A RING FOR AN END

Asimil's world was a symphony of pain. He lay on the ground, the stump of his left arm a nest of emptiness and pain. His vision was fading, and through a veil of agony, he saw the end of everything. He saw Luce, the tireless fighter, finally being overwhelmed by a wave of Void beasts. He saw Lyra erect a last barrier of light, cracking under the relentless assault. And he saw the exact moment when Sacres' hammer finally stopped, and the great warrior was engulfed by darkness.

They had lost.

— Assimil... Asimil, look at me! — A voice brought him out of his stupor. Noelia knelt beside him, her face a mask of despair and terror. She created a dome of ice around him, a fragile bubble of safety in the midst of hell.

— Hold on... please hold on — she sobbed, her hands shaking as she tried to stop the "bleeding" from her wounds.

He smiled, a broken and bloody grimace. — I guess... this is the end of the road, huh? —

— Don't say that! — She screamed, the tears she had held back so long now flowing freely down her cheeks. — Don't you dare leave me, not now! —

He, with his one arm, gestured awkwardly toward his inventory. A small velvet box materialized in his hand. With an effort that cost him the world, he opened it. Inside, the two rings glowed with a soft, defiant light.

He took the rose gold ring with the heart-shaped ruby. — Noelia... — he gasped, every word was a struggle — If... if somehow we get out of this... if there is an "after".... — He looked into her eyes, his gaze full of all the unconfessed love, of all the broken hopes.

— Marry... me. — It was a white lie in the midst of the apocalypse. A promise of a future they both knew would never come.

She let out a soul-splitting sob and nodded frantically, unable to speak. He tried to put the ring on her, but her fingers were trembling too much. With heartbreaking tenderness, she took his hand and guided the ring onto her own finger. It fit perfectly.

— How touching — a cold, mocking voice shattered the moment. The ice dome cracked and vanished. — They almost made me cry. — Spectro stood in front of them, watching them with sadistic interest. He ignored Asimil and focused on Noelia. With a casual motion, he struck her in the temple with the hilt of his energy sword. She collapsed, unconscious, onto Asimil's chest.

Panic, colder and sharper than any wound, seized Asimil.

— NO! PLEASE, NOT HER! —  he begged, trying to crawl away, he wanted to protect her with his broken body. — KILL ME! TAKE MY POWER, TAKE ALL YOU WANT, BUT LEAVE HER ALONE! —

In the distance, Luce and Lyra, caught in their own desperate struggle, could only watch in horror, their screams drowned out by the din of battle.

Spectro savored Asimil's despair like a fine wine. He bent down and grabbed the unconscious Noelia by the collar of her armor, lifting her as if she weighed nothing.

— I want you to see this, receptacle — he whispered, her voice a poison. — I want you to understand, in your last moment, that your love, your hope, your pathetic sacrifice... mean absolutely nothing —

He looked directly into Asimil's pleading eyes. He ignored his cries. Ignored his pleas.And with terrifying calm, a blade of dark energy burst from his free hand and, without hesitation, pierced Noelia's chest.

Her eyes snapped open for an instant, one last spark of surprise and pain, before going empty forever. Spectro held her for a second longer, making sure Asimil saw the life fade from her face.

Then, he dropped it.

Noelia's body fell to the ground next to Asimil with a thud. The ruby ring on her finger glowed one last time, a red heart beating in a sea of data that was beginning to dissolve.

Asimil's world stopped. The sound, the color, the pain... everything disappeared. There was only her. Her pale face. Her empty eyes. The smoking hole in her chest.

A sound escaped his lips. It was not a scream. It was something worse. A low, animalistic whimper, the sound of a soul breaking beyond repair.

And in that silence, something dark and ancient awoke.