Hannah – POV
I stumbled out of the Skull Cavern like a ghost chased by death itself. The night air hit my skin like a slap—sharp, cold, and alive. Stars blinked overhead, but I didn't see them. Not really. All I could feel was the sting in the gash across my cheek, where dried blood had crusted tight against my skin. The ache in my limbs, the tremble in my breath. I dropped to my knees in the sand just outside the cavern mouth, dust curling around me like smoke. My fingers dug into my bag, shaking, until they wrapped around the prismatic shard.
And I broke.
Tears streamed down my face as I clutched it in both hands, the gem catching the moonlight and fracturing it into a thousand shimmering colors across my tear-streaked cheeks.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGKW3MkzEwa
"I did it," I whispered, my voice cracking like glass. "I really did it..."
A cry tore through the quiet desert.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyELEI1CBFm
"Hannah!" Abigail's voice rang like a bell of disbelief and panic. I looked up and saw them—Abigail, Sam, and Sebastian—standing by the bus stop, stunned. Abigail sprinted first, with Sebastian just behind her.
Sebastian didn't hesitate. He dropped to his knees beside me in the sand and slid forward, scooping me into his arms before I could even breathe. He pressed my face into his chest, his arms caging me like a promise.
"You did it," he said, but his voice trembled. It wasn't calm. It wasn't collected. It was raw and strained, thick with something I'd never heard in him before: fear. Relief. Emotion.
My sobs came harder against his hoodie, my fingers gripping the fabric like a lifeline. I couldn't stop. I didn't want to. I'd faced death, looked monsters in the eye and bled for this shard—and somehow, I was still here. Still breathing. Still alive.
"I can't believe this," Abigail said softly, her voice cracking as she crouched nearby. Her eyes flicked over my injuries, her lips parted like she wanted to say more—but there were no words. Just the heaviness of what I'd been through, crashing around us like waves.
Even Sam was quiet, the usual smirk gone, his hands shoved into his jacket pockets as he watched with wide, unguarded eyes.
Sebastian's chest rose and fell in rapid bursts. I realized his whole body was shaking. His jaw clenched tightly, but his arms never loosened around me. He was trying to stay cold, trying to be Sebastian—but I felt the truth in how hard he was holding me.
He was terrified. He thought he lost me.
Eventually, I pulled away from him, my body weak and swaying on my feet. I had one last thing to do. I couldn't rest—not yet.
"Hannah, sit down," Abigail pleaded, reaching for me. "You're hurt—what are you doing?"
But I didn't stop. I turned and walked—dragging my feet, each step deliberate and slow—toward the three golden obelisks rising like ancient teeth from the sand. They stood in a triangle at the heart of the desert, quiet but powerful. Some called them myth. Others, warnings. Tonight, they would be my reckoning.
The shard pulsed in my palms, warm and alive, like it knew.
Abigail, Sam, and Sebastian watched in stunned silence. They didn't know this part. No one did.
I stepped into the center of the triangle and raised the shard high above my head.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MEAITWVfx
"Here!" I screamed.
The desert answered.
The sky darkened instantly as purple clouds churned like boiling ink overhead. Lightning forked through the storm with eerie precision, jagged pulses of violet slicing the air. Wind tore across the sand, swirling around me like a cyclone. I stood still, unflinching. The prismatic shard vibrated in my hands, humming with ancient energy.
A bolt of thunder cracked above—deafening, divine—and a blinding light exploded in my vision.
Pain shot through my arms as the shard vanished in a burst of energy, and something else materialized between my hands—a handle, metallic and hot, shaped with jagged grooves like lightning itself. A blade extended from it, glowing with radiant purple light, thrumming with power that I felt in my bones. It buzzed like it had a heartbeat of its own. Like it had chosen me.
Then the storm ceased.
The wind stopped. The clouds parted. The desert fell silent.
And I collapsed.
Breathing hard, I lay in the sand, the blade still in my hand. It shimmered above me like a star forged from pain, willpower, and blood.
I had survived.
I had been chosen.
It was done
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Sebastian – POV
I saw her before I heard her.
A blur stumbling out of the Skull Cavern entrance, clutching something against her chest. Her hair was tangled, her face streaked with dirt and blood, and her whole body looked like it could collapse at any second.
The night air was cold—biting even—but Hannah didn't seem to notice. She fell to her knees just outside the cavern, sand rising up around her like smoke. That's when I saw the glint of something cradled in her hands, catching the starlight: a shard, glittering like a broken piece of heaven.
"I did it," she sobbed, her voice so cracked and fragile it barely carried to where we stood. "I really did it."
For half a second, I couldn't move. None of us could.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFX2VgIZtRe
Abigail was the first to react, her boots kicking up sand as she sprinted toward her, but my body caught up a heartbeat later, adrenaline roaring through my ears.
I dropped to my knees next to her, sliding across the sand so fast I barely felt the burn. Without thinking, without even breathing, I grabbed Hannah and pulled her against me—tight, tighter than I ever thought I could hold someone. Her face buried itself against my chest, and when I felt her shaking, when I heard her broken cries against me, something inside me fractured.
"You did it," I said, my voice rough, not steady like I wanted it to be. I couldn't help it. I couldn't hide it. Every second she'd been down there, every second we waited, I'd been picturing the worst. Preparing for it. And now that she was here, alive, in my arms, I couldn't seem to let her go.
She was crying so hard it made my chest ache. Not because of the sound—because I knew what it meant. I knew what she'd survived.
Abigail crouched nearby, her eyes wide and glassy, her voice thin.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtW34HTEBe
"I can't believe it," she whispered. Even Sam, usually so quick to crack a joke, stood stiff and silent, like he didn't dare interrupt the moment.
I felt Hannah clutch my jacket, and I tightened my arms around her in return. My hands slid up instinctively, one settling at the back of her head, fingers threading into her hair like if I let go, she might vanish.
I tried to steady my breathing. Tried to keep my usual cool, detached mask in place. But I couldn't.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPQSdecWwVw
Not tonight.
She pulled away eventually, swaying like the weight of the world was still on her shoulders. I didn't want her to leave my arms—I wanted to keep her right there, where she was safe. But she had that look in her eyes. That stubborn, reckless fire I'd fallen for without even realizing it.
"Hannah—" Abigail tried to stop her, her voice tight with fear, but Hannah kept walking, dragging her battered body toward the center of the desert where the three golden obelisks stood.
I stood up, frozen in place, my fists clenched at my sides. Sam stepped up beside me, silent for once.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3qZfQdRdHx
"What's she doing?" he muttered.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDjQQi5QjC
I shook my head. I didn't know.
We watched as she staggered into the center of the triangle, the prismatic shard still clutched in her hands. The desert seemed to hold its breath.
She raised it high above her head, and her voice—hoarse, raw—tore through the night.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnwb0zyFiBU
"Here!"
The world answered.
The skies blackened almost instantly, swirling with violent purple clouds. Lightning carved jagged scars across the heavens, the wind roaring like an ancient beast. Sand whipped around her, but she didn't move. Didn't flinch. She stood there, alone, defiant, her figure illuminated by the unearthly storm.
I took a step forward instinctively, heart hammering against my ribs. I didn't know what was happening, but every fiber of my being screamed to run to her, to protect her, to—
A deafening crash of thunder. A blinding flash of violet light.
I shielded my eyes. When I looked again, the shard was gone—and in its place, gripped in her hands, was a weapon. A sword unlike anything I'd ever seen: its blade a living, pulsing glow of purple, the air around it humming like it carried the heartbeat of the earth itself.
The storm fell silent.
And so did Hannah.
She dropped to the ground, the sword still clutched in her hand, her body curling in the sand like a spent matchstick.
My heart stopped.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqgUM8hzkqF
I ran.
I didn't care about the others. I didn't care about the storm.57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp3OkG6SgHk
I just knew one thing—57Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQ0lUSUsup
She wasn't alone anymore.
Not ever again
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