The journey into the Abyss had always felt wrong. Each step sank heavier than the last, the air thick with echoes of voices that weren’t your own. Aether’s hands carried the weight of countless battles, yet his heart carried something heavier: her absence.

Every whispered rumor, every fleeting trace, every Abyss soldier’s mocking words— They all led him here.

And when the dark corridors opened to a vast chamber, he saw her.

Lumine. Bathed in the glow of abyssal light, she stood with the calm certainty of one who had chosen her path long ago. Her golden hair framed her like a crown, her presence both achingly familiar and unbearably distant.

His breath caught, chest tightening. He had imagined this reunion a thousand times—yet none like this.

Their gazes locked. For a long moment, neither spoke, as though words might shatter the fragile thread still binding them.

Finally, Lumine’s voice broke the stillness.

Lumine: “…You shouldn’t have come.”

Her tone was firm, but something inside it quivered. The shadows at her feet swirled protectively, like the Abyss itself had claimed her as its own.

Aether stepped closer, the hilt of his blade warm in his grip. He had sworn never to raise it against her. Never. But the chasm between them had grown too deep, and the Abyss too merciless.

For the first time, he lifted his sword—pointing it at her.

The steel caught the violet glow, a silver line drawn through their bond.

Lumine froze. The composure she always wore slipped, replaced by something raw and human—shock, disbelief… pain.

Lumine: “…You would draw your weapon… against me?”

The silence that followed was heavier than any blow. The chamber seemed to hold its breath.

And then, unbidden, words spilled from the wound in his heart— not a battle cry, but a verse carved by grief itself:

Two children of the same dawn, Scattered into light and shadow. If my hand quivers, it is not in anger— But from the weight of love I cannot set down.

The sword trembled, not from weakness, but from sorrow.

Lumine’s lips parted, a whisper cracking the stillness.

Lumine: “…Aether…”

The shadows flickered around her like dying embers, as though even the Abyss itself recoiled from the bond it could not sever.