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00:02I finally got the rarest magic core for you. You've worked hard.
00:20After rebirth, I abandoned the mighty phoenix as my magical pet.
00:24Instead, chose an almost dead little black snake in my past life.
00:28I'd hunted rare ingredients for phoenix, pouring every resource I had into his growth.
00:33He cheated with my sister behind my back.
00:35Finally, to make their little love story easier, they killed me together.
00:38This time around, I wanted to see how that perfect couple managed without me as their stepping stone.
00:43The same pact ceremony, the same standout, undeniably that golden phoenix.
00:47Even caged with a suppression collar, he held his head high, like the rest of us were beneath him.
00:52As expected, the ceremony elder assigned him to me.
00:55The phoenix tilted its head back and rolled its eyes, just like in its previous life, its face full of
01:00disdain.
01:01That was when my sister Evelyn walked in, cradling a limp little black snake in her palms, tears rolling down
01:06her cheeks.
01:07My sister was too weak.
01:09Phoenix fell in love with her pitiful appearance immediately, which made me look like the villain standing between them.
01:14The ceremony elder shifted awkwardly and turned on Evelyn.
01:17Your power isn't strong enough. Even if the phoenix is drawn to you now, you won't be able to handle
01:23him.
01:23She didn't react, instead pretended to be scared by my gaze, bit her lip with tears down.
01:28Lila, I know I have no right to compete with you. It's just, I've never seen a golden phoenix before.
01:34I didn't have the patience to listen to her feign weakness. I reached out and lifted the limp black snake
01:39from her hands, smiled at the ceremony elder.
01:41I've taken a liking to this one. The phoenix clearly doesn't want me. Why not let her have him? I'll
01:47take the snake.
01:47The others thought I'd lost my mind. They pulled me aside.
01:51You're the strongest here. This black snake has a mixed bloodline. He's basically worthless.
01:56But I knew the truth about that phoenix. He was no prize.
01:59In my last life, in my past life, the scene had played out exactly the same way.
02:03The phoenix ignored me. I felt the sting of being rejected for the first time in my life.
02:08And instead of thinking clearly, I thought, he's so hard to get. I'm obsessed.
02:12As the archmaster's student, I was supposed to be an example to the others.
02:16I told myself I had to tame the phoenix. Strengthen the spirit pact academy.
02:21So I threw everything I had at him.
02:23Every student got a limited ration of elixirs. So I took assassin missions.
02:27Hunting rogue creatures. The kind that had lost their minds and turned feral.
02:31To earn extra elixirs. I came back bleeding every time.
02:34The phoenix pretended not to notice. He only came near me when I pulled out elixirs.
02:39Took what he wanted. And walked away.
02:40Ten years. I spent ten years helping him break through his limits and take human form.
02:46When he finally did, he was stunning. Tall. Sharp featured. But the warmth stopped there.
02:51He always treated me like I was his errand girl. I told myself it was fine.
02:55Creatures with strong bloodlines had pride. One day he'd recognize what I'd given him.
02:59One day we'd fight side by side, and I wouldn't have to face those feral creatures alone.
03:03Then one day, I saw him kiss my sister passionately. She was laughing, dancing around him.
03:09A fellow student rode past on her white tiger, saw them in the distance, and shook her head at me.
03:14Liar. You really need to stop asking Evelyn to look after the phoenix when you go on contracts.
03:19When did I ever ask her that?
03:21She says it every time you leave.
03:24I saw stars. I'd been out there risking my life, and she was back here cheating with my things.
03:29Doesn't she have her own creature?
03:30That little black snake died in its second year.
03:34Then it clicked. I'd spent ten years sewing a wedding dress for someone else.
03:38I wasn't some gentle, forgiving heroine turned on Evelyn.
03:41It enraged the phoenix.
03:42As punishment, he lured me to the back forest under false pretenses, then broke open the wards keeping it sealed.
03:48The creatures trapped inside started pouring out, and among them was one that had fallen into complete madness.
03:53A leviathan. The phoenix joined forces with my sister to shoot me down the cliff.
03:58In the end, I died in the beast here, and I could only watch Evelyn snuggle up beside it.
04:03So this time around, I wasn't going to be anyone's sacrifice.
04:06I just wanted to see what this couple would do next.
04:08The phoenix held onto Evelyn tightly, refusing to let go.
04:12The elder sighed, and spirit-packed academy'd the pact circle drawn.
04:15Once a creature bonded with someone, they were bound to that person's commands.
04:19Harmed the bonded partner, and the creature suffered for it.
04:22The bonding ritual's energy agitated the black snake.
04:25He wound himself around my arm with everything he had.
04:28Evelyn got the phoenix, and was clearly thrilled.
04:30Then she looked at the snake clinging to me.
04:32You and that serpent really do seem meant for each other, Lyra.
04:35She was very smug.
04:36Had she also been reborn?
04:38Watch your tongue, Evelyn!
04:39If Lyra hadn't stepped in for you, you'd never have gotten the phoenix!
04:43If I were you, I'd be on my knees thanking her.
04:45Oh, stop. She's crying again.
04:47Always crying.
04:48You'd think she was the tragic one.
04:50The phoenix paced anxiously while Evelyn sniffled.
04:53Anxious didn't help him.
04:54Evelyn had almost no power at this stage.
04:56The creatures shared energy with their bonded partners.
04:59But Evelyn's reserves were basically empty.
05:02Probably the first time in either life that the phoenix had been on the losing side of a situation.
05:08Good.
05:09He'd adjust.
05:10This was the consequence of choosing weakness and cheating.
05:13The black snake.
05:15The black snake.
05:15Finally convinced I wasn't abandoning him.
05:17Went limp.
05:18And passed out in my arms.
05:20Back home.
05:21I finally got a good look at the snake.
05:23He was tiny.
05:25Couldn't have been more than a few decades old.
05:27Barely past the threshold of maturity.
05:29But he was strange.
05:31Different from the serpents I knew.
05:33Water serpents had snake-like tails.
05:35This one had a tail more like a fish.
05:37With a fin.
05:38Mixed bloodline.
05:40Serpent and something older.
05:42Seafolk, maybe.
05:43I had a natural spring in the courtyard.
05:46The moment he hit the water he came alive.
05:48Diving and surfacing.
05:50Pulling in energy from the current.
05:52I laughed.
05:54Relax.
05:55I fed a golden phoenix for 10 years.
05:57I think I can manage one little snake.
05:59He froze.
06:00And stared at me with those tiny green eyes.
06:02Then he spat water at my face.
06:05I flicked him on the head.
06:07Heel up.
06:07You're not going anywhere.
06:09The next morning I woke up wrong.
06:10I turned my head and found a face 3 inches from mine.
06:14Dark lashes.
06:16Warm skin.
06:17The kind of face that belonged in a painting.
06:19Long lashes that trembled slightly.
06:22Objectively gorgeous.
06:23Didn't stop me from nearly jumping out of my skin.
06:26He'd gotten into bed without waking me.
06:29Whoever this was.
06:30His power was well above mine.
06:32He stirred.
06:33Opened gold slit eyes.
06:35And looked at me.
06:36I scrambled to the corner.
06:38Who are you?
06:39This is spirit packed academy grounds.
06:41Don't try anything.
06:42He sat up.
06:43I noticed he was wearing the clothes I'd set aside for when a creature took human form.
06:48A dark fitted robe with a subtle pattern.
06:50He wore it well.
06:52He was tall.
06:53He'd had to curl up to fit in my bed.
06:56Under those long lashes were a pair of gold vertical pupil eyes.
06:59The answer was obvious.
07:01Snake?
07:01He smirked.
07:02Reached out.
07:03And flicked me on the forehead.
07:05Rude.
07:06I have a name.
07:07It's Kieran.
07:08Kieran.
07:09It turned out.
07:10Had been fleeing an enemy when he crossed paths with my tutor.
07:13He'd taken the form of a small injured serpent.
07:16My tutor.
07:16True to form.
07:17Had taken him in.
07:18Kieran clearly hadn't been injured because he was weak.
07:21Please tell me your enemies aren't about to show up here.
07:24We're bonded now.
07:25You're the master.
07:27I'm your mate.
07:28So I suggest you train hard.
07:30And try not to slow me down.
07:32He taught me a breathing and absorption technique developed for serpent kind.
07:35Most days I sat in the spring practicing.
07:37While Kieran sprawled in the tree above me.
07:40Watching with half closed eyes.
07:41The breeze moved his hair and caught the light on his skin.
07:44Evelyn appeared at my gate.
07:45Peering in.
07:46I sighed and got out of the spring.
07:48Kieran dropped from the tree and draped a dry robe over my shoulders without being asked.
07:53Who is this?
07:54You remember him?
07:56The little black snake from the bonding ceremony.
07:58You said yourself we seem meant for each other.
08:00A flicker of something crossed her face.
08:03What do you want?
08:03This is training time.
08:06I was hoping we could raise the phoenix together.
08:09Kieran's hand tightened on mine.
08:10I glanced at him.
08:12He was watching me, clearly unhappy.
08:14I'm not your backup plan.
08:15Figure it out yourself.
08:17How is it not your responsibility?
08:19You took the black snake and left me with the phoenix.
08:21You don't get to just walk away.
08:24Half a year's gone by and I've given him every elixir I had.
08:27There's nothing left for my own training.
08:29And I was in the lower ranks.
08:30I can't go hunting rare ingredients.
08:32I'd die out there.
08:33You bonded with the phoenix first.
08:35You should be helping.
08:36I cut her off mid-sentence.
08:38Sent a gust of air to push her back through the gate.
08:40And led Kieran inside.
08:42Little sister.
08:43Don't mistake everyone for a fool.
08:44I'm not spending my resources raising your creature for you.
08:48If you can't afford to keep him.
08:49Dissolve the bond.
08:51Let someone else take him.
08:52I'm sure the elders would be happy to.
08:54She wouldn't do that.
08:55Her ambitions were too big.
08:57Weeks passed.
08:57I broke through to a new level of power.
09:00What those in the Spirit Pact Academy called.
09:03Fourth circle stage.
09:05At the same time.
09:06The Archmaster arranged for me to escort a rare spirit fox.
09:10To the Spirit Pact Academy.
09:12Alongside Elder Celia.
09:13Who was about three centuries older than me.
09:16And acted like a kid half the time.
09:18I sweet talked her through the hand over to the creature registry.
09:21And she settled for it.
09:23Before she left.
09:24She pressed her hand over her mouth to hide a smile.
09:27Your little serpent is very clingy you know.
09:30I didn't understand until I started up the mountain path.
09:33And saw a silhouette leaning against a tree in the distance.
09:37He didn't move.
09:39When I got closer he reached out and grabbed the back of my neck.
09:42Lyra.
09:43Am I not good to you?
09:44Why are you trying to give me away?
09:46What are you talking about?
09:47That girl came to the courtyard today.
09:49Said you sent her to check on me.
09:51Did you change your mind about bonding with me?
09:53You hit fourth circle and now you're done with me?
09:55Same playbook.
09:57Different life.
09:58Before I could explain.
10:00Kieran's pupils contracted to thin lines.
10:02He bent his head and pressed his face into my neck.
10:05His tongue brushed the skin there.
10:07Light.
10:08Quick.
10:09I shivered hard.
10:10Smells like fox.
10:12Lyra.
10:13Did you already find yourself a replacement?
10:15Doesn't matter.
10:17Once I eat that fox I'll be your only option.
10:20You hit me for her?
10:21That fox belongs to my arch master.
10:24You touch her and I will end you.
10:26Kieran stopped fighting me and let himself be pulled along.
10:29Most students weren't training.
10:31So the residences were quiet.
10:33A few people raised their eyebrows when they saw me coming.
10:36Short greetings.
10:37And then they told me.
10:38Evelyn had gone to the back forest with the phoenix.
10:41I frowned.
10:42I wasn't in the phoenix's way anymore.
10:44Why were they sneaking off to the forest?
10:46We found them mid-argument.
10:48Or rather, Evelyn was arguing and the phoenix, who still hadn't taken human form, was responding in scratched letters on
10:56the ground.
10:56Don't look at me like that.
10:58I've done nothing wrong.
11:00I didn't force you to come to the spirit pocked academy.
11:03You said this place would help you grow.
11:05I've given you every elixir I had and you're still not satisfied?
11:10You want me to go out hunting rare ingredients?
11:12I just started training!
11:14You'd be sending me to die!
11:16I almost felt something.
11:18In my past life, he'd given me nothing for ten years.
11:22Not a glance.
11:23Not a word.
11:24Not a gesture.
11:25Now he was writing letters in the dirt.
11:27The contrast was something.
11:29Evelyn.
11:30I've been looking for you.
11:32The phoenix scrambles to erase the letters when he heard us.
11:35Evelyn pulled herself together fast.
11:37Though not fast enough.
11:39What do you need, Lyra?
11:45I patted Kieran's arm.
11:47He gave me a long-suffering look, then dropped to one knee and let me settle onto it like
11:51a 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.
12:01Just wondering why you paid my companion a visit.
12:03The phoenix's feathers flared, angrily.
12:06Evelyn hadn't expected me to know so fast.
12:08No, you've got it wrong.
12:10I was just coming to find you.
12:12He rested his chin on my shoulder.
12:14She lied to me.
12:15She said you stole me from her.
12:16That I was supposed to be hers.
12:18And what did you do?
12:20She came into your territory without permission.
12:22She was weak.
12:23I didn't even use my power.
12:25Just pushed until she left.
12:26I patted his cheek.
12:28I stood and faced Evelyn directly.
12:30If I remember correctly, you didn't want Kieran in the first place.
12:33He was badly injured.
12:35If he'd ended up with you, he probably wouldn't have survived his second year.
12:39That's not true!
12:40I would have taken care of him.
12:42The phoenix's crest was fully raised now.
12:45She caught herself.
12:47You're trying to drive a wedge between me and the phoenix.
12:50I stepped forward and put my hand on her shoulder.
12:52You played your game, little sister.
12:55Don't act surprised when I play mine.
12:58Next time you pull something like this, you will get my punishment.
13:01She blanched.
13:02The council didn't forgive moves against another member's bonded creature.
13:06She couldn't risk it.
13:08On the way back, I was in a good mood.
13:11Kieran was quiet, though.
13:12Wouldn't transform and carry me even when I asked.
13:15Once we were back in the courtyard, he grabbed my arm.
13:18You seem familiar with the phoenix.
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.
13:42Lyah, your growth rate is pathetic.
13:45Sharing energy with you is a form of suffering.
13:50My arch master said,
13:52I'm one of the most talented young members in a generation.
13:55All those rare materials and elixirs I found went into me this time.
13:59Not into the phoenix.
14:01Ten years passed.
14:02I moved steadily from fourth circle to sixth circle.
14:06Even the most mean elder Celia praised me.
14:08You are really a genius, Lyra.
14:11We all expected the phoenix to elevate the whole spirit-panned academy.
14:15But ten years in, there's still no sign of him breaking through.
14:20I'd expected this.
14:21Sustaining creatures took enormous resources.
14:24And the spirit-packed academy never had reserves.
14:27The phoenix couldn't break through.
14:29And in my past life, I'd seen exactly what happened when his patients ran out.
14:33I'd thought about removing him.
14:34Every time I tried to bring it up with my arch master or Kiran,
14:38it was like the words hit a wall.
14:40And acting unilaterally,
14:42killing the phoenix before anyone understood why,
14:45would have destroyed the spirit-packed academy from the inside.
14:48All I could do was watch him and contain him.
14:51Past that,
14:52I had no choice but to wait.
14:54My past life hadn't survived this year.
14:56I didn't know if this one would go differently.
14:58He stood there staring at Kiran,
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.
15:08Why 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?
15:18Kiran climbed out,
15:19and immediately tried to lean against me.
15:22I don't want you on the air.
15:23I'll have to know this.
15:24I just want that bird to know,
15:27there's no space for him here.
15:30What exactly is here between us?
15:32That's entirely your call.
15:34The phoenix flew away.
15:35Kiran grabbed my face with both hands.
15:38He left.
15:38Can you stop worrying about him for five minutes?
15:40I have to know what he's doing.
15:42That bird has a dark heart.
15:44I don't trust him idle.
15:47He regrets it.
15:49Doesn't want to stay with your little sister anymore.
15:51I turned toward the gate.
15:53Empty.
15:54But something in my gut told me the phoenix was off.
15:57There was no logical reason for him to come to me specifically.
16:01Unless the phoenix had also been reborn.
16:04If that was true, then he knew about the back forest.
16:07He knew what was sealed there.
16:09He knew my parents had died there,
16:11which I'd only ever told him directly in my previous life.
16:14I didn't stop to explain to Kiran.
16:16I pulled out a slip and went straight to the forest wards.
16:19The wards were intact.
16:21I exhaled.
16:22Then I turned around and my stomach dropped.
16:24A handful of golden feathers lay near the edge of the barrier line.
16:27He'd been here.
16:28The phoenix had come back with knowledge he shouldn't have.
16:31The friction between Evelyn and the phoenix had gone public.
16:34He'd refused her commands in training sessions.
16:36Ignored 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.
16:45Every time I appeared, the phoenix drifted toward me.
16:48If looks could kill, Evelyn would have had me buried weeks ago.
16:51Elder Celia found the whole thing delightful.
16:54Her bird appeared at my shoulder one afternoon.
16:56You know what this reminds me of?
16:58One 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.
17:08I could talk to the girl.
17:10Offer her a different creature.
17:12Something she could actually manage.
17:14And transfer the phoenix over to you.
17:16Quietly.
17:17No.
17:17I'm not going near the disciplinary council over this.
17:20Besides, I have Kieran.
17:22That's enough.
17:23Celia looked genuinely mournful.
17:25Then she shifted to her real point.
17:28A creature pulling against its bonded partner is a problem for everyone.
17:32And Evelyn hasn't advanced the first stage in ten years.
17:35The elders have discussed sending her out on a field assignment.
17:38A year or two away from the Spirit Pact Academy.
17:41Practical experience.
17:42Away from all of this.
17:43I understood what she wasn't saying.
17:45They'd given up on the phoenix as a resource for the Spirit Pact Academy.
17:49In 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 counter offer.
18:00If senior wants the phoenix, she should just say so.
18:03I won't stand in the way.
18:06But if she takes him, she gives me Kieran.
18:09A mixed lineage serpent for a pure blooded phoenix.
18:12Honestly, Lyra comes out a laugh.
18:15Which one, Evelyn?
18:16You focus on your phoenix and stop coming up with terrible ideas.
18:21While the elders dealt with Evelyn,
18:23I was at the creature registry with the head keeper.
18:26Investigating a disappearance.
18:28Three had vanished overnight.
18:29Two small rabbits and a unicorn.
18:31I reinforced the gate myself before I left.
18:35Any disturbance at all and I would have felt it.
18:39There was nothing.
18:41Not a sound.
18:42Not a rogue creature.
18:44No trace of that energy anywhere.
18:47Right?
18:48I looked around.
18:49The registry was built into the mountainside.
18:52The rock face itself was warded.
18:54No slipping through the earth.
18:56No passing through walls.
18:57I was still thinking when the keeper started cooing at one of the deer.
19:01Don't be scared.
19:02Big brother serpent just looks mean.
19:04He won't eat you.
19:06That pulled something loose in my mind.
19:09I hesitated.
19:12Do creatures ever turn on each other?
19:14What a horrifying thing to say.
19:17They have awareness.
19:19They would never-
19:20Kieran slipped an arm around me and spoke low into my ear.
19:24People do terrible things to each other.
19:26Creatures aren't different.
19:28I've heard of a practice.
19:29A dark technique.
19:31Used by creatures who want to advance without resources.
19:33My skin had gone cold.
19:35Wild creatures had no access to elixirs or rare materials.
19:39If they wanted to grow in power fast,
19:42the most efficient shortcut was this.
19:45Consume the core of another creature.
19:47The higher the level of the creature they took from,
19:50the faster the gain.
19:52Kieran had nearly died at the hands of one practicing exactly that method ten years ago.
19:56Once it works, it will come back for more.
20:00We staked out the registry that night.
20:02Nothing happened.
20:03Quiet all the way until dawn.
20:05I reassured the keeper and headed out.
20:10Hallmaster, there's an incident at the residences.
20:13Kieran shifted, wrapped around me, and moved.
20:16When we landed, I didn't need to go inside to know it was bad.
20:19I could hear the crying from the courtyard.
20:21It was one of my newest students.
20:22A girl who'd come to the spirit-packed academy with his own creature.
20:26Fox.
20:27Soft and round and always sprawled in patches of sunlight.
20:30Kind of creature that made people smile just looking at it.
20:33She was sitting on the ground, holding what remained of her.
20:35Not much left.
20:36Your guess was right.
20:37The core was removed.
20:39One strike, clean.
20:40It happened before she could make a sound.
20:42She only noticed when she felt the bond break.
20:44I felt the cold settle in my chest.
20:48Without thinking, I looked around for the phoenix.
20:50He was standing beside Evelyn, still as a statue.
20:53The picture.
20:53Don't look.
20:54It's him.
20:57You're certain.
20:58I went to the archmaster.
21:00Don't move yet.
21:01You need proof.
21:02Catch him in the act.
21:03He said it with total gravity.
21:05Meanwhile, behind him, his courtyard had become a small zoo.
21:09Several of them had taken human form and were crowding around Kieran to ask about his parents' bloodlines.
21:15I keep all my creatures close.
21:17Your new firehound relieved himself on the floor.
21:20You could clean it up for your teacher.
21:21Absolutely not.
21:22The senior elders started watching the phoenix.
21:25Their eyes went to him more carefully during training.
21:28They noted that his power had grown noticeably in ways that weren't explained by his circumstances.
21:33Then, nothing.
21:34Weeks passed.
21:35No more disappearances.
21:37No incidents.
21:38Two weeks went by.
21:39The girl never quite recovered from losing his fox.
21:42The other students spoke about the disappearances less and less until the whole thing drifted into
21:46the category of strange spirit-packed academy legend.
21:50Something that had happened, maybe.
21:51Possibly.
21:52Nobody quite remembered the details.
21:54But I couldn't let it go.
21:55Kieran's certainty sat with me every day.
21:58I went to the Archmaster and asked to have the phoenix formally restricted.
22:02You think we don't see it?
22:04But without evidence, what do I tell the students?
22:06If I punish someone without proof, I lose the trust of the whole spirit-packed academy.
22:11And without that trust, the spirit-packed academy dissolves.
22:15Then, one night, while I was deep in meditation, something flashed past my window.
22:20A pair of red eyes, bright, gone in an instant.
22:23Where was Kieran?
22:24I moved to the water's edge.
22:26Floating on the surface.
22:27A single golden feather.
22:29An invitation.
22:30Or a taunt.
22:31Find me and I'll give him back.
22:32I reached out through the bond and found Kieran's location.
22:35The back forest.
22:36I hit the ground running.
22:37I arrived through the wards in a flash of light.
22:40And walked straight into a shockwave from two powers colliding.
22:44Kieran and the phoenix were already fighting.
22:46Fully committing.
22:47I went rigid.
22:49When had the phoenix broken through?
22:50He moved through the trees in a golden coat.
22:53Fast and precise.
22:55Ducking and redirecting Kieran's strikes.
22:57With the ease of someone who'd had longer to prepare for this moment.
23:01Beside the ward barrier, Evelyn sat perfectly still.
23:05Like a doll that someone had set down and forgotten.
23:08When I got close enough to see her clearly, my stomach turned over.
23:13Evelyn was dead.
23:14Her eyes were still open.
23:16Fixed in an expression of complete disbelief.
23:19Her abdomen had been cut open.
23:21Her core.
23:22The source of her power.
23:23The root she'd spent years building.
23:26Was gone.
23:26I hadn't even had time to process it.
23:29Before the sky above the forest went dark.
23:32Clouds banking hard and fast.
23:35Thunder starting low and rolling.
23:37The bond close.
23:38Harm your bonded partner.
23:40And the consequence comes down from the sky itself.
23:43He'd killed his own bonded partner.
23:46He'd lost his mind.
23:47A lightening judgment of this scale would leave nothing of him.
23:51All that power.
23:52All that scheming.
23:53And he'd thrown it away for this moment.
23:56I didn't bother playing it soft.
23:59You spent ten years plotting with Evelyn against the Spirit Pact Academy.
24:03You used every person here as a platform.
24:06And this life you had the chance to change.
24:08And instead you gutted her for her core.
24:10The God is watching.
24:13Today it ends.
24:14Nick smiled.
24:15Cold and strange.
24:17Almost.
24:18One more step.
24:20His hands were already moving behind his back.
24:22Breaking the wards.
24:24The creatures locked in the forest felt the loosening.
24:27The ground shook.
24:28Thunder gathered directly above him.
24:30The Archmaster arrived in a streak of light from the peak.
24:33Lyra!
24:34Hold the creatures back!
24:37I'll work on resealing from out here.
24:40Lightning above.
24:41The forest breaking open below.
24:43The phoenix stood in the middle of it all.
24:46With a look of pure madness.
24:48And he turned it on me.
24:50Lyra.
24:51You can't stop this.
24:53Come die with me.
24:55I'll do better by you this time.
24:57I swear it.
24:58In my past life I had died in this exact forest.
25:01In this exact way.
25:03With no one at my back.
25:05I felt fear.
25:06That was honest.
25:07Old fear.
25:08The kind that lived in the body.
25:11Then a hand landed on my shoulder.
25:13Kieran.
25:14Eyes lit with the cold fire of someone who had never once considered losing.
25:18You wanna take her down with you?
25:21He laughed once.
25:22Short.
25:23And sharp.
25:24Ask me first.
25:26You're nobody.
25:27Right.
25:28I had Kieran.
25:30This time.
25:31I wasn't fighting alone.
25:33Kieran pressed forward.
25:34And I covered him.
25:35He trusted me at his back without checking.
25:38I trusted him.
25:39To end what he started.
25:41Kieran wasn't breaking.
25:42And the phoenix couldn't find a way past him.
25:45Then he understood.
25:46I wasn't going to die here.
25:48The plan had failed.
25:50He broke.
25:51This isn't right.
25:52You're supposed to die.
25:54We're supposed to die together.
25:55I raised one finger and pointed at the sky.
25:59Goodbye.
25:59The lightning came down in a column as wide as wells.
26:03The phoenix didn't scream.
26:04No rebirth for those taken by judgment.
26:08Final.
26:09And terrible.
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