I do the same thing he did to me: two magical hands erupt from nowhere and grab his wrists. A third hand grabs his throat and pulls him down so that he’s on his knees in front of me, mimicking my position even though he struggles against it.

“You’re not just fighting the empresses,” I tell him, groaning as I break free of his magic’s hold. I pull away from the hands holding my wrists, and their hold breaks, the magical essence dissolving in the air around us. “You’re fighting all of us.” Now that my hands are free, I reach for the magical hand wrapped around my throat and shatter it into nothing. I slowly stand and walk towards him.

His wings flap, but it’s useless. Struggle as he may, he cannot free himself from the magical restraints. “What… is… this?” He grunts in between each word, resisting in spite of how futile it is.

I stop only when I’m less than a foot away from him, just before the magical hand of light that’s holding onto his neck to keep him in place. It’s not made of fire or electricity or vines. It’s made of light.

Hislight.

It’s honestly something I should’ve realized before, but like I said: I’m still new at this.

“You’re fighting yourself,” I whisper as I lift my hands to his face. Or, rather, the metal outline that makes up his head. The moment I cup the edge of his faceless head, he stops struggling. “You can’t defeat the undefeated. You’re not whole. A part of you is inside me.”

I swear the world around us stops, like it fades away, not important enough to be perceived. The only thing I can see is the ancient being on his knees in front of me, held in place by his own magic. By me.

“You’re bound to the spell the first high empress placed on you when she tore you apart and locked you away,” I tell him softly. “I think it’s time you’re bound to something else.” A light shines on us, and I close my eyes, feeling it surround me.

No, not just me. Him, too. It surrounds us both, enveloping both our forms. Sparkling, multicolored; it’s a light that’s mixedwith the purest form of power, the aether that connects all living things. For so long it’s been out of balance, but no more.

No more and never again.

Invictis is ancient, beyond our understanding. I don’t know that a human can ever truly comprehend what he is or where he came from. It doesn’t matter, because as that light shines around us, as it dances across my flesh and his metallic body, I know what I have to do.

He cannot be set free, nor can he be separated and locked away again. I can’t risk another mass-extinction event like this happening in Laconia, regardless of how far into the future it is.

When I open my eyes, I can see everything. The light. The aether. Like thin, translucent strings strung across time itself. The aether reflects every color imaginable. I can feel it inside me, changing me, making me stronger.

I never wanted this. I fought against it for so long. Now there is only one thing I can do, in order to end this for good.

I accept it. I acknowledge it. I welcome it. I become more than Aurelia Smith. I become so much more than the sum of my mom, Gladus, and Morimento. I am every empress that was before… and I am one with the creature every empress has been warned about through memories.

The aether around us glows brighter and brighter until it swallows us both.

It’s over.

Chapter Twenty-Three

I take my time in walking through Laconia. I’m in no hurry. It’s like I’m seeing everything for the first time, like my eyes weren’t really open before. Now… everything is different. Everything will be different.

I also walk slow because I’m tired as fuck.

Phew. I can go for a nap or two. Ooh, or a feast. I know the latter is probably asking too much since food isn’t exactly plentiful in Laconia, but now that should change. There should be no more scourge sending shadowstorms upon the land, no more blight affecting the crops, and no more plague twisting what animals that are left into misshapen, disfigured shadows of themselves.

It will take time, but Laconia will rebound. Nature will heal itself.

And of course I’ll help whenever and wherever I can.

Walking up the steps to reach the upper half of the city really strains my calves. It’s like I did a whole-body workout and went a little too hard on myself. Muscles I didn’t know I had are straining and tired.

Literally, I think I could fall asleep on the steps. How’s that for sad?

I groan when I make it to the top. So much for empress-level healing skills. Although, I guess I’m not bleeding or anything, so there’s that. I’ll take being sore as shit a thousand times over. Way better than getting stabbed, believe me.

I shuffle to the closed doors separating the upper district from the rest of Laconia, and I have to use a bit of magic to get them open. Up the main street I go, my destination the building near the conclave, where the councilmembers live. It’s whereFrederick and his dad are, along with some other people who had nowhere else to hide.

Honestly, I didn’t know how bad the fight would get. I didn’t know if Invictis would try to summon a shadowstorm or not. Better safe than sorry, especially when it comes to these people. They’ve already been through so much, lost so much; I hope things turn around for them now that Invictis is no longer a threat.

Walking through the upper district, alone, I feel at peace. I feel… at home. Can’t say I’ve felt that way in a long, long time.