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