Chapter 17 - Shadowking

Thatti opened her eyes slowly, everything coming to light once more. Next to her, Petal gasped. “Your highness! You’re awake!” She huggled the girl and started to croon in joy. “P-Petal?” She rubbed her eyes, the soreness and aches long gone. In the corner, Maisma and Pyra looked on happily.

"Yo dude, you're up! We thought you'd never wake up." Maisma yelled.

 

“You’ve been out for two weeks!” Petal exclaimed. “But you’re fine now, and you’re back in your

school… But um, your ” She smiled at the girl, whose jaw dropped in fear. “Where is he…”

 

Petal showed Thatti the tablet, the projection playing. She remembered how Caleb had threatened her, his face growing red. “Caleb…” The girl went limp. “I… I can’t…” “There’s more, it, updated recently.” Petal pressed an arrow on the screen.

Another hologram displayed, showing Hyde in bondage gear, strapped to an electric chair. "H- hyde?!" Thatti gasped.

The holographic image shifted to show Lumina’s severed head on a platter, in front of a grinning Jack. A murderer, holding up a single note, the projection enlarging so Thatti could read.

 

 

 

I HAVE. YOUR BOYTOYS. CALEB, HYDE.

 

BRING YOUR WAND. YOU MAY HAVE A FEW SURPRISES. IF NOT. YOU HAVE MY PLEDGE. YOU WILL DREAD. WHEN YOU FACE THE DEAD.

-JACK.

 

Thatti turned her head to the shelf next to her bed, where she saw Becca placed on a pillow. She pulled her up.

“He threatened you, if you didn’t bring the wand. Said something about a prophecy, but we grew tired of it. That’s why he let us out,” Maisma added.

"Precious flower, let us help you!" Petal said, forming her spear.

 

Her knees knocked together. "I, I have to talk to Becca alone. Or else-"

 

The door slammed open, the short-blond gem with a leather haltertop and vinyl leggings storming forward. "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?" Diane shouted.

"Y-you?!" Thatti gasped, holding Becca defensively, her manifestation taking on the shape of a spear.

"Don't 'you' me, you're responsible for this shit!" She bellowed. "Because of you, that crazy broad has Hyde! And now YOU'RE going to help me get him back!"

The girl stumbled to the ground, clutching her chest. "I, I can't... he threatened to take Becca." She pointed the spear at Diane. "No thanks for your help."

"Don't talk shit to me! You don't know what my little pumpkin has done, what he's done for me!" Diane screamed, her voice breaking.

"Tsk, I don't get why a harpy like you is so, lovesick. Do you really believe that stupid prophecy?"

 

"Lovebirds stick together." Pyra said. "She thinks of them like a fairytail, she'll do anything for him."

"S-shutup!" Diane yelled. "I don't care a single tit about oracles, but one, I trust Hyde. And two- you're the daughter of the fucking Domina, whose track record with Gems puts you at the top of a 'don't trust' list." She jumped on the bed and pointed. "It's literally in your blood."

"Look at me, Thatti." Diane walked up to her. "You're in a rough spot right now. But you're doing good. And the only thing keeping you from getting him back is..." she looked around. "...That wand. He said it all in his message. Just give it to him, and we can get both boys back." She took a deep sigh. "Isn't that what your brother would've wanted?"

"Don't you dare talk about my brother!" Thatti's eyes grew wide, her heart beating fast as she remembered Caleb threatening her.

"Hyde is a jerk, but he doesn’t want me or Caleb dead. He was just following orders. Maybe he got tricked." She added.

"Yeah, tricked into sending a bigass monster to fight you." Diane snickered. "She's got a point," Maisma said.

Thatti sighed. "Awful lot you know about them," she said, standing up off the bed. "Get out." "Fuck you, kid!" She yelled. "Just give me the wand! I'll take it up with Jack herself!"

The Orchid girl paced back and forth, ignoring the Gem of Pride's threats. "That's why you're nothing but a brat, and I won't stand for it!" Diane screamed, her voice rising higher and higher. "You're just like your mother, using people for personal gain! Forcing everyone to follow your own fucking agenda!"

 

 

 

The daughter of the Domina finally turned around, clearing her throat. "Okay, fine. I'm a brat, scream all you want. You want Hyde back right? And I.." She looked away and bit her tongue.

"Guess should try to see Caleb too." She took a deep breath, then looked at Diane. "Fight with me. We'll rescue them both, alright?"

"What?" Diane gasped. "How-? And who said we're a team?" "If it matters, I want to help you."

Diane scoffed. "Fuck that, and fuck you. No."

 

The girl shook her head, making a face. "Please, I can't do this alone. Last time I fought Jack.." Her fingers trembled, her eyes looking away. "I had no idea how bad it could get. And..." She looked up, conceding. "Plus you and him are a thing, you know the inns and outs of Bedlam and his castle right?"

Diane looked on in disbelief, shaking her head as if trying to make her heart beat slower. "Fine, we're a team. Get that stick ready and let's do this." She put her hands on her hips. "I guess we're on the same side now." She groaned, pulling her energy spear from thin-air.

"D'you mind if I call you Dee?" Thatti asked. "Whatever."

 

 

 

 

 

The wagon in Bedlam rattled over the uneven path, kicking up dust that swirled around the wheels like miniature sandstorms. Becca, nestled between Thatti's knees, hummed a low tune, her golden light pulsing in rhythm with the bumpy ride. Thatti, however, couldn't shake the disquiet that gnawed at her chest. "Dee," she began, her voice tight, "Do you think... do you think Caleb's even worth saving?" Diane leaned on her arm. "The hell should I know? He seemed like a wienie if you ask me."

"He doesn't have to be worth saving." Thatti sighed. "I don't even care about him. But she does, so I have to." She looked down. "D-don't you Becca?"

She asked.

 

"You're asking ME? Whaaa?" Becca rattled in her lap. "He's your choom, isn't he! What do you mean you don't care about him?"

She looked out, the flowing rivers of lava running through tunnels and off cliffsides with jagged obsidian roads. "I, do? Or I did, but.." She coughed. "We had a fight. A really bad one."

"I got news for ya, my friend. A lot of men are jerks. No one's ever perfect."

 

"Yeah.." Thatti said. "It's just, h-he was the first person I met here to be nice to me. And he was the only one that seemed to not look at me as some kind of freak, or weirdo or some shit like that. He just.. I dunno, he let me be me I guess? If he's in trouble, I can't just let him go through that alone." She said, before leaning back. She wished Kaz was here, for a reason she couldn't quite put. Petal had said that the girl had been called back to Orchid on family business, that she'd be back as soon as she could but there was no time to wait.

"What about you? D-did, you ever have a Caleb?" Thatti asked. "Or a hyde?" She looked towards Diane, who appeared annoyed.

"Me?" Becca replied.

 

"Yeah! You don't talk about yourself and I know you're a wand so.." Becca started panicking.

"How, how do I answer that?! That's personal!"

 

She didn't reply, but her face betrayed an odd longing. Thatti looked at her. "Well?"

She looked at her again. "Well, I do... kinda... I did once." She looked away. "But they're just.. they're different, okay?"

Thatti frowned. "Uh, okay?"

 

Becca's body tensed. "Yeah, I had a boy I really liked. They weren't perfect, but they were trying to make things better. He, he's always had his own plan, wanted to make it to the top but he never forgot about others. He always had his own thing to do. He thought everyone was a sucker. Maybe even me. Maybe, maybe the reason I was friends with him was that I hoped he could be better than he is." She said, rolling in place abit. "But it got, it got me nothing. A really grisly end. So... it ended."

She felt like she'd said too much.

 

Thatti held her up, looking at the wand very intensely. "Do you, still care about them?"

 

"Like I said, I got my own problems." Becca said. "If I could talk to them now, I think... I'd call them a good for nothing idiot for getting himself and all our chooms killed. But that's just my special way of caring. Deep down I’d be crying like a sap."

Becca let out a loud sigh.

 

Diane, perched on the edge of the wagon with her spear propped against her shoulder, snorted. "Look, sunshine, I don't exactly ALWAYS have a soft spot for the brooding prince, either. Me and Hyde's relationship is, rocky too. My man got himself into hot water, like always. He can be a hotheaded idiot. But someone's gotta stop Jack, right? And let's be honest, you're the only one with a halfway decent chance of doing it."

“I don’t know about that..” Thatti held Becca up, her arm still straining. “I’ve kind of drained our power. The transformation I did at the last battle really took everything me, it still hurts like hell even now.” She closed one eye. “I’d say I can use about.. 15%, no maybe 20% of my magic, if I

have to fight and use Headhunter, I’m running on desperation fumes. Better hope we can talk our way out.” The wagon went silent for a minute.

"Dee," she began hesitantly, "Do you think... do you think he's changed?"

 

Diane, her gaze fixed on the horizon, scoffed. "People like Hyde? They don't change, Thatti. They just get better at hiding their darkness."

Thatti's brow furrowed. "But... what if something happened to him? What if someone's controlling him?"

Diane snorted. "Convenient, isn't it? Always someone else to blame. But no, I don't think he's doing this against his will. The reason he's doing this should be obvious." She pinched Thatti's cheek. "Because he genuinely thinks he's saving you, and as much as it’s a pain in the ass to say it... a part of him still loves you."

“You’re probably right.”

 

"We're coming up to the castle now!" Petal said in front, Maisma, Pyra and Nefcy in the front-cart. Thatti and Diane exchanged a tense glance.

The domina daughter gripped Becca, speaking the words. "Leave your mark, God's Spark." The wagon rocked to a halt right in front of the giant gate.

Becca climbed up atop the wagon and waved down to the five. She held up her hand, counting fingers down.

 

 

 

Within the castle's foyer, a silver ring-shaped table with two dozen obsidian gems are from fine plates. These figures clad in the inky sheen of black hone like latex, their skin like polished gemstones, dark and gleaming, they ate greedily over their plates.

Sitting at the front were three prominent figures, an armored lord with goat-horns and a furcoat, standing in armor that appeared far too bulky for him, his helmet’s horns curving back into the top of itself, a flowing black cape behind himself.

The sleek feminine silver-armored knight next to him seemed to have roses and green thorned vines around her head and neck, whose metal seemed practically merged to her shapely self, an emerald embedded into her mask, rubbery green gloves that looked like they belonged to a gardener. In place of a fur boa, she had a green wraith of roses over her neck and chest.

Finally a woman with blond hair, a short held-up blond ponytail and bangs flowing diagonally over her face. Along her body was blue-and-gold flowing evening dress, she held a magnificent staff with some golden orbs in the center of the tip, waving it like a majestic crook. Thatti panicked upon seeing the final woman, she recognized the face, her heart sinking deeper than she ever thought it could. ‘Orion? How could you fall this far?’

The Shadow King. Harmonizer.

Astromonica.

 

All three looked to the stained-glass window. Suddenly, a high-pitched cackle shattered the night as Thatti and Diane leapt through it. The two of them appeared inside the foyer, the door smashed to pieces behind them. Petal screamed, running through the door with Maisma and Pyra, Nefcy climbing along the walls in full Blossom. Astromonica looked at them and clenched her staff. "Rid the rabble."

The Obsidian gems stood up, their bodies morphing with anthropomorphic shapes, a different animal head for each. "Breaks over!" One said, as the mob rushed out to meet their new prey.

The party fought back, slashing and shooting the gems on the floor and above. They were powerful against each other, but all the Obsidian gems fought as one, coordinating attacks and dodging each other. As Maisma and Pyra clashed with them, Nefcy climbed atop the tables and began to unleash her claws on the gems, her martial arts sending the obsidians flying into walls and easily tumbling about. At the same time, Thatti and Diane leapt through the air, firing a barrage of projectiles at them, the shadows beginning to dissipate with each hit. Nefcy suddenly found herself clutching her head, her gem going off the fritz with sparks in her Blossomed state. “Eeeyyya!” She felt as if her powers were heavily drained, Petal too noticing her spear dissipated and form heavily drained. She turned to Harmonizer, the green emerald on her helmet covering her face, the light from the emerald giving her a massive headache and making her feel wobbly and weak. “It’s h-her! She has some ability or device to weaken gems..”

“Tssk!” Becca transformed Headhunter into a halberd and ran to charge at Harmonizer, Astromonica blocking her with her staff and firing a golden bolt that sent her flying back. “Becca.. that’s-” “Orion.” Becca replied. Thatti was still devasted by the betrayal of it all. “Mom’s advisor, tssk. I cannot believe she’d be involved in all this.”

The Shadow King, however, was no longer content with watching. He stood up from his throne. "They are worthy, yes. But this must be quick." His armored hand extended to his hip, a hilt unsheathing into a blade twice his length. With a single 360-degree swing, an entire section of the castle was ripped clean off its foundation, a huge beam cleaving it right in half. Maisma and Pyra had to jump out of the way in time, their bodies crushed between the two sections until their gems rolled away. Nefcy leapt at them, Astrid's body turning a splash of color before a pulse of speed lead her to intercept and bash the Set-gem out of the air with her staff of light.

Nef barely dodged it, caught the staff in her grasp and then tackled Astrid into a wall, her weight and strength easily overpowering her. Before she do more, Harmonizer’s emerald shone brighter and the field around her expanded, causing Nefcy to roll backwards in pain, clutching her head.

Astrid took her staff and blasted her from behind while she was distracted by Harmonizer’s effect. "Sunny!" Petal yelled. "Give it a rest." Astromonica said, turning her staff a different color, a flash of darkness bursting out of her fingers and knocking Petal grievously to the ground. Harmonizer twisted something on her wrist and floated up, the other gems fell like dominoes as a wave of distortion reached their gems too causing them terrible pain, unable to get off their knees as if gravity were etched across their surface like an anchorweight.

"The poor lost sheep following the shepherd home." Harmonizer spoke softly.

 

"Urghh." Diane moaned as she fell to her knees, dragging herself forward, feeling like her entire body was vibrating. She screamed, rising up against whatever force was dragging and numbing her and slamming her fist into the ground. The gem of pride’s arms lit up, tattoos spreading like branded lights before she formed a portal on the ground and leapt in. She rolled out the otherside and observed her surroundings.

Within the castle, Diane began to rapidly fly through the halls, creating portals along walls and doors to look in opposite ends, searching everywhere she could, through armories and closets, basements and staircases. She eventually created a portal on the ceiling, able to see Hyde and Caleb upside-down from her perspective. “H-hyde!” The gem attempted to fly upwards, a force grabbing her leg and smashing her down. The portal closed. She looked down to see roots and thorny vines spreading around her leg and moving up her body. Floating into the hallway was Harmonizer, her presence threatening to crush the AU gem. She attempted to create a portal beneath her, only for her tattoos to stop glowing, the girl felt her power draining. “This is, i- impossible.” She panicked. “Maybe for you.” Harmonizer’s voice droned.

With an angry scream, Diane leapt up and made a hostile charge, her hands lighting on fire with flaming bolts as she sped like a sun setting on the horizon towards her target.

A crack in the ceiling broke through, the gem crashing with her wings and arms ripped off and Harmonizer holding her by the throat, blood drenched from her grip like juices from a pulped

orange. She jabbed a dozen thorns into her spinal cord paralyzing her and tossed her aside with a tone of indifference. Thatti, running forward and holding Diane up as she leaned on her, looked back at the Shadow King, who was unsheathing his blade from the center of the fallen castle floor. She looked back, all the other gems were wiped on the floor, Jack having easily dispatched the lot of them. "We’re getting our asses kicked! We need to do something fast, or we’re shit out of luck!" Becca yelled.

"I've got it covered!" Thatti said, wand being pointed ahead. "Code 25: Infernal Paper-Dolls!"

 

The wand flashed purple and a stream of purple spherical flames erupted from it, scattershot ethereal blasts of pure energy that shot directly towards the Shadow King. They sat unconcerned, one of the Obsidian gems hopping on the table and blocking with a spinning umbrella. They moved it away slowly, revealing their glowing rainbow eyes.

"JACK." Thatti grumbled.

 

"Stay focused girl." Becca replied.

 

Thatti and the arm-less Diane got up and began to walk through the broken floor, Diane wondering why her limbs weren’t healing, no, it seemed as if even her faintest scars weren’t regenerating in the presence of that thorny helmeted woman. The two moved past a column which held up a giant statue of a woman with a helmet and armor. "Where are they hiding? Where are Caleb and Hyde?" Thatti asked.

Astrid moved to attack, but the Shadow King put a single hand out and their movements stopped. Harmonizer took out a remote, with a press revealing a large hologram of both boys. Large devices were strapped above their heads.

The Shadow King walked over to the hologram. "They're on the upper floors. Try anything and we detonate. They’ll burn with this castle. The bombs on them blow. This entire building comes down on everyone. We all lose." He looked up.

"You think blowing up the castle will scare me? I've survived way worse. These gems all have." Becca retorted.

"You might." He zoomed into Caleb's projection. "But will he? Don’t think he can survive the explosives I’ve setup under his chair."

The Shadow King looked up at Thatti. "We both know how he gets. Your little boy's a mess when you're not looking out for him, wouldn't you agree?"

Thatti shook. "It's none of your business." Petal and Nefcy tried to run forward, the 2 attempted to charged ahead with an attack but Astrid pointing her staff, a golden aura of energy surrounding and smacking them down to the floor agonizingly. Thatti charged at the Shadow King, headhunter taking the shape of a sword. With every swing he moved quickly and effortlessly, until he grabbed her face and slammed her onto the ground. Her transformation became undone and Thatti saw herself stumble, Becca confined to the wand once more.

He looked down at the two. "Then perhaps you shouldn't be looking out for him at all. It would be a shame, if something was to happen to him, don't you think?" He began to walk away up a few steps of the nearby stairs.

"But... that's not why we're here. Oh no, we don't want to hurt the boys at all. Far from it." He sat on the steps, pointing gauntlets at Headhunter.

Becca looked down, and suddenly found her body switched with Thatti. She was now standing where Becca was, looking at her wand.

"Caleb is not a threat to you!" Thatti exclaimed.

 

"Oh, no!" The Shadow King said, snorting. "I know. But you are." He stood up, looking at the wand.

"We are?" Thatti asked, raising her head, staring down at her companion.

"Now get serious." The Shadow King said. He took a step forward, his hand reaching out to touch Thatti's head.

"Your wand, or their lives."

 

Astrid held the staff to Thatti’s neck threatening her. "Easy, sunshine, easy."

 

The Orchid child looked at the Shadow King. "Listen, you. If you release them and you're willing to talk, we can have a long discussion about how many lives are worth it. About how many more people will die because of you, and what are you willing to give up in the name of safety. But if you're unwilling to talk, if you're unwilling to cooperate.."

The Shadow King, his eyes unflinching turned. "Harmonizer. Start the countdown."

 

She pressed something on her wrist, the castle's intercom speaking while the hologram showed flamethrowers lighting inside their cells, Caleb screaming from a gag. "Thermal Detonator engaged. 10.. 9.." "OKAY OKAY." Thatti waved her hands rapidly. "TURN IT OFF."

She pressed it again and the countdown stopped.

 

With a deep sigh, Thatti stepped forward and handed him the wand. He held it up, unable to believe what he was seeing. There was solemnness as he treasured the moment.

"I don't think so.." The Shadow King said. "The thing is.." He began, staring at it. "I don't want your wand. Destroy it." He held it back for her.

She looked back at him confused. "W-what?" "Destroy it, girl."

"WHOA!" She rattled as she took back her wand protectively. "I would never do that!"

 

"This is why we can't have nice things." Harmonizer sighed. "You want the world to be your oyster? You want them to have peace?" She held up the console on her arm, Diane attempting to

sneak close. Before she could leap up from behind, Jack bashed her head from behind with her crowbar eliciting screams.

"Do it." The lord repeated.

 

"NO!" Thatti shouted. "N-no! I-I would never-" She sniffled, looking at Becca. "She's.. my friend. If I destroy the wand, she’ll die. I could never hurt her."

The Shadow King leaned on his sword "What do you think you're worth? Your friends?"

 

She backed up against the wall. "I.. I'm nothing." She began to weep. "I'm nothing to anyone."

 

"Gahh! Don't be an idiot-" Diane moaned, Jack wrestling her with ease, slamming her crowbar down. "Ouch.."

Thatti shook in front of the figure, his helmet's goat horns looming overhead. Thatti, realizing the fate of both her friends, couldn't do anything. As Thatti lowered her wand, Diane was held behind her, the Obsidian gem clenching her in a chokehold, the other facedown gems held at bay by Astronomica and Harmonizer. They were all out of options and negotiations.

"Just tell me what you want me to do." She told the Shadow King in surrender.

 

"A simple action." He said. "Destroy Headhunter... " He came over in practically a speedy blue- purple blur and flicked her head. "One way or another I know you can do this."

Thatti looked up, then down at Becca. “One of us has to be in the wand, that’s, just how it

works..”

 

He pointed his sword from his hip. "You’ve got the power of choice. Destroy your wand. End it, or all your friends die."

She looked around. "DON'T DO IT!" Becca yelled.

Thatti held the wand up, closed her eyes and said in what could barely said to be a teary whisper.

“I cannot let my friends die! But.. I absolutely cannot let you die either Becca. Leave your mark, God's Spark." The blue coloration, the tattoos, the lightshow consumed her until she’d switched with Becca. Becca in Thatti’s body proper, heard the wand her activate a single phrase.

"Code -1: Eternal Midnight Radiance, Immolation Requiem." Thatti’s voice whispered.

 

The wand's handle flickered, light pouring out, the wand beginning to transform into a large orb of light that grew larger than a baseball, a light overtaking her. The wand shapeshifted one last time, into a distinctly Thatti-form. Her floating body reverted to its original shape as she gasped, golden lines spreading over her face, chest and arms in divine floral patterns. Her eyes shone a new white, bright intensity rising higher and higher. "Becca.." She looked towards the girl in her original body. "Please, take care of Caleb! And Jel, and Kaz and Petal and Hyde and.. even my mom, Flora forgive her. I know you can take care of all of them, I.. " She became a shimmer of golden metallic tang, translucent and vivid, feeling as if her body began to dissolve as if she was being stripped to an aether of nothingness, the sensation of her body softening and crunching inside as kindling firewood does. "I love you." She said, a single beat of the heart, before her voice echoed from across the darkness. "Take care of each other." The cracks in her skin began to deepen, ripping apart the core of her being. She smiled, her body slowly fading away into an expanding ball of light, which transmuted explosive burst into a thousand motes, showering the party, these golden sparks flowing in the breeze into the cosmos themselves. An explosive flicker that bombarded the room.

"T-thatti!" Becca gasped, before taking cover.

 

Astrid held up her staff, turning her hand, the sparks flew past the walls destroying their foundations, ripping up everything until the castle began to shake, everything in and out was

unbound, its shape becoming a splash of colors. The shield from Astrid's staff protected her lord, Jack and Harmonizer. Diane leapt to shield Becca and Petal, Pyra held Maisma.

Headhunter’s lone handle fell to the ground, now bereft of a soul.

 

Becca reached out behind Diane’s shoulder towards Headhunter, the 1/2th wand feeling as if it wasn't attached to anything. The light from Headhunter’s beautiful rose dispersed into thousands of shimmering particles of light that spread out into the night. They flowed away into the distance, their numbers expanding into an ocean of golden light. The air suddenly went silent as every single sound disappeared, the wind halting, the footsteps of the party coming to a standstill. Everything rocked.

Boom.

 

The gems were all hit by the brilliant flareup and lay down in rubble and wreckage. Diane, Nefcy and Petal all fell down, Pyra struggling to keep Maisma and her friends safe. The castle’s illumination slowly faded from the exploding light as it dispersed, the gems and Shadow King inside buried in a large pile of dirt, dust and debris. This resounding thud toppled the entire castle and destroyed the structure until nothing but wreckage remained.

Thatti was nothing and nowhere, her remains carried away into the stars until even the dust and motes of her beautiful ephemeral embers were no longer visible. Becca’s eyes started to water, her legs trembled, the sheer speed at how quickly everything had overwhelmed her was too much to process. This Shadowking’s menacing plan had seemingly blown-up in everyone’s face, and the girl that’d been her owner, was gone.

When the dust cleared, two figures were able to emerge- Caleb and Hyde, the latter still in a leather armbinder, ballgag and restraints. Their bombs had been smashed to bits, undetonated. Caleb saw a male figure pick up from the ground Headhunter’s empty lightless handle, devoid of anything beyond the hilt, they ran through some sort of portal. He struggled to wiggle his arms

free of straps and run forward, scrapes and bruises from the implosion stinging as if he'd been hit by a landside. "H-hey, Owowow.. wait!" He said, chasing them through.

Becca threw off the rubble next, and ran on through after them.

 

“Hm? This is..”

 

The world she passed through, however, was nothing like the world on the other side. Golden arches and moonbeams all around, the sun shining down, a world of crystal and light. Becca ran through a large arch in front of her, and finally found herself in a large arena, a large golden door in front of her. The sun was blazing through the sky, the ground a mixture of gold and elegant gardens, a single figure standing by the door. She ran through, the figure of the Shadow King taking off their helmet. They held in their armored hands several golden shards.

Caleb was running across a strange cityscape, as if he was running across a series of buildings, utterly lost for directions.

Becca stood, clutching a weapon that wasn't available to her, then tearing up and despairing from the fact. She collapsed in the garden, crying out as if she had lost someone close. He removed his helmet. The figure of the man who'd done this looked down, holding his horned headgear. A cold wind blew across the Shadow King's face, the sun shining on his head, as the light of a single golden beam fell down on him. His gaze upon her became an abyssal torch into the darkest embers of her soul, every last part of her filling with agony and grief.

"You?" She looked up. Standing over her was Nathan.