The world was quiet—but wrong.
The sky over the ruin crackled with dull, thunderless storms. Void smoke clung to their skin like oil, thick and choking. Where the great cathedral had stood, there was only a scar in the land now—a hollow pit of black glass and weeping light. The air vibrated faintly with the echoes of screams that no longer had bodies to leave from.
Boo coughed, her lungs full of soot and blood.She rolled over. "Loque…?"
The great beast stirred weakly beside her, still breathing, but his spectral glow had dimmed to a pale flicker. A soft pulse of mist rose with each breath.
Nyxia was unconscious nearby, her body twisted and raw. Blood leaked from her ears, her nose, the cracks in her scorched skin. The rune mark on her chest was gone—leaving a gaping scar shaped like a broken star.
And Perseus...
She found him kneeling in the ash, cradling Nyxia like a broken doll, tears streaking down his dirt-caked face. He looked at Boo without truly seeing her.
"I held her," he whispered. "She was burning. I still smell her skin."
Then he collapsed.
"Shit. No, no no no—don't you dare—!"
Boo scrambled across the field, dragging Perseus off of Nyxia, checking for a pulse. It was there. Barely. His lips were pale, his breath shallow and rattling.
Her hands were shaking. Her eyes stung with smoke and grief.
"I can't carry you all. Damn it—!"
She looked around, wild with desperation, until she saw it:
An old funeral wagon, half buried in rubble, still hitched to a black mare nervously pacing in the ruins. Sacred. Stubborn. The creature hadn't fled.
Boo ran.
She slashed the reins free, threw the coffin out, and clambered up to the driver's seat.
"Come on, girl," she murmured. "Help me—just this once."
She turned the wagon, blood streaking down her wrists. It groaned beneath her, but it moved.
She wheeled it toward the others.
With strength she didn't know she had left, Boo dragged Perseus into the wagon bed. Then Nyxia. Loque limped in after, collapsing beside them with a whimper.
The wagon creaked as it turned south.
Boo lashed the reins.
They rolled into the fog, leaving behind only shattered stones and broken prayers.
The temple walls rose out of the mist like the bones of a forgotten god—white stone, streaked with rain and silence.
The wagon pulled up to its gates.
The bells tolled—slow and solemn.
Acolytes poured out. One spotted Boo, barely upright in the driver's seat, her face sliced open and caked with dried blood.
She raised one trembling arm.
"Help them," she rasped. "They're... they're dying."
The priests surged forward.
"Sweet Light," one whispered. "That's Master Perseus..."
"Get stretchers! Salves! Get everyone we have—NOW!"
Gasps rippled when they saw Nyxia, unrecognizable beneath her blood-soaked skin, her limbs twisted and scorched. Loque groaned weakly as they lifted him—three clerics chanting ancient rites to keep him from vanishing.
But when they touched Perseus, the senior priest dropped to her knees.
"It's unbelievable that they made it all this way. How are they still alive?"
Boo slipped off the wagon and collapsed onto the steps.
"Because were stubborn," she murmured. "and because he loves her."
Inside the Temple
"We're losing him!"
"To the sanctum—now!"
The three were carried deep beneath the temple. Moonlight streamed through enchanted glass, refracted into three silver pools that shimmered like galaxies.
"It is said Elune once wept here," said the high priestess. "Her tears became these waters. May they remember those who carry her light."
Nyxia was first. As her body touched the pool, the water brightened. Stars flickered beneath her.
Her tail curled.
She stirred.
Then Perseus, pale and unmoving.
Then Boo, too weak to resist.
Candles were lit.
Prayers were whispered.
And above it all, the stars watched in silence.
Boo sat slumped against a cold marble wall as the healers worked. Their words blurred. The Light above the chamber trembled.
The temple's alabaster floors were stained with red, shadow, and something darker. The air reeked of incense and ozone.
One healer crouched beside her.
"What happened?"
Boo exhaled through cracked lips, her eyes hollow.
She laughed dryly, "Everything." Before passing out.
Through the chaos, Loque stirred.
His breathing was ragged. His spectral form barely held together—like stardust suspended in fog.
But his glowing eyes never left Nyxia.
He dragged himself toward her.
A priest reached to stop him, but a hand touched her shoulder.
"No," the elder cleric said gently. "Let him."
Loque nudged Nyxia's cheek. Then, with agonizing slowness, he pressed his forehead to hers.
A flood of silver-blue light spilled from him—first a flicker, then a flood.
Her body arched. Scars dulled. Muscles stitched.
And something more awakened.
Soft tufts of white-furred ears curled from her hair. A sinuous tail uncoiled at her leg—part spirit, part flesh.
Their bond was no longer temporary.
It had fused into soul.
Loque slumped beside her and dimmed into mist.
"May the stars remember you," the cleric whispered.
Inside Nyxia's Head
Nyxia floated in the space between breath and oblivion.
She heard Loque—not a growl, but words.
"You live because I choose it. My heart is yours. Carry me in your blood now."
A tear slipped down her cheek.
Hours passed.
The pools shimmered.
Loque'nahak rose from the water with a growl. His form was glowing again—raw with spirit energy. He padded forward.
He sniffed Nyxia. Nudged her. Laid across her legs protectively.
Next, Perseus. No response.
Loque huffed, then pressed a paw to his chest and pushed. Perseus groaned.
Alive.
Then Boo.
She was still.
Loque licked her hair and sat beside her with a low croon.
Then he turned to the center of the three.
And watched.
"Mine," his body said. "Pack. Mine."
Time slowed.
Then—
A gasp.
A splash.
Boo surfaced from the pool, breath ragged.
No pain. No blood.
She ran her hands over her skin. Whole. Smooth.
"…It worked."
Loque rushed to her. She buried her face in his mane.
"You stubborn, beautiful bastard… you saved me."
He chuffed like he'd been saying that all along.
She sat by Nyxia's pool.
Waited.
Then—
Nyxia stirred.
Her eyes opened.
Her body remembered.
Loque glowed beside her.
"A gift," his voice echoed. "You carry me now, even when I fade."
Nyxia touched her ears. Her tail.
Her breath caught.
Boo leaned over.
"You look like you got run over by a kodo… but you're beautiful."
Nyxia smiled faintly. "You too."
"We lived?"
"Barely."
They looked toward Perseus.
Still unmoving.
Until—
He gasped.
Boo and Nyxia caught him before he slipped back under.
His eyes focused slowly.
"Nyxia?" "Boo?"
Nyxia pressed her forehead to his.
Boo's voice cracked with emotion.
"You absolute idiot. We weren't done with you yet."
Loque sat back and watched.
His family was waking.