Chapter 1254: Goodbye

The entire world seemed to hold its breath, reality faltering for a few moments. I held Aurle tightly, tears streaming down my cheeks. Was she real? I still didn’t know. My memories were foggy, and my thoughts scattered. But whatever was happening, whatever world I’d been thrown into, it wasn’t mine. And whoever was speaking to me through Aurle’s lips wasn’t Aurle.

Had my Aurle, the real one, resented me? Had she hated me for how she’d been trapped in suffering for my sake? I didn’t know the answer to that. But she had chosen to help me regardless. She chose to smile, love me, and stay beside me when everyone else had gone. Just like Korra and the others had chosen to remain behind so I could move forward.

I couldn’t take those choices away from them, no matter how frightened I was of what might happen, or how they might feel. I couldn’t let fear rule me.

The spell shivered, rejecting the thought. Its threads were deeply embedded in my soul, curling around the Primordial Mark. I could feel the foreign mana pressing against it, searching for the connections I’d exposed when I took control of this world. The more I struggled to hold on, the deeper it reached.

I took a deep breath and slowly released Aurle, backing away from her condemning glare.

"I’m sorry," I whispered. "Even if you hated me, even if there were things I could have done differently... I can’t change what happened."

"No, you can’t! You can’t leave me! You have to protect me!" she cried, reaching for my hands.

I shook my head and let go of my mana. The stars glittered, then went out one by one, retreating until none remained. Aurle’s wounds returned, and she whimpered in pain, hugging herself. My heart ached, every feeling in my chest urging me to reach out and heal her. To take control of this world and save her.

But Aurle was already dead.

The foreign mana in my soul squirmed, struggling to dig deeper, but the connection was weakening. Without my aura flowing through the constructed reality, it could no longer follow those currents into my soul. I felt the threads begin to slip free, though the spell itself remained, waiting for me to reach for it again.

"So that’s it," I whispered, clasping a hand to my chest. It trembled slightly as I realized just how close their plan had come to working. The spell still offered me the chance to change everything, and I wanted it. Gods, how I wanted it.

Lord Byron collapsed to one knee as the bindings holding him vanished. He caught himself against the couch, then rose, his aura surging through the room.

I gasped as it slammed into me, causing my chest to tighten and my muscles to freeze. He stalked forward and struck me across the face. My vision spun with black dots, and I tasted iron as I collapsed to my knees, blood trickling from my lips.

"Traitorous whore," he spat, glaring down at me. "All that power, and you can’t even save those you care about. You’re pathetic and weak, just as you’ll always be."

I bit my lip, shuddering as he grabbed Aurle’s arm. She yelped in terror, struggling to pull away, but his grip was like iron. He glanced down at me, his lips twisting into a cruel smile.

"You’ve been a bad girl, haven’t you, Starlight? I think you deserve some personal attention. But first, perhaps I’ll remind you what happens to those foolish enough to care about you."

He seized Aurle by the throat, lifting her until her toes barely touched the floor. She gasped, kicking weakly, her hands scrabbling against his arm.

My stomach tightened, and I struggled against the instinct to summon my stars. A few golden sparks appeared around my fingers before I forced them away. The spell responded immediately, its threads shifting toward the opening I’d almost given it.

I lowered my hands, trembling.

"I’m sorry," I whispered, tears running freely down my cheeks.

Aurle reached toward me, her expression crumpling. "Please, Starlight. Don’t leave me here. Don’t let him hurt me!"

My chest ached. I wanted nothing more than to take her hand, to promise I would make everything right. I could feel my magic waiting, ready to answer the moment I called upon it. But she was gone, and there were others waiting for me. Luke, the friends I’d left behind, and a world whose fate still hung in the balance.

"I’m sorry," I whispered. "I have to go."

Byron dragged her toward the door, her cries echoing through the reception room. I watched them go, my hands clenched against my skirt, fighting the urge to call them back.

"I’ll return for you tomorrow," he promised with a growl.

But before he reached the doorway, the manor began to fade. The walls dissolved into thin strands of light, and the furniture lost its substance, breaking apart beneath the weight of the spell’s unraveling. Byron stumbled as the floor disappeared beneath him, his grip on Aurle vanishing along with the rest of his body.

The last of his threats faded into the darkness.

I was left alone, surrounded by a shimmering aurora of mana and runes. I lowered my head, my shoulders shaking with quiet sobs. I’d known what was coming, and I’d still wanted to stop it. Even now, with the spell losing its hold upon me, I wished I could have made things right.

"Starlight?"

I froze as Aurle’s voice, weak and whispering, cut through the silence. Slowly, my heart fluttering, I raised my head.

She was standing in the darkness, glowing faintly from whatever magic held her together. I could still see the threads forming her body, but the presence that had twisted her words and anger was gone. There was no pressure against my soul, no pull urging me to reach for my power.

I moved before I could think, wrapping my arms around her. I was taller than her now, holding her head against my chest. She hesitated for a moment, then returned the embrace, her arms settling gently around my waist.

"You’ve gotten so big," she murmured, drawing back slightly to look at me. "And your hair... it’s pretty."

She reached out, running her hand through the long, silky strands.

"Because of you," I whispered. "Because you gave me the chance. I... I got to move on. Thank you."

"I’m glad," she said softly.

She felt warm, just as I remembered. The anger had faded from her expression, and she looked up at me with the same gentle smile I’d known so long ago.

"Starlight?"

I smiled weakly, tears spilling down my cheeks.

"Xiviyah," I whispered. "My name is really Xiviyah. I never got to tell you."

"Xiviyah," she repeated, trying the name with a small smile. "That’s pretty, too."

I tightened my embrace, burying my face in her reddish hair. The soft tuft of her ear tickled my cheek. Her form was growing lighter, slowly fading between my arms, but she made no effort to pull away.

"I found friends," I murmured. "And Luke. He’s... something more. I wish you could have met them. And I learned to smile, just like you wanted."

Aurle chuckled softly, her hand settling against my cheek. "I’d have liked that."

Whether it was truly Aurle or simply the last remnants of my memories, I couldn’t tell. I didn’t particularly care. For a few moments, I could hold her again, and there was nothing I needed to ask of her.

"Goodbye," I whispered, squeezing her one last time. "I’m sorry I couldn’t save you, but..."

"Hey, none of that," she murmured, patting my cheek with a hand lighter than the breeze. "You’ve been crying enough for one day."

I let out a shaky laugh and brushed the tears from my eyes. She was already becoming transparent, her warmth fading as the threads holding her together slipped away.

"I... wait for me, all right?" I whispered. "I won’t forget you. Ever."

She smiled, and for a moment, I thought I felt her hand squeeze mine.

Then she was gone.

The last threads of the manor dissolved around me, leaving me suspended in darkness, surrounded by the intricate weaves of a spell unlike anything I’d ever encountered. Far beyond them, I could feel the weight of the World Shard, pulsing with cold, brilliant power.

I straightened slowly, letting out a long, shuddering breath. The darkness resembled my soul space, but there was something fundamentally different about it. Countless threads of divine mana stretched in every direction, woven into an enormous formation that extended far beyond my senses. The world I’d just escaped was only a tiny part of it.

Now that the illusion was gone, I could finally study the spell without its influence clouding my senses.

Its purpose was terrifyingly simple, though the magic itself was anything but. The ninth-level mind mage had constructed a reality tailored to my fears, imprisoning me in a memory where I was helpless to save someone I loved. But that was only the beginning.

When I tried to save Aurle, the world yielded to my magic, letting me manipulate it almost as easily as my own aura. I’d thought I was breaking free, but every spell I cast had drawn more divine mana into my soul, blending it with my stars until I could barely tell them apart.

The spell hadn’t been weakening. It had been letting me in.

I shivered, remembering the foreign mana curling around my Primordial Mark. That was their true objective. Through the marks, the demons of Enusia were bound together, their souls connected in a vast network. If the church could gain control of those connections through Luke and me, they could carry their attack throughout the entire Infernal Horde without ever fighting another demon.

And I’d nearly given them everything they needed, letting my fears pave the way to Haven and the Fatesworn, the ones I needed to protect the most.

As for those fears... I thought they were being alone. The darkness, the cold, or perhaps being helpless, unable to save those I loved. But the illusion had shown me something worse.

Betrayal. Not the fear that others would betray me, but that I would forsake them. That every person who suffered for my sake would come to regret loving me, and that, when they needed me most, I would abandon them. I couldn’t bear the thought, even now. It made me shiver and shake, stifling my breath.

I swallowed, looking toward the World Shard. Two more ninth-level souls remained trapped within the spell, their familiar presences faint beneath the layers of divine mana.

Luke and Soltair.

Whatever fears the mage had drawn from them, they were still fighting.

"Unforgivable," I whispered, clenching my hands into fists.

They’d taken one of my most precious memories and used it to try to destroy everything I’d come to love. And they would have succeeded, had I continued struggling against a past I could never change.

But they had miscalculated. I wasn’t a slave anymore, and I wasn’t going to let them decide my fate.

I drew Oblivion close, carefully separating its threads from the foreign mana surrounding me. The spell had opened a path into my soul, and now that I was free, I could see where that path began. It was forged on the pattern of fate, a pattern I had learned to weave myself. Once, it had brought Luke back to me. Now, it would take me to him.

Just because I had to fight alone didn’t mean he did.