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Damon walked beside his mother as they descended from the torture chamber, their footsteps echoing through the long stone corridors of the castle. The air felt colder the farther they went, heavier — as if the walls themselves remembered what had happened below.
What did she do in there? he wondered, the thought looping no matter how hard he tried to push it away.
The Queen, still dressed in her black suit, rested her forearms against the railing overlooking the lower halls. She stared down, unmoving.
"I'm sorry you had to witness that, Damon."
"It's fine, Mom."
She shook her head slowly, never looking at him. "No, Damon. This isn't fine." Her fingers curled tightly around the stone. "I had to restrain myself from ripping her lungs out and killing her in the slowest way possible."
Damon stiffened.
"Why would she help Gamishi kill Thalor?" the Queen continued, her voice low and uneven. "He was a good King. The people loved him — more than they ever loved me." Her breath caught. "He was my… he was mine."
Damon stepped closer and placed his hand gently on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."
She turned to look at him then. For a moment, she said nothing.
"Why don't you know the reason Seraphine betrayed us?" Damon asked quietly. "You were torturing her for answers… right?"
"No." The word came sharp. "I tortured her because I was angry. Thankfully, she's not dead." A bitter pause. "We can still ask her — what's left of her — why she did it. What reward Rebellion promised her."
She exhaled, frustration weighing down every syllable. "There's so much left undone. We don't know why a demon attacked Earth back then. We don't know when Gamishi will strike — or why he hasn't already. We don't even know what a Chronisoul truly is."
"Well," Damon said gently, "we didn't know who the traitor was before. But we found her, didn't we?"
"No," she replied. "You found her." Her voice softened. "And I hate that my children are part of a war when you should be living your lives."
Damon studied her — her posture, her restraint, the way she carried the weight of an entire kingdom without letting it break her. He admired her more than he ever said.
"Thank you," she added quietly.
Damon leaned against the railing beside her and laughed softly. "So… how does it feel being the strongest in Woewyn?"
She smiled faintly. "It's all good until you realize you're the Queen — which means you're not allowed to join any wars."
They laughed together. Briefly. It felt almost normal.
"Should I tell Nyra about this?" Damon asked.
The Queen's smile vanished. "No. She'd probably finish Seraphine herself."
Footsteps thundered down the corridor.
"Your Highness!" Solaren shouted, sprinting toward them with Caelith close behind. "Seraphine has been captured!"
The Queen straightened instantly. "What? Who? How?!"
"We don't know," Solaren said breathlessly. "The guards were knocked unconscious. When they came to, she was gone."
They turned back toward the torture chamber, Damon following.
"When we questioned the guards," Caelith added, "they said all they could see was fire."
Damon stopped. "…Mom. Where's Nyra?"
The realization hit them all except Damon at once.
"Ignivar," the Queen, Solaren, and Caelith said in unison.
"Ignivar?" Damon echoed.
They ran.
"Ignivar is the largest volcano on Woewyn," the Queen explained as they moved. "And the most unstable. Nyra ususally said that if she ever found the person who killed her father… she'd throw them into it."
"She can't be serious," Damon said, his face blank with shock.
"She's serious," Solaren and Caelith replied together.
The Queen leapt from the corridor balcony — a sheer drop thousands of feet down. Damon jumped after her without hesitation. Solaren and Caelith exchanged a glance, then bolted for the stairs.
"Trust me, Damon," the Queen said without turning to Damon while still falling. "She doesn't joke about this."
They reached Ignivar just as the air began to tremble.
Nyra stood at the edge of the volcano, gripping Seraphine by the head, using it to keep her upright. Lava glowed beneath them, thick and restless.
The Queen shouted her name — but Nyra didn't respond. Damon and the Queen focused their hearing, catching every word carried by the wind.
"Please," Seraphine begged weakly. "End...this—quick. I'm begging you."
Nyra struck her without hesitation. "You have no right to ask anything of me, traitor," she said coldly. "You killed my father. Burn in Inferno."
She let go.
"No!" Damon shouted.
The ground began to rumble. Nyra finally turned — but it was too late. The volcano groaned, pressure building deep below. The Queen and Damon sensed others arriving — Thorpax, Solaren, Caelith, and several Natural Knights.
"Damon," the Queen ordered, already moving, "help Thorpax and the earth users however you can. I'll get Nyra."
She vanished in a burst of speed.
Did Nyra just do that? Damon thought, running back toward the knights.
"Damon!" Thorpax roared. "Pick two earth users — one for each face of the volcano!"
He did. Instinctively.
"Those who can only bend earth," Thorpax continued, "use the ground itself to form a dome! Those who can create and bend it come with me!"
The earth shuddered. Domes formed — layer after layer — drawn from stone and soil. Damon added his own contribution, weaving hexagonal shields of light around them.
The air grew thick. Heavy. Sound dropped out entirely for half a second.
Then Ignivar erupted. A violent tide of black-red lava tore skyward, shattering Damon's light shields instantly. The heat was unbearable.
"Fall back!" Thorpax yelled.
He stood alone.
Without drawing from the ground, he created massive rectangular blocks of earth around the volcano itself. They melted almost instantly. He groaned, reinforcing them again and again until, finally, the eruption stalled — a contained, boiling pool trapped inside a cube of stone.
Thorpax collapsed to a seated position, breathing hard. "Crazy princesses."
Damon ran to find his mother. They were farther out, the land scorched but intact.
"What were you thinking, Nyra?!" the Queen shouted. "Do you want to flood Woewyn with lava?!"
Nyra stared at the ground.
"Answer me."
Silence.
"When you're ready to speak," the Queen said coldly, "let me know. But understand this — you will face consequences."
Nyra looked up. "What?!"
"What do you mean 'what'? Did you think you could nearly burn our kingdom down and face no consequences? Being a princess doesn't excuse recklessness."
Damon stepped in. "It's safe. Thorpax contained it."
The Queen exhaled, head tilting back in relief. Then she looked down at her daughter "Nyra… I cannot teach you mercy. Only the cost of lacking it."
"Mercy?!" Nyra cried. "What I did was mercy!"
"I agree with Mom," Damon said calmly. "You threw her into a volcano. How is that mercy?"
"Did you see her, Damon?!" Nyra shouted through tears. "Did you see what Mom did to her?! Her limbs were gone! Her eye — gone! She barely had teeth left! She was like a—a—a perfume bottle!"
Damon looked to his mother. "Mom?"
"She's not lying," the Queen said quietly. Then to Nyra, "He was my husband. Do you think I don't miss him? I let my anger out — but I had restraint."
"Why do you get to let out your anger and I don't?!" Nyra sobbed. "She might as well have been dead after what you did!"
"Nyra!" the Queen snapped. "You never even met him — why are you so angry?!"
"That's the point!" Nyra cried. "I never met him! Damon had a father figure — I didn't! You left Woewyn when you had me to be with Damon on Earth. You came back and left too soon. I was alone. You and Damon are the same — calm, n' talented. Dad was like me, talented too but playful, rougher. When I see 'Father: The Strongest Fire User' in class — how do you think I feel?!. He would've been the best teacher for me!"
She collapsed to her knees, sobbing. The Queen's expression broke. She knelt and pulled Nyra into her arms without speaking.
Silence stretched.
Finally, softly: "I'm sorry, Nyra. I've been a bad mother."
"You haven't been bad," Nyra whispered. "You just… weren't there."
They stayed like that for a long time.
"I'm sorry," Nyra said eventually. "This won't happen again. I'll take whatever punishment you give."
"There will be consequences," the Queen said gently. "But… I understand."
A shout cut through the air.
"AGHHH! SOMEBODY HELP!"
Solaren was dangling inside one face of the stone containment, suspended horizontally above lava.
"How did you even get there?!" Thorpax demanded.
"Go. Help him.," the Queen told Damon.
"Solaren," Caelith warned, "don't use light — you'll trigger another eruption!"
"I DON'T CARE! MY ASS IS COOKING!"
Laughter rippled through the exhausted soldiers — even the Queen cracked a smile. Damon smiled too.
Things would go wrong, but we would face it... together. Damon thought.