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🍉 Hot 2026 💚 🔖 Sm - My Secret Serpent Mate - 260406103549R 🍉 07042026 1800
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Short filmTranscript
00:00You've worked hard.
00:14After rebirth, I abandoned the mighty Phoenix as my magical pet.
00:19Instead, chose an almost dead little black snake in my past life.
00:23I'd hunted rare ingredients for Phoenix.
00:25Pouring every resource I had into his growth, he cheated with my sister behind my back.
00:29Finally, to make their little love story easier, they killed me together.
00:32This time around, I wanted to see how that perfect couple managed without me as their stepping stone.
00:37The same packed ceremony, the same standout, undeniably that golden Phoenix.
00:42Even caged with a suppression collar, he held his head high, like the rest of us were beneath him.
00:47As expected, the ceremony elder assigned him to me.
00:50The Phoenix tilted its head back and rolled its eyes.
00:52Just like in its previous life, its face full of disdain.
00:55That was when my sister Evelyn walked in, cradling a limp little black snake in her palms, tears rolling down
01:01her cheeks.
01:02My sister was too weak.
01:03Phoenix fell in love with her pitiful appearance immediately, which made me look like the villains standing between them.
01:09The ceremony elder shifted awkwardly and turned on Evelyn.
01:11Your power isn't strong enough.
01:14Even if the Phoenix is drawn to you now, you won't be able to handle him.
01:18She didn't react, instead pretended to be scared by my gaze, bit her lip with tears down.
01:22Lila, I know I have no right to compete with you.
01:25It's just, I've never seen a golden Phoenix before.
01:28I did a chance to listen to her feigned weakness.
01:31I reached out and lifted the limp black snake from her hands, smiled at the ceremony elder.
01:36I've taken a liking to this one.
01:37The Phoenix clearly doesn't want me.
01:40Why not let her have him?
01:41I'll take the snake.
01:42The others thought I'd lost my mind.
01:44They pulled me aside.
01:45You're the strongest here.
01:46This black snake has a mixed bloodline.
01:49He's basically worthless.
01:50But I knew the truth about that Phoenix.
01:52He was no prize.
01:53In my last life...
01:56In my past life, the scene had played out exactly the same way.
01:59The Phoenix ignored me.
02:01I felt the sting of being rejected for the first time in my life.
02:04And instead of thinking clearly, I thought,
02:06He's so hard to get.
02:08I'm obsessed.
02:09As the Archmaster's student, I was supposed to be an example to the others.
02:12I told myself I had to tame the Phoenix.
02:15Strengthen the Spirit Pact Academy.
02:17So I threw everything I had at him.
02:19Every student got a limited ration of elixirs.
02:21So I took assassin missions.
02:23Hunting rogue creatures.
02:24The kind that had lost their minds and turned feral.
02:27To earn extra elixirs.
02:28I came back bleeding every time.
02:30The Phoenix pretended not to notice.
02:32He only came near me when I pulled out elixirs.
02:34Took what he wanted.
02:35And walked away.
02:36Ten years.
02:37I spent ten years helping him break through his limits and take human form.
02:41When he finally did, he was stunning.
02:43Tall.
02:44Sharp featured.
02:45But the warmth stopped there.
02:46He always treated me like I was his errand girl.
02:49I told myself it was fine.
02:50Creatures with strong bloodlines had pride.
02:52One day he'd recognize what I'd given him.
02:55One day we'd fight side by side and I wouldn't have to face those feral creatures alone.
02:59Then one day, I saw him kiss my sister passionately.
03:02She was laughing, dancing around him.
03:04A fellow student rode past on her white tiger, saw them in the distance, and shook her head at me.
03:09Liar.
03:10You really need to stop asking Evelyn to look after the Phoenix when you go on contracts.
03:15When did I ever ask her that?
03:16She says it every time you leave.
03:18I saw stars.
03:20I'd been out there risking my life.
03:21And she was back here cheating with me.
03:24Doesn't she have her own creature?
03:26That little black snake?
03:27Died in its second year.
03:29Then it clicked.
03:30I'd spent ten years sewing a wedding dress for someone else.
03:34I wasn't some gentle forgiving heroine.
03:37Turned on Evelyn.
03:37It enraged the Phoenix.
03:39As punishment, he lured me to the back forest under false pretenses.
03:42Then broke open the wards keeping it sealed.
03:45The creatures trapped inside started pouring out.
03:47And among them was one that had fallen into complete madness.
03:50A Leviathan.
03:51The Phoenix joined forces with my sister to shoot me down the cliff.
03:54In the end, I died in the beast half.
03:56And I could only watch Evelyn snuggle up beside it.
03:59So this time around, I wasn't going to be anyone's sacrifice.
04:02I just wanted to see what this couple would do next.
04:04The Phoenix held onto Evelyn tightly.
04:06Refusing to let go.
04:08The elder sighed and spirit-packed academy'd the packed circle drawn.
04:11Once a creature bonded with someone, they were bound to that person's commands.
04:15Harm the bonded partner, and the creature suffered for it.
04:18The bonding ritual's energy agitated the black snake.
04:21He wound himself around my arm with everything he had.
04:24Evelyn got the Phoenix and was clearly thrilled.
04:26Then she looked at the snake clinging to me.
04:28You and that serpent really do seem meant for each other, Lyra.
04:31She was very smug.
04:32Had she also been reborn?
04:33Watch your tongue, Evelyn.
04:35If Lyra hadn't stepped in for you, you'd never have gotten the Phoenix.
04:38If I were you, I'd be on my knees thanking her.
04:40Oh, stop. She's crying again.
04:43Always crying.
04:44You'd think she was the tragic one.
04:45The Phoenix paced anxiously while Evelyn sniffled.
04:48I wasn't s-
04:50Anxious didn't help him.
04:51Evelyn had almost no power at this stage.
04:54The creatures shared energy with their bonded partners,
04:57but Evelyn's reserves were basically empty.
04:59Probably the first time in either life
05:02that the Phoenix had been on the losing side of the situation.
05:05Good. He'd adjust.
05:07This was the consequence of choosing weakness and cheating.
05:10The black snake, finally convinced I wasn't abandoning him,
05:14went limp, and passed out in my arms.
05:17Back home, I finally got a good look at the snake.
05:20He was tiny.
05:22Couldn't have been more than a few decades old.
05:24Barely past the threshold of maturity.
05:26But he was strange.
05:28Different from the serpents I knew.
05:30Water serpents had snake-like tails.
05:32This one had a tail more like a fish, with a fin.
05:35Mixed bloodline.
05:37Serpent and something older.
05:39Seafolk, maybe.
05:40I had a natural spring in the courtyard.
05:42The moment he hit the water, he came alive.
05:45Diving and surfacing.
05:47Pulling in energy from the current.
05:49I laughed.
05:51Relax.
05:51I fed a golden phoenix for ten years.
05:54I think I can manage one little snake.
05:55He froze.
05:56And stared at me with those tiny green eyes.
05:59Then he spat water at my face.
06:01I flicked him on the head.
06:03Heal up.
06:04You're not going anywhere.
06:05The next morning I woke up wrong.
06:07I turned my head and found a face three inches from mine.
06:11Dark lashes.
06:12Warm skin.
06:13The kind of face that belonged in a painting.
06:16Long lashes that trembled slightly.
06:18Objectively gorgeous.
06:20Didn't stop me from nearly jumping out of my skin.
06:22He'd gotten into bed without waking me.
06:25Whoever this was, his power was well above mine.
06:28He stirred, opened gold-slit eyes, and looked at me.
06:32I scrambled to the corner.
06:33Who are you?
06:35This is Spirit Pact Academy grounds.
06:37Don't try anything.
06:38He sat up.
06:39I noticed he was wearing the clothes I'd set aside for when a creature took human form.
06:44A dark fitted robe with a subtle pattern.
06:46He wore it well.
06:48He was tall.
06:49He'd had to curl up to fit in my bed.
06:51Under those long lashes were a pair of gold vertical pupil eyes.
06:55The answer was obvious.
06:57Snake?
06:57He smirked, reached out, and flicked me on the forehead.
07:01Rude.
07:01I have a name.
07:03It's Kieran.
07:04Anxious.
07:06Kieran, it turned out, had been fleeing an enemy when he crossed paths with my tutor.
07:10He'd taken the form of a small, injured serpent.
07:13My tutor, true to form, had taken him in.
07:16Kieran clearly hadn't been injured because he was weak.
07:18Please tell me your enemies aren't about to show up here.
07:22We're bonded now.
07:23You're the master.
07:24I'm your mate.
07:25So I suggest you train hard and try not to slow me down.
07:29He taught me a breathing and absorption technique developed for serpentkind.
07:32Most days I sat in the spring practicing, while Kieran sprawled in the tree above me, watching with half-closed
07:38eyes.
07:39The breeze moved his hair and caught the light on his skin.
07:41Evelyn appeared at my gate, peering in.
07:43I sighed and got out of the spring.
07:45Kieran dropped from the tree and draped a dry robe over my shoulders without being asked.
07:50Who is this?
07:52You remember him?
07:53The little black snake from the bonding ceremony.
07:55You said yourself we seemed meant for each other.
07:58Kieran, a flicker of something crossed her face.
08:01What do you want?
08:02This is training time.
08:04I was hoping we could raise the phoenix together.
08:07Kieran's hand tightened on mine.
08:09I glanced at him.
08:10He was watching me, clearly unhappy.
08:12I'm not your backup plan.
08:14Figure it out yourself.
08:15How is it not your responsibility?
08:17You took the black snake and left me with the phoenix.
08:20You don't get to just walk away.
08:22Half a year's gone by and I've given him every elixir I had.
08:25There's nothing left for my own training.
08:27And I was in the lower ranks.
08:29I can't go hunting rare ingredients.
08:30I'd die out there.
08:31You bonded with the phoenix first.
08:33You should be helping.
08:34I cut her off mid-sentence, sent a gust of air to push her back through the gate, and led
08:39Kieran inside.
08:40Little sister, don't mistake everyone for a fool.
08:42I'm not spending my resources raising your creature for you.
08:45If you can't afford to keep him, dissolve the bond.
08:48Let someone else take him.
08:50I'm sure the elders would be happy to.
08:52She wouldn't do that.
08:53Her ambitions were too big.
08:54A flicker of-
08:55Weeks passed.
08:57I broke through to a new level of power.
08:59What those in the Spirit Pact Academy called,
09:02Fourth Circle Stage.
09:03At the same time, the Archmaster arranged for me to escort a rare spirit fox to the Spirit Pact Academy,
09:10alongside Elder Celia, who was about three centuries older than me, and acted like a kid half the time.
09:17I sweet-talked her through the handover to the creature registry, and she settled for it.
09:22Before she left, she pressed her hand over her mouth to hide a smile.
09:26Your little serpent is very clingy, you know.
09:29I didn't understand until I started up the mountain path, and saw a silhouette leaning against a tree in the
09:34distance.
09:36He didn't move.
09:37When I got closer, he reached out and grabbed the back of my neck.
09:41Lyra, am I not good to you?
09:43Why are you trying to give me away?
09:44What are you talking about?
09:46That girl came to the courtyard today.
09:48Said you sent her to check on me.
09:49Did you change your mind about bonding with me?
09:52You hit Fourth Circle, and now you're done with me?
09:55Same playbook, different life.
09:57Before I could explain, Kieran's pupils contracted to thin lines.
10:01He bent his head and pressed his face into my neck.
10:03His tongue brushed the skin there.
10:06Light.
10:07Quick.
10:07I shivered hard.
10:09Smells like fox.
10:11Lyra, did you already find yourself a replacement?
10:14Doesn't matter.
10:15Once I eat that fox, I'll be your only option.
10:18You hit me for her?
10:20That fox belongs to my Archmaster.
10:22You touch her and I will end you.
10:24Weeks.
10:25Kieran stopped fighting me, and let himself be pulled along.
10:28Most students weren't training, so the residences were quiet.
10:32A few people raised their eyebrows when they saw me coming.
10:35Short greetings, and then they told me, Evelyn had gone to the back forest with the Phoenix.
10:40I frowned.
10:41I wasn't in the Phoenix's way anymore.
10:43Why were they sneaking off to the forest?
10:45We found them mid-argument.
10:48Or rather, Evelyn was arguing and the Phoenix, who still hadn't taken human form,
10:53was responding in scratched letters on the ground.
10:55Don't look at me like that.
10:57I've done nothing wrong.
10:59I didn't force you to come to the Spirit Pakt Academy.
11:02You said this place would help you grow.
11:04I've given you every elixir I had and you're still not satisfied?
11:08You want me to go out hunting rare ingredients?
11:11I just started training.
11:13You'd be sending me to die!
11:15I almost felt something.
11:17In my past life, he'd given me nothing for 10 years.
11:21Not a glance.
11:22Not a word.
11:23Not a gesture.
11:24Now he was writing letters in the dirt.
11:26The contrast was something.
11:28Evelyn.
11:29I've been looking for you.
11:31The Phoenix scrambles to erase the letters when he heard us.
11:34Evelyn pulled herself together fast.
11:36Though not fast enough.
11:37What do you need Lyra?
11:43Kieran stopped fighting me.
11:45I patted Kieran's arm.
11:47He gave me a long suffering look.
11:48Then dropped to one knee and let me settle onto it like a chair.
11:52His hands locked around my waist, steadying me.
11:55Evelyn's gaze locked onto Kieran and didn't move.
11:58I'm not here about anything in particular.
12:00Just wondering why you paid my companion a visit.
12:03The Phoenix's feathers flared.
12:05Angry.
12:05Evelyn hadn't expected me to know so fast.
12:08No, you've got it wrong.
12:09I was just coming to find you.
12:11He rested his chin on my shoulder.
12:13She lied to me.
12:14She said you stole me from her.
12:16That I was supposed to be hers.
12:18And what did you do?
12:19She came into your territory without permission.
12:21She was weak.
12:22I didn't even use my power.
12:24Just pushed until she left.
12:25I patted his cheek.
12:27I stood and faced Evelyn directly.
12:29If I remember correctly, you didn't want Kieran in the first place.
12:33He was badly injured.
12:34If he'd ended up with you, he probably wouldn't have survived his second year.
12:38That's not true!
12:39I would have taken care of him.
12:41The Phoenix's crest was fully raised now.
12:44She caught herself.
12:46You're trying to drive a wedge between me and the Phoenix.
12:49I stepped forward and put my hand on her shoulder.
12:51You played your game, little sister.
12:54Don't act surprised when I play mine.
12:57Next time you pull something like this, you will get my punishment.
13:00She blanched.
13:01The council didn't forgive moves against another member's bonded creature.
13:05She couldn't risk it.
13:06On the way back, I was in a good mood.
13:09Kieran was quiet though.
13:11Wouldn't transform and carry me even when I asked.
13:14Once we were back in the courtyard, he grabbed my arm.
13:16You seem familiar with the Phoenix.
13:19I padded Kieran.
13:20I didn't hide it.
13:21We have a history.
13:22It ended badly for me.
13:24Wanna hear it?
13:25He turned away, shifted into serpent form, and wound himself around my neck.
13:30No.
13:31I'm better than that bird by every measure.
13:34You're not going back to him.
13:36I won't have another mate.
13:38I promise.
13:40Days later.
13:42Laia.
13:43Your growth rate is pathetic.
13:45Sharing energy with you is a form of suffering.
13:49My Archmaster said,
13:51I'm one of the most talented young members in a generation.
13:54All those rare materials and elixirs I found went into me this time.
13:58Not into the Phoenix.
14:0010 years passed.
14:02I moved steadily from 4th circle to 6th circle.
14:05Even the most mean Elder Celia praised me.
14:08You are really a genius Lyra.
14:10We all expected the Phoenix to elevate the whole spirit panda academy.
14:14But 10 years in,
14:16there's still no sign of him breaking through.
14:19I'd expected this.
14:21Sustaining creatures took enormous resources.
14:23And the spirit-packed academy never had reserves.
14:26The Phoenix couldn't break through.
14:28And in my past life,
14:29I'd seen exactly what happened when his patients ran out.
14:32I'd thought about removing him.
14:34Every time I tried to bring it up with my Archmaster or Kirin,
14:37it was like the words hit a wall.
14:39And acting unilaterally,
14:41killing the Phoenix before anyone understood why,
14:43would have destroyed the spirit-packed academy from the inside.
14:47All I could do was watch him and contain him.
14:50Past that,
14:51I had no choice but to wait.
14:52My past life hadn't survived this year.
14:55I didn't know if this one would go differently.
14:57I didn't-
14:58He stood there staring at Kirin,
15:00who was lazily floating in the spring in human form,
15:03making absolutely no effort to be welcoming.
15:06You have a bonded partner.
15:08Kirin,
15:08why are you at my gate?
15:11Right.
15:12What possible reason could you have for neglecting your own bonded partner
15:16to come stand outside someone else's home?
15:18Kirin climbed out and immediately tried to lean against me.
15:21I don't want you on the air.
15:22I have to know this.
15:24I just want that bird to know,
15:27there's no space for him here.
15:29What exactly is here between us?
15:31That's entirely your call.
15:33The Phoenix flew away.
15:35Kirin grabbed my face with both hands.
15:37He left.
15:38Can you stop worrying about him for five minutes?
15:40I have to know what he's doing.
15:41That bird has a dark heart.
15:43I don't trust him idle.
15:46He regrets it.
15:48Doesn't want to stay with your little sister anymore.
15:51I turned toward the gate.
15:52Empty.
15:53But something in my gut told me the Phoenix was off.
15:56There was no logical reason for him to come to me specifically.
16:00Unless the Phoenix had also been reborn.
16:04He stood there.
16:05If that was true,
16:06then he knew about the back forest.
16:08He knew what was sealed there.
16:10He knew my parents had died there.
16:12Which I'd only ever told him directly.
16:14In my previous life.
16:15I didn't stop to explain to Kirin.
16:17I pulled out a slip and went straight to the forest wards.
16:20The wards were intact.
16:21I exhaled.
16:23Then I turned around and my stomach dropped.
16:25A handful of golden feathers lay near the edge of the barrier line.
16:28He'd been here.
16:29The Phoenix had come back with knowledge he shouldn't have.
16:32The friction between Evelyn and the Phoenix had gone public.
16:35He'd refused her commands in training sessions.
16:37Ignored her in front of others.
16:38Made her look incompetent in front of the whole yard more than once in recent weeks.
16:42The reason I kept getting dragged in was simpler and more aggravating.
16:46Every time I appeared, the Phoenix drifted toward me.
16:49If looks could kill, Evelyn would have had me buried weeks ago.
16:52Elder Celia found the whole thing delightful.
16:54Her bird appeared at my shoulder one afternoon.
16:56You know what this reminds me of?
16:59One of those stories where the man realizes too late what he had.
17:02He freezes her out at the start and then spends the rest of the book chasing her.
17:08Oh dear.
17:09If that was true, I could talk to the girl.
17:12Offer her a different creature.
17:13Something she could actually manage.
17:15And transfer the Phoenix over to you.
17:17Quietly.
17:18No.
17:19I'm not going near the disciplinary council over this.
17:21Besides, I have Kieran.
17:23That's enough.
17:24Celia looked genuinely mournful.
17:27Then she shifted to her real point.
17:29A creature pulling against its bonded partner is a problem for everyone.
17:33And Evelyn hasn't advanced the first stage in ten years.
17:36The elders have discussed sending her out on a field assignment.
17:39A year or two away from the Spirit Pact Academy.
17:42Practical experience.
17:43Away from all of this.
17:44I understood what she wasn't saying.
17:46They'd given up on the Phoenix as a resource for the Spirit Pact Academy.
17:50In the council hall, Evelyn made the whole thing into a production.
17:53She cried.
17:54She accused me of engineering her removal to take the Phoenix.
17:57In front of all the senior elders, she made her counteroffer.
18:02If senior wants the Phoenix, she should just say so.
18:05I won't stand in the way.
18:07But if she takes him, she gives me Kieran.
18:10A mixed lineage serpent for a pure blooded Phoenix.
18:13Honestly, Lyra comes out a laugh.
18:15I could talk to the girl.
18:17Which one, Evelyn?
18:19You focus on your Phoenix and stop coming up with terrible ideas.
18:23While the elders dealt with Evelyn,
18:25I was at the creature registry with the head keeper.
18:28Investigating a disappearance.
18:30Three had vanished overnight.
18:32Two small rabbits and a unicorn.
18:34I reinforced the gate myself before I left.
18:38Any disturbance at all and I would have felt it.
18:41There was nothing.
18:43Not a sound.
18:44Not a rogue creature.
18:46No trace of that energy anywhere.
18:49Right?
18:50I looked around.
18:51The registry was built into the mountainside.
18:54The rock face itself was warded.
18:56No slipping through the earth.
18:58No passing through walls.
18:59I was still thinking when the keeper started cooing at one of the deer.
19:03Don't be scared.
19:04Big Brother Serpent just looks mean.
19:06He won't eat you.
19:08That pulled something loose in my mind.
19:10I hesitated.
19:13Do creatures ever turn on each other?
19:16What a horrifying thing to say.
19:18They have awareness.
19:20They would never-
19:22Kieran slipped an arm around me and spoke low into my ear.
19:25People do terrible things to each other.
19:27Creatures aren't different.
19:29I've heard of a practice.
19:31A dark technique.
19:32Used by creatures who want to advance without resources.
19:35My skin had gone cold.
19:38Wild creatures had no access to elixirs or rare materials.
19:42If they wanted to grow in power fast, the most efficient shortcut was this.
19:47Consume the core of another creature.
19:50The higher the level of the creature they took from, the faster the gain.
19:54Kieran had nearly died at the hands of one practicing exactly that method ten years ago.
19:58Once it works, it will come back for more.
20:02We staked out the registry that night.
20:04Nothing happened.
20:05Quiet all the way until dawn.
20:07I reassured the keeper and headed out.
20:13Hallmaster, there's an incident at the residences.
20:15Kieran shifted, wrapped around me, and moved.
20:18When we landed, I didn't need to go inside to know it was bad.
20:21I could hear the crying from the courtyard.
20:23It was one of my newest students.
20:25A girl who'd come to the Spirit Pact Academy with his own creature.
20:28Fox.
20:29Soft and round and always sprawled in patches of sunlight.
20:32Kind of creature that made people smile just looking at it.
20:35She was sitting on the ground, holding what remained of her.
20:37Not much left.
20:38Your guess was right.
20:39The core was removed.
20:40One strike, clean.
20:42It happened before she could make a sound.
20:44She only noticed when she felt the bond break.
20:46I felt the cold settle in my chest.
20:50Wild creatures.
20:51Without thinking, I looked around for the phoenix.
20:54He was standing beside Evelyn, still as a statue.
20:56The picture.
20:57Don't look.
20:58It's him.
21:01You're certain.
21:02I went to the Archmaster.
21:03Don't move yet.
21:04You need proof.
21:06Catch him in the act.
21:07He said it with total gravity.
21:09Meanwhile, behind him, his courtyard had become a small zoo.
21:12Several of them had taken human form and were crowding around Kieran to ask about his parents' bloodlines.
21:18I keep all my creatures close.
21:21Your new firehound relieved himself on the floor.
21:23You could clean it up for your teacher.
21:25Absolutely not.
21:26The senior elders started watching the phoenix.
21:28Their eyes went to him more carefully during training.
21:31They noted that his power had grown noticeably in ways that weren't explained by his circumstances.
21:37Then, nothing.
21:38Weeks passed.
21:39No more disappearances.
21:40No incidents.
21:41Without thinking.
21:43Two weeks went by.
21:45The girl never quite recovered from losing his fox.
21:47The other students spoke about the disappearances less and less until the whole thing drifted
21:51into the category of strange spirit-packed academy legend.
21:55Something that had happened, maybe.
21:57Possibly.
21:57Nobody quite remembered the details.
21:59But I couldn't let it go.
22:01Kieran's certainty sat with me every day.
22:03I went to the Archmaster and asked to have the phoenix formally restricted.
22:07You think we don't see it?
22:09But without evidence, what do I tell the students?
22:11If I punish someone without proof, I lose the trust of the whole spirit-packed academy.
22:16And without that trust, the spirit-packed academy dissolves.
22:20Then, one night, while I was deep in meditation, something flashed past my window.
22:25A pair of red eyes.
22:26Bright.
22:27Gone in an instant.
22:28Where was Kieran?
22:29I moved to the water's edge.
22:31Floating on the surface.
22:32A single golden feather.
22:33An invitation.
22:35Or a taunt.
22:35Find me and I'll give him back.
22:37I reached out through the bond and found Kieran's location.
22:40The back forest.
22:41I hit the ground running.
22:42Two-
22:43I arrived through the wards in a flash of light.
22:46And walked straight into a shockwave from two powers colliding.
22:49Kieran and the phoenix were already fighting.
22:52Fully committed.
22:53I went rigid.
22:55When had the phoenix broken through?
22:57He moved through the trees in a golden coat.
22:59Fast and precise.
23:01Ducking and redirecting Kieran's strikes.
23:03With the ease of someone who'd had longer to prepare for this moment.
23:07Beside the ward barrier, Evelyn sat perfectly still.
23:10Like a doll that someone had set down and forgotten.
23:14When I got close enough to see her clearly.
23:16My stomach turned over.
23:18Evelyn was dead.
23:19Her eyes were still open.
23:21Fixed in an expression of complete disbelief.
23:24Her abdomen had been cut open.
23:26Her core.
23:27The source of her power.
23:29The root she'd spent years building.
23:31Was gone.
23:32I hadn't even had time to process it.
23:35Before the sky above the forest went dark.
23:37Clouds banking hard and fast.
23:39Thunder starting low and rolling.
23:42The bond lies.
23:44Harm your bonded partner.
23:45And the consequence comes down from the sky itself.
23:49He'd killed his own bonded partner.
23:51He'd lost his mind.
23:53A lightning judgment of this scale would leave nothing of him.
23:56All that power.
23:57All that scheming.
23:59And he'd thrown it away for this moment.
24:01I didn't bother playing it soft.
24:03I arrived.
24:05You spent ten years plotting with Evelyn against the Spirit-Packed Academy.
24:08You used every person here as a platform.
24:11And this life you had the chance to change.
24:14And instead you gutted her for her core.
24:16The God is watching.
24:18Today it ends.
24:20Nick smiled.
24:21Cold and strange.
24:22Almost.
24:24One more step.
24:25His hands were already moving behind his back.
24:28Breaking the wards.
24:29The creatures locked in the forest felt the loosening.
24:32The ground shook.
24:34Thunder gathered directly above him.
24:36The Archmaster arrived in a streak of light from the peak.
24:39Lyra!
24:40Hold the creatures back!
24:43I'll work on resealing from out here.
24:45Lightning above.
24:47The forest breaking open below.
24:49The phoenix stood in the middle of it all.
24:51With a look of pure madness.
24:53And he turned it on me.
24:55Lyra!
24:56You can't stop this.
24:58Come die with me.
25:00I'll do better by you this time, I swear it.
25:03In my past life I had died in this exact forest.
25:06In this exact way.
25:08With no one at my back.
25:10I felt fear.
25:11That was honest.
25:12Old fear.
25:13The kind that lived in the body.
25:15Then a hand landed on my shoulder.
25:18Kiran.
25:19Eyes lit with the cold fire of someone who had never once considered losing.
25:23You want to take her down with you?
25:25He laughed once.
25:27Short and sharp.
25:28Ask me first.
25:30You're nobody.
25:32Right.
25:33I had Kiran.
25:34This time.
25:35I wasn't fighting alone.
25:37You spent-
25:38Kiran pressed forward and I covered him.
25:41He trusted me at his back without checking.
25:43I trusted him to end what he started.
25:47Kiran wasn't breaking.
25:48And the phoenix couldn't find a way past him.
25:51Then he understood.
25:52I wasn't going to die here.
25:54The plan had failed.
25:55He broke.
25:57This isn't right!
25:58You're supposed to die!
25:59We're supposed to die together!
26:01I raised one finger and pointed at the sky.
26:04Goodbye.
26:05The lightning came down in a column as wide as it was.
26:08The phoenix didn't scream.
26:11No rebirth for those taken by judgment.
26:14Final.
26:14And total.
26:15Kiran.
26:22Today marks the tenth year of our marriage.
26:28Man of organically —
26:31Let me pain.
26:31Have pity.
26:31Let's have meat rolling in another.
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