Selene could barely stand.
Her body trembled, drenched in sweat, her breathing ragged. The fire she had wielded to pull Lucian back had taken its toll.
She had burned too much. Given too much.
And now, her fire wasn't answering her call.
Lucian's golden eyes were fixed on her, a storm of emotions raging behind them. He could see it. He could feel it.
She had weakened herself to save him.
But the worst part?
Lucian knew the fight wasn't over.
The Abyss had suffered a setback, but it wasn't done.
It was simply waiting for its next move.
The Mark May Be Silent, But It's Still There
Lucian clenched his fist, staring at the faint black veins still etched beneath his skin. They weren't spreading anymore, but they also hadn't vanished.
The Abyss hadn't let go.
It was still inside him.
Watching.
Waiting.
Selene took a deep breath and reached for his hand. "We'll fix this," she said.
Lucian flinched.
Selene's fire had burned him before—he had felt it purge the Abyss's hold—but this time?
He felt nothing.
Lucian's stomach dropped.
Her fire wasn't working anymore.
Selene's greatest power—the thing that had kept him from slipping into the darkness—was failing.
And if she couldn't help him the next time the Abyss tried to claim him—
What would happen to him then?
A Warning from the Shadows
"You don't look so good, Fireheart."
Selene and Lucian turned, both reaching for their weapons instinctively.
Ash stood there, arms crossed, leaning against a broken stone pillar. They looked casual, but their sharp violet eyes told a different story.
They had seen something.
"Forsaken don't just retreat," Ash continued. "Not unless they're ordered to. And call me paranoid, but I don't think they left because you burned them."
Lucian tensed. "What are you saying?"
Ash's smirk faded. "I think someone pulled them back. And not just anyone."
Selene frowned. "You think someone is controlling them?"
Ash's expression darkened. "No. I think someone is controlling this entire war."
The air turned heavy.
Lucian knew Ash wasn't wrong.
This wasn't just a battle against mindless creatures of the Abyss.
Someone was pulling the strings.
And whoever they were, they had just changed tactics.
A New Enemy Emerges
That night, the wind shifted.
Lucian barely slept. He kept one hand on his sword as they rested by the dying embers of their campfire.
Selene didn't sleep at all.
And Ash?
Ash disappeared.
Lucian didn't even notice until dawn, when Selene nudged him awake.
"Ash is gone."
Lucian jolted up, his instincts immediately screaming danger. "What?"
"I woke up, and they weren't here." Selene's eyes burned with concern. "I don't like this, Lucian."
Neither did he.
Then—
A rustling in the trees.
Lucian snapped to his feet, hand gripping his blade.
Selene raised what little fire she could summon.
And then—
Ash stepped out from the shadows.
But they weren't alone.
A tall, cloaked figure walked beside them, face hidden beneath a hood.
And though Lucian couldn't see their features, he felt their presence like ice in his veins.
A familiar, suffocating power.
Not Forsaken.
Something worse.
The stranger pulled back their hood, revealing a woman with silver eyes and pale skin—almost inhumanly flawless.
Lucian's entire body froze.
Because he knew her.
She was from the Abyss.
She was like him.
And when she spoke, her voice was like silk and shadow.
"Hello, brother."
End of Chapter Fifty-Nine