

  “The Final Boss”

  Lord Sterling sat upon his throne of bone, waiting.

  The throne room was vast, cavernous, the vaulted ceiling lost in shadow. Chains hung from above, swaying slightly in a breeze that wasn’t there. The floor, save for the blood that washed down from his throne, was polished obsidian. At the heart of the room, Sterling’s throne loomed, raised atop jagged steps, a grotesque creation of fused bone and iron, spines of sharpened ribs curving around him like the maw of some monstrous beast. Blood, old, never permitted to dry, painted the stone at its base.

  At his side, Hex stood silent, unmoving, her face a flawless mask. The streak her tear had left was gone, concealed beneath a flawless mask of black and white. The makeup divided her face, one side stark as porcelain, the other deep as midnight, fractured gold etchings tracing across the dark half like burning constellations, golden embers scattered against an endless night. She had ensured there would be no evidence of that weakness. Her father could never know it had been shed. Now, she stood as she always had been expected, perfect, unshaken.

  Sterling’s lips curled. "Did you enjoy your passage to my throne of death?"

  Emily’s breath was steady, but her hand was already tightening around her bowstring.

  Then she saw it, a smirk, subtle but undeniable, tugging at the corner of Hex’s mouth.

  Emily’s eyes narrowed, shifting back to Sterling, realization dawning on her face. "The sewers. The 'secret entrance'... that was all your plan?"

  Sterling gave a slow, deliberate shrug. "I couldn't just have you waltzing in through the front door now, could I? Where would be the fun in that?"

  Raya stiffened. The truth cut into her like a serrated blade, carving deep, raw anger into her chest. Hex wanted her to see that room, the bath, the water, the corpses, the handmaidens trapped in their eternal, mindless task.

  Her hands clenched into fists, stomach churning with rage. "There are no words for your evil!"

  Hex just stood there, smiling.

  Ani, feeling Raya's fury, bared his teeth, a low, warning growl rippling from his throat. Ice crystallized beneath his paws, spreading in delicate, lethal veins.

  Sterling’s gaze rose, landing on Raya. More precisely, on the sapphire glinting at her throat. His expression darkened with interest.

  "Ah, yes," he mused, rising from his throne with slow, deliberate, patience. His fingers twitched. "The Guardian of Ice’s gemstone. It will go nicely with its siblings."

  Then, with a look of pure satisfaction, he reached for the weapon at his hip.

  A blade whispered free from its sheath, its edge black as midnight, pulsing with something alive.

  Souleater had been drawn.

  Leo’s eyes widened. "Souleater!? How did you...?"

  Hex finally spoke, her voice smooth, gleeful. "Did you really think my daddy would have let that pathetic boy steal from him?"

  Ankit flinched, the words cutting deeper than any blade. His confusion, his hurt, was plain on his face. "Then why let me take it?"

  Emily’s breath caught as the thought hit her. "You planned this all along."

  Sterling took a step down from his throne, through the river of blood that was his eternal red carpet. The liquid never dried, never faded, forever staining the path he walked. "How else could I have gotten you to bring the remaining Guardians right to my very feet?"

  His cold blue eyes shifted to Leo, more precisely to the ruby on his finger, glinting deep, pulsing as though it sensed the hatred. Sterling’s fingers ghosted over the burned scars carved into his face, a reminder of a wound that should have never been inflicted.

  His eyes darkened. "Although I will admit, I did not plan on getting burned. You will pay dearly for that."

  Asha’s hand tightened around her potion, her stance unwavering. "We will never let you have them. Your reign of death and disease is over!"

  Sterling’s lips peeled back in a slow, knowing grin. "Oh, you will give them to me. You will give them to me on your knees."

  He raised Souleater high.

  The diamond embedded within its blade ignited, blaring a blinding light that devoured the very air, swallowing every shadow, every breath, pulling at the very fabric of the world around them.

  The throne room trembled.

  The final battle had begun.

  The light from Souleater’s diamond blazed, the air itself thinning, strangling. But even as the oppressive force sought to drain the very breath from their lungs, Lucinda’s protection spell held. A shimmering silver barrier encased them, a soft glow emanating from their skin, shielding them from the suffocating void.

  Hex was not so lucky.

  She collapsed, clutching at her throat, her breath stolen, her body convulsed, gasping soundlessly. Her fingers clawed at the unseen force constricting her air, nails raking against her own skin as she fought to breathe.

  Sterling did not even glance at her.

  His focus remained locked on the silver-lit figures before him, his expression one of disappointment. The spell that should have ended this in a single moment had failed.

  No matter.

  He lowered Souleater. The blinding light faded, and the air rushed back into the chamber with a thunderous CRACK!

  Hex gasped, dragging in ragged, desperate breaths. Her body trembled as she coughed violently, her lungs burning, her vision swimming.

  Still, Sterling paid her suffering no mind.

  "Compose yourself, child," he said, his tone as indifferent as ever. He flicked a hand in their direction. "Dispose of this... annoyance. Make your father proud... for once."

  Then he turned, stepping back toward his throne, lowering himself into the seat without so much as a backward glance.

  Hex’s body remained tense, her shoulders rising and falling with each jagged, labored breath. But something flashed in her expression. A small thing, barely noticeable. A twitch in her eye, the one on the dark side of her face.

  A crack.

  Sterling did not see it.

  Hex turned, slowly, to face them. She lifted her hands.

  Asha’s eyes narrowed. "Oh no you don’t!"

  With a snap of her wrist, she hurled the purple vial straight at Hex.

  The vial spun through the air, a streak of violet glass hurtling toward Hex’s face.

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  In the space between heartbeats, Sterling was there.

  No motion, no warning, one moment he sat, the next he was standing, his fingers closing effortlessly around the vial before it could reach its target.

  Asha barely had time to register what had happened before he threw it back.

  The glass shattered at her feet.

  A thick, curling vapor exploded upward, its violet tendrils slithering toward her face before she could react. The moment it touched her eyes, the pain exploded. Raw. Blinding. Agonizing.

  Asha screamed, hands flying to her face as she collapsed to her knees. Her fingers clawed at her eyes, but there was no relief, no escape from the searing burn that devoured her vision.

  The gas lingered, twisting in the air like something alive, feeding off her agony.

  Sterling exhaled, his patience thin. "Enough of this."

  Without so much as a glance, he lifted a single hand and swatted Hex aside.

  She had no time to react, his strike sent her hurtling backward, her body crashing against the far wall with a sickening thud. She crumpled to the ground, unmoving.

  "Useless fool," he muttered. "I will take care of this myself."

  He moved, Souleater carving through the air, its edge aimed directly for Raya.

  Ani lunged.

  His massive jaws snapped down on Sterling’s arm, locking like a steel trap, holding him back.

  But Sterling barely reacted.

  Calmly, effortlessly, he reached over with his free hand, his gauntleted fingers closing around the scruff of Ani’s neck. His grip tightened, metal pressing deep against fur and ice.

  Then, he slammed him down.

  The impact was devastating.

  Ani’s form shattered against the stone, his massive body breaking apart into a thousand crystalline shards of ice.

  "ANI!" Raya’s scream ripped through the throne room, raw, broken.

  Leo moved instantly.

  A massive wave of blue fire burst from his hands, roaring toward Sterling as though possessed by fury itself.

  The flames engulfed him.

  And still, he did not burn.

  Sterling stepped forward through the fire, Souleater raised, turning his gaze on Leo.

  Sterling sneered, watching the flames die against his skin, untouched. "Did you really believe I would allow myself to be harmed twice by the same power? You really are a fool."

  He moved, Souleater carving through the air.

  The blade struck Leo.

  For a split second, there was nothing, no sound, no scream, just the suddenness of it.

  Then, his body shattered, a cascade of blue and red light exploding outward, scattering like dying, frozen embers. The ruby at his finger, the Guardian of Fire’s gemstone, hovered in the air, lingering amidst the remnants of what had been Leo Kraus.

  Sterling reached for it.

  His fingers nearly closed around the gemstone when.

  A blur of motion.

  Emily’s enchanted arrow.

  It struck true, piercing through the plating of his armo. The force of it hurled Sterling back, A rare, sharp grunt tore from his throat as the arrow drove into his side, he stumbled, boots skidding against the bloodstained stone.

  Emily moved.

  As she neared the ruby, something else stirred, her medallion, the one her father had given her, slipped free from beneath her tunic, swinging forward.

  The gemstone responded.

  It shrank, its glow pulsing wildly before the power within it surged, merging with the medallion.

  A tremor ran through Emily’s body, a pulse of heat radiating outward. Her bow, her tattoos, changed, glowing not with the soft blue of Elven magic, but with raging crimson.

  She exhaled, steady, controlled.

  "Breathe. Focus."

  She pulled an arrow from her quiver.

  She aimed.

  But Sterling was too fast.

  A blur. A swing of Souleater.

  The blade connected with Raya.

  Her scream rang through the chamber, short, pained, before her body burst into a spray of icy blue light. Her sapphire, the Guardian of Ice’s gemstone, gleamed in the air, suspended like frozen starlight.

  Sterling turned toward it, desperation flaring in his gaze.

  He lunged.

  Lucinda saw it, the last chance they had.

  Her staff shot high. "Bright Light!"

  A blinding burst of radiance exploded outward, slamming into Sterling with the force of the sun itself.

  He snarled, flinching, an arm rising to shield his eyes.

  Ankit took his chance.

  He slid toward the sapphire, fingers outstretched. He snatched the jewel from the air, tossing it towards Emily, her medallion glowing violently.

  The moment she touched it, it merged, Fire and Ice, now one within her.

  Asha clawed at her eyes, her screams were raw, strangled things, torn from her throat between sharp, ragged breaths. The burning refused to fade, blinding her, forcing her to her knees as she desperately tried to clear her vision.

  And Sterling noticed.

  His gaze, already alight with fury, sharpened as he turned to her, the Archer's defiance, her power, the loss of the Guardians, all of it had enraged him. But suffering… suffering was something he could still control.

  He raised Souleater, pointing it directly at Asha.

  "Watch and see what your defiance causes."

  The emerald embedded in the blade pulsed, its natural green light bleeding into the air.

  The ground beneath Asha ruptured.

  Thick, gnarled vines erupted from the stone, slithering like living chains before snapping around her throat. They tightened, dragging her upward, choking the scream from her lips.

  Emily moved.

  Her grip on her bow was ironclad, her body surging with the dual forces of Fire and Ice. Power crackled through her veins, answering her call.

  She drew an arrow, and as she did, flames as cold as death erupted around it, flickering between frozen blue and searing crimson.

  She let it fly.

  The arrow struck true.

  It slammed into Sterling’s chest, shattering his armor on impact. The force sent him reeling, fragments metal and bone melting into the stone at his feet, hissing as they fused with the ground.

  But even as he staggered, his lips curled in something between rage and amusement.

  Because it was too late for Asha.

  Asha hung there, motionless, her body limp against the strangling vines. Her eyes, staring, vacant, locked onto nothing.

  Then, in an instant, she burst into a million golden lights, the remnants of her existence scattering into the air.

  Emily, Lucinda, and Ankit were the only ones left.

  The final three.

  Lucinda, devastation carving through her voice at the loss of her friends. "You're a monster!"

  Emily reached for another arrow, her grip tightening, fire and ice swirling at its tip. But before she could fire.

  Sterling laughed.

  That laugh.

  Deep, cruel, vibrating through the very walls of the throne room. It was not amusement. It was certainty.

  "And you," he sneered, his voice dripping with contempt, "you worthless white witch, are... nothing."

  Souleater’s blade was plunged into the stone beneath him, its hilt steadying a wretched, shriveled form, what had once been the father of all realms, now drained and discarded like a husk.

  Sterling twisted the blade.

  The emerald flared.

  Vines exploded from the ground, they lashed out, snapping around Emily, Lucinda, and Ankit’s arms, yanking them backward with brutal force.

  Emily's bow slipped from her grasp, her enchanted arrow clattering uselessly to the ground.

  Lucinda's staff followed. Along with Ankit's daggers.

  Ankit remained silent, his humor gone, replaced by a dawning realization of the fight they were losing.

  They all remained silent. They had lost.

  Sterling pulled Souleater from the stone, lifting it effortlessly.

  He had won.

  Sterling stood before them, Souleater gleaming in his grip.

  The vines held them tight, suspending them like prisoners chained to a wall. Emily in the center, Ankit and Lucinda at her sides, their bodies locked in place, unable to move, unable to fight.

  Sterling stepped forward, his presence crushing, his eyes gleaming with cruel satisfaction as he reached for Emily’s medallion.

  "Finally," his fingers hovering just above it. "All four Guardians."

  Emily couldn’t stop him. She knew it.

  More than that, she believed it.

  She had believed she could win. That they all could. That everything, every battle, every sacrifice, had led to something greater. But now, standing here, chained, broken, watching it all fall apart, she saw the truth.

  It had never been real.

  Not the Dive. Not the fight.

  Not the hope.

  Her whole life had been one long cruel joke.

  From the moment she entered this world, no, even before that. The overpopulated hellhole she had called home, the years spent clawing to survive, only to be thrown into a game where she had been set up to fail from the very start.

  And the worst part?

  It had worked.

  She had hoped.

  She had been broken.

  Her head turned, just enough to see Ankit.

  His eyes were wide, terrified, his breathing sharp and unsteady. He knew. He had fought so hard to keep going, to keep all of them going. And now he could see it.

  It was over.

  Her voice was hollow when she spoke. "Take them."

  She let her head drop forward, her body going slack in the vines.

  "What’s it matter anymore?"

  Sterling smiled. Slow. Satisfied.

  "Yes," he purred, his voice thick with mocking approval. "Bask in your failure. It’s good for the soul. Strengthens it."

  His fingers finally curled around his victory.

  His grin widened.

  "Makes it taste so much better."

  Suddenly. A voice.

  Soft, almost nonexistent at first.

  "I hate you."

  Sterling froze, his fingers tightening around Emily’s medallion. He turned, caught off guard, his grip loosening just enough for the chain to slip from his fingers, letting it fall back against Emily’s chest.

  Hex stood, shaky but rising, one arm clutched against her body, broken.

  Her voice grew stronger.

  "I hate you!" she screamed now, her chest rising and falling in ragged breaths, her golden-marked face streaked with tears. "I've always hated you!"

  She threw her free arm forward, magic swirling at her fingertips. A thick, curling gas slithered across the throne room floor, creeping toward Sterling’s feet, dark, toxic, alive.

  His eyes narrowed.

  "You dare attack me, girl? Your own father?"

  Rage twisted through his features as he turned, Souleater raised high, ready to bring the blade down upon his own daughter.

  Lucinda had no choice.

  She opened her mouth, and from her lips, she spoke the word, the spell Sienna had whispered to her, the one her mother had used to lull her to sleep on restless nights.

  Except now, it was not gentle.

  It was final.

  "Sleep."

  The word rippled through the air like a celestial command.

  Golden stardust rained from above, shimmering in the flickering torchlight, descending upon them all.

  Sterling staggered, his movements slowing, his arms weakening. Hex’s gas dissipated as her body swayed. Emily, Ankit, and Lucinda sank where they stood, their limbs suddenly too heavy to hold, the world around them fading into a soft, endless haze.

  The throne room grew silent.

  And then, they all fell into darkness.

  Into sleep.