The door opens into nothing.
No light.
No sound.
No warmth.
The Heart of Nox is exactly what Freyr promised——-a place stripped of life, of hope, of anything resembling a future.
Just cold, endless dark.
I step through it like I'm sleepwalking, each step heavy, each breath shallow.
Freyr walks ahead, satisfied, humming to himself like this is a victory.
Maybe for him, it is.
I don't feel anything.
That's a lie.
I feel the hollow space where the bond used to burn inside me
The ache is sharp, suffocating.
Like a limb torn from the body, still aching even after it's gone.
I told myself I didn't need it.
I told myself I didn't need him.
But the silence it left behind is louder than any scream.
Freyr stops at the center of the chamber——-a platform of ancient stone etched with symbols I don't recognize, glowing faintly beneath his feet.
"This is where it begins," he says softly, spreading his arms like a king welcoming me to his empty throne. "Your final purpose, Sarah. You're free now."
I swallow hard, the words tasting like ash.
Free.
Is that what this is?
Then why do I feel more trapped than ever?
I don't speak.
I don't fight.
I follow him deeper into the dark, my steps echoing like hollow promises on the cold stone.
But in the quiet, when even Freyr falls silent...
I reach for the bond.
I search for it.
And feel…..nothing.
The emptiness claws at my ribs, tightens around my throat.
And for the first time since stepping into Nox.
I'm afraid.
Not of Freyr.
Not of the realm.
But of the choice I made.
And the boy I might have just lost forever.
**********
Justin's POV
The mortal realm feels wrong.
It's the same streets.
The same sky.
The same suffocating smallness.
But everything feels off.
The colors are duller.
The sounds are muted.
Even the air feels thinner——-like the world is holding it's breath, waiting for something that will never come.
I tell myself it's the bond.
That I should feel free now.
But I don't.
I feel…..hollow.
Like the part of me that mattered got left behind in Nox, still bleeding in the dark beside her.
I slam the door to my house, pacing the empty rooms, pretending I don't see her ghost everywhere.
The couch where she sat, arms crossed, pretending she wasn't watching me.
The kitchen where she argued about things that don't matter anymore.
The porch where she used to stand too close, pretending she didn't notice.
I scrub a hand over my face, forcing the memories down.
Forcing her down.
But she doesn't stay buried.
I press my hand to my chest, waiting for something——-anything.
There's nothing.
The bond is gone.
And the part of me that could feel anything through it…..feels like it died with it.
The worst part is…..I told her to let me go.
But now that she has...
I don't know how to live with it.
The house feels colder than it should.
I move through it like a ghost, the walls pressing in, the memories still bleeding into places I don't want them.
Natalia finds me in the hall, arms crossed, irritation flickering in her eyes.
"Where have you been, Justin?"
No warmth. No concern.
Just frustration.
I don't answer.
"What, no clever excuse this time?" She pushes, stepping into my space. "You disappear for days and come back looking like someone dragged you through hell——and you expect me not to notice?"
I push past her, but she follows, her voice sharp, biting.
"Don't think I don't see it. You're hiding something."
She's right.
But it's not a truth I can give her.
"Go back to whatever mess you were making, Nat," I snap. "It doesn't concern you."
She stares at me, the disgust curling on her lips.
"No, but it does us." I turn around, our parents sitting in the study.
They don't ask where I've been.
They never do.
My mother studies me over the rim of her glass, her smile thin, approving.
"You look…..different," she says softly. "Focused."
I don't answer.
But that seems to please her more.
My father doesn't speak at all.
Just watches.
Natalia just huffs in frustration and storms off.
They think I've finally seen things their way.
They think I've come back broken into the shape they carved for me.
Let them.
I let them think it.
Because I'm too tired to explain that the only thing that's broken is me.
And she's the one who did it.
********
Freyr's POV
She follows me like the good little pawn she was always meant to be.
Silent.
Empty.
Exactly how I want her.
The bond is gone.
I made sure of it.
And yet…..the realm hums beneath her step in a way I don't like.
Subtle.
Distant.
A thread of something I refuse to give life.
I ignore it.
She's mine now.
She walks with hollowed eyes and brittle steps, a creature stripped of ties, of weakness, of the boy who thought he could keep her.
Perfect.
I lead her deeper into the Heart of Nox, into the place no one returns from unchanged.
She doesn't ask questions.
She doesn't look back.
Good.
But still…..the realm whispers to me in voices I do not welcome.
Faint.
Soft.
Like something old is watching.
The bond is dead.
And yet....
The girl still carries its ghost like a scar beneath her skin.
I see it in the way she reaches for something in the dark when she thinks I'm not watching.
Foolish.
I smother the irritation before it can bleed into my voice.
"She's broken," I murmur to the shadows. "That's all that matters."
But the realm….
I let the shadows curl tighter around her, masking the crack I pretend isn't there.
I have what I want.
And soon…..
She'll believe it too.