Chapter 19:

Victor remained on his knees, the silence of the ruined courtyard pressing down on him like a physical weight. The air was still, the aftermath of the battle hanging heavy with a sense of finality. The fortress that had once stood as a symbol of Eira's power was now nothing more than a shattered memory, its walls reduced to rubble and its halls filled with the echoes of what had transpired.

For a long time, Victor didn’t move. The loss he felt was deeper than anything he had ever known, a void that threatened to swallow him whole. Eira was gone—truly gone this time—and with her, the last remnants of the life they had once shared. The darkness she had embraced had taken everything, leaving Victor alone in the wreckage of their world.

But even as the despair threatened to overwhelm him, a small part of Victor refused to give in. He had fought too hard, lost too much, to allow himself to be consumed by the same darkness that had claimed Eira. Slowly, painfully, he forced himself to stand