“Charlotte… What happened to you?”

“What do you mean?” she asks while tilting her head.

“Your eyes!”

“What are you talking about, Triton?” Duncan says. “They’re fine, beautiful like they always are.”

“Charlotte, you’re a Shadowheart! What happened?”

The woman slowly bows her head. And the air suddenly becomes so cold that I feel goosebumps on my skin.

“I’ve been freed. Join me, my friends.”

Then, without another word, she thrusts her hand forward. I’m pushed back into the quarry’s stone wall, a giant shadowy palm ensnaring me. I try to wriggle free, but her grip is far too tight on my body. She stares at me so soullessly. Alistar draws his bow and aims for her, but he’s stabbed through his back. Not by Charlotte, but by her husband, who pulls his longsword out of the man’s torso. Duncan’s eyes have suddenly become bright red and beady, just like hers. 

They both walk towards Triton. The stones in the quarry are starting to disappear. The sky turns a terrible black. Even the ground is becoming nothing but more shadow. The dark oozes from their backs like a massive cloud, consuming everything around them. Then, Alistar rises and slowly turns his head to show that now, even he has Fiendish eyes.

I’m alone, surrounded in darkness and facing my comrades, who were taken from me just as quickly as he met them.

I’m finally able to break free, and I run away and never look back. The air in my lungs is quickly becoming scarcer, and my whole body is becoming numb. I hear their footsteps echo behind me, getting louder and louder.

Then, without warning, something stops me in my tracks. She just appeared out of nowhere- a scared little girl with long blue locks and a yellow tunic, crying in fear. When I inch closer to her, panics and runs away as fast as she can. 

“Fear not, child. I shall protect you.”

As they appear around me, the three Shadowhearts grab me tightly, their fingers like claws digging into my flesh. Alistar’s hands wrap around my mouth to muffle my voice.

Little Ameline, still looking petrified, is suddenly pulled into an embrace by a robed man, who steps out of the darkness like it was a curtain. He wears a festive-looking necklace- a warped golden diamond shape with a hideous eye in its center. His hair is red as the blood on my tunic. He gives a large, wicked smile, visualizing the insidious thoughts that must be going through his mind. Long black markings spread across his face like a beast had dug its claws into his flesh. The marks are pulsing like they are matching his heartbeat.

His voice is surprisingly smooth, but chilling. Like a rattlesnake eyeing his prey.

“We meet at last, Flamekeeper. Allow me to introduce myself,” he says. “I am Drago Cascavich, prime minister of the Shadowheart Empire.”

“And I’m here to put you out of your misery. I can already tell it has been far too long since you’ve prayed to one of your Wells. The fire inside of you is so weak that you can barely even think. You’re tired, and they are too. They’re all tired of supporting ancient hogwash. They pity you, a man with a world of responsibility on his fragile shoulders. Which is why I’m here, to give you the gift they would like to share with you.”

“You see, they have all embraced The Truth. And now, their lives are in our hands. Why just look at this one,” he says while looking down at Ameline.

The girl turns her head around, and her eyes are glowing that same Fiendish red. Seeing her without those golden irises makes me weak to my stomach. She clutches the man so tight, like her life depends on his protection instead of mine.

“The only danger to her now… is you. Come, little one. We can save him together.”

Drago creeps towards me, with Ameline trailing by his side. Out of his right hand, a shadow forms into a dark dagger. Still with that devilish smile on his face, he reaches with his other hand to grab my neck. His touch is cold and sickening.

“Join us in perfect harmony.”

When his blade cuts into my throat, there is no pain, but I feel Drago’s knife cutting all the way down to my navel. Drago licks his lips and suddenly rips my chest open and forces his hand into the cavity, clasping my Auryn. I watch with cold, lifeless eyes as Drago pulls the ember out of my chest, his hand soaked in my blood. I watch the little blue ember pulse faintly as it begins to dwindle in his palm. The very thought of the last of the Calignis, the last sliver of light on the planet, is taken from me so easily. Everything was.

But I’m still alive. I still have feeling in my body, and I still have blood coursing in my veins, though it is quickly dripping out of me. I just keep staring at the little blue fire in the villain’s clutches, and I keep feeling all this dark around me. The same dark that dwells in my comrades, in an innocent child. 

When I open my eyes, all I see is blue fire. And amid the flames, I see Drago holding my Auryn.

The Shadowhearts releases me as soon as I let out a loud roar, the loudest I’ve ever shouted. My Auryn bursts in Drago’s hand while he and the other Shadowhearts scream in pain from the light. Even with that humongous gash in my chest, revealing my innards to all, I stand tall just as my Auryn comes swirling back into his chest. I call upon my sword, and the blade is much longer and even broader than before, though it still kept that familiar proud shine.

They each are slain without a fight in one slash, like lowly Fiends, though they still had familiar faces. But they weren’t the people I knew anymore. Then, when the Shadowhearts disappear, I scowl at that bastard Drago, who looks undeterred, even though his hand is charred black. With every fiber of my being, I give the monster one powerful slash. And just like that, he poofs away in a ball of black smoke. And finally, all that is left is the dark veil around me. I plunge my blade into the ground with all my might, and the darkness shatters in no time like it was made of glass. 

Now there is only one Shadowheart left- the little girl with Fiendish eyes, with a dark dagger clutched in her fist. And yet, Fiendish eyes or not, her innocent face makes me lower my guard. The anger in my heart is suddenly filled with deep sadness. And all that fire that clouded my vision is gone. My blood coats my body as I drop to my knees, just as Ameline races towards me with her weapon ready to strike me.

Instead, I hold her tightly. And though she has the perfect chance to stab me in the back, instead she kept still. Tears roll down my cheeks, dampening her hood like the bloodstains on my body. I’ve never cried this hard before.

“Forgive me… Ameline...”

“T… Triton…”