I watch in horror as Nox’s eyes turn to shadow.
The souls pierce his heart like daggers and with each one Nox gasps out a desperate breath.
No, not desperate, hungry.
The deep brown of his eyes is lost to a merciless black. It is a void that erases anything soft and gentle that came before.
The bargain Isolda made for Seryth has found a new home in him, carving a king from the soldier who came before. An immortal from the boy who stole me from my tower.
Isolda’s magic is corruptive. It is evil and chaos, and so far from Asclepina’s legacy. So far from the magic Eldara gifted me before she slipped into the afterlife.
“Don’t let them,” Nox says to me. “Don’t you let them make me into him.”
I hear the words underneath what he says: Kill me, before the power of these souls corrupts me.
Kill me, before I become like Seryth.
“I won’t!” I scream.
“Selestra,” Nox says.
My name on his lips, the best and worst sound I have ever heard.
“I will not become him,” he says. “Please.”
I grit my teeth at his pleas. Even in death, Seryth and the dark magic that he cloaked himself in still seek to destroy everything I love.
I won’t allow this to happen.
I won’t let my great-great-grandmother’s spell create any more monsters in this world.
Once, she was almighty. But now she is no more.
I am all that is left and I will not let this legacy continue.
I reach out and take Nox’s hand in mine, wrapping myself around him. He frowns, shaking his head, adamant.
“What are you—?”
“We’re in this together. Always,” I say to him. “Remember the skeleton?”
Nox looks confused for a moment, but then a spark of recognition rises in his face. He nods.
I hold on tight to the magic of my goddess as Nox’s knees threaten to buckle. He convulses, the souls shaking through him.
Let us undo it, I say to Asclepina. The wrongs that came before.
Then I pull each and every thread that lives inside of Nox. Threads I once felt in the king. I pull and pull until I feel them snap.
I call you out, I whisper, repeating my mother’s words as I siphon out the souls. Her final lesson to me. In the name of Asclepina, I free you.
The souls shudder and tumble from Nox’s heart as Isolda’s spell finally breaks.
I pay no mind to the two armies, gasping around us as centuries of magic is erased. I don’t regard the headless king by my feet.
I just look at Nox and at the power that swirls inside him as Asclepina’s magic joins with my own.
Good magic, finally back in the Six Isles.
The souls rush from Nox’s heart. Every single life stolen, newly freed and springing back into the world to find their peace. To see their gods and goddesses and find whatever afterlife they’ve so longed for.
I feel the Endless Sea shift around us and it turns from black to crystal blue, its cursed waters brightening under the moon’s watchful glow.
I see it all in my mind too. A glorious vision of freedom as the Six Isles are unlocked to the world. To the kingdoms with the ice mountains and princes of gold Eldara spoke of. To sirens and all manner of mythical creatures as beautiful as the Lamperós bird Seryth held captive.
And the Six Isles, the beauty of them no longer imprisoned by a mad king and his mad dreams.
With every soul that escapes from Nox and back into the ether, I make a wish—a promise—to the Six Isles and all I’ll do to rebuild them. To breathe life and magic back into their spirit.
I call you out.
I call you to freedom.
I squeeze Nox’s hand in mine as the last lost soul funnels from him.
When he finally buckles to his knees, I slip gently beside him and let him fall into my arms, his heartbeat pressed against mine.