[Alvar’s POV—Towards the Raventon Forest]

GALLOP—! GALLOP—! GALLOP—!

The earth thundered beneath the hooves.

My horse charged across the frozen plains like the wind itself feared to slow me. Cloak whipping behind me, heartbeat matching the pounding hooves—louder, faster, desperate .

Haldor and Roland raced behind, struggling to keep up.

The only thought in my skull:

The Spirit Goddesses. I have to reach them. I have to bring them to my Leif. I have to wake him.

"MY LORD—!! WAIT—!!" Roland shouted over the wind.

I didn’t stop.

I didn’t even look back.

"I won’t WAIT, ROLAND—!" I roared, voice cracking with fury and fear. "Not when every second is breaking his soul—! Not when I can still SAVE HIM—!"

My horse pushed harder—breath ragged, hooves ripping clods of snow and dirt from the ground.

I would ride the world into dust if it meant reaching Leif.

Haldor called out, voice strained — "MY LORD— THIS IS MADNESS, YOU CAN’T—"

"I CAN AND I WILL—!!" I snapped. "I WILL GET LEIF BACK — EVEN IF IT DESTROYS ME."

But then —

"MY LORD!!! ZEPHYY IS CARRYING SOMEONE!!!"

Haldor’s voice ripped through the air.

I pulled the reins. The horse reared—snow exploding around us as I forced it to stop.

"Zephyy...?"

My eyes lifted—and a massive shadow swallowed the plains.

Not clouds.

Wings. A DRAGON.

A blue dragon—wings wide like a storm, scales reflecting the sun—Zephyy’s true form.

And on his back—a figure, the second Prince Caelum.

And then I saw...golden hair whipping violently in the wind, white cloth tangled around their body—and they were furious .

Because Zephyy wasn’t flying alone.

He was gripping someone in his talons—not to kill, but to carry—like someone who refused to come willingly.

"PUT ME DOWN YOU—YOU STUPID LIZARD—!!!" the figure screeched. "HOW DARE YOU KIDNAP ME?!! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?! I AM NOT SOME CHICKEN YOU CAN JUST PICK UP—!!!"

Their voice echoed from the heavens.

Roland stared in disbelief. "Is... is that— a person screaming death threats while being carried upside-down by a dragon?"

Haldor answered in a whisper of awe and dread—"That’s not a person, Roland. That’s divine."

Of course.

An angel sat on Zephyy’s back—Caelum. And Zephyy carried someone wrapped in pure spirit cloth —glowing faintly, resisting wildly.

No mortal would shine like that.

No mortal would be dragged through the sky by a dragon. Roland swallowed hard. "My lord... I think... that’s a Spirit Goddess."

My breath hitched.

The world had been tearing itself apart to keep me from reaching her—and yet here she was—delivered by fate to my doorstep.

I didn’t think.

I didn’t question.

I didn’t fear.

I turned my horse around so hard snow sprayed like a storm.

"BACK TO THORENVALD — NOW!"I shouted, voice shaking with hope and terror."I HAVE TO REACH HIM — BEFORE LEIF WAKES!"

I dug my heels into the horse—and we raced back toward the estate faster than we left.

Haldor and Roland didn’t question. Didn’t hesitate. They just followed because they knew:

Fate had thrown us a thread. And if I didn’t seize it now — I would lose Leif.

The wind howled. The earth thundered. The distance collapsed beneath us. And for the first time since my husband fell bleeding in my arms— Hope hurt more than despair.

Because if the Spirit Goddess truly arrived... I now had one chance to save Leif.

And one chance to lose him forever.

***

[Caelum’s POV—Deep Inside the Raventon Spirit Sanctuary—Moments Earlier]

The Spirit Sanctuary was not a forest.

It was a living maze.

Roots twisted like ribs, branches curled like claws, and the air smelled of moonlight and forgotten prayers. Every step was a test—every breath, a threat. The deeper I walked, the less the world felt mortal.

Yet I kept walking. Because time was slipping through Leif’s soul like sand—and my king had only hours left.

Zephyy walked beside me in small cat form—silent for once. Even he felt the weight of this place. When we reached the center of the sanctuary, the air cracked open with light—and reality folded.

She appeared.

Not walking.

Not emerging.

Simply existing —as if the world reshaped itself around her.

Golden hair poured like water. Eyes ancient and glowing violet. Skin shimmering with runes older than time. She didn’t look like a goddess.

She looked like a warning.

And she spoke before I could.

"Turn back, angel." Her voice wasn’t loud—yet it echoed inside my skull.

I took a step forward anyway. "My king is dying. We need your help."

She looked at me... with the softness one might show a dying animal—pity, not compassion.

"The fate of mortals is not my concern."

Her refusal didn’t surprise me—but it ignited something savage inside my chest. "You are a goddess of SPIRIT. A shattered soul is under your domain."

Her expression didn’t change. "Fate is my domain. Whether a soul lives or breaks is not your decision, nor mine."

Something inside me snapped—but I swallowed the rage like poison. "I am not begging for myself. I am begging for him. He is—"

She tilted her head with amusement, her voice low and merciless: " Then you should prepare his funeral. Not my involvement."

My wings flared—involuntary—a surge of raw divinity forcing the air to tremble. "I won’t let him die."

She smiled—the way storms smile before killing sailors. "You can want. You can love. But you cannot change fate."

She turned away.

Dismissed me.

Dismissed, Leif.

Dismissed the Seraph bearer. Dismissed the king who once sacrificed for the world even when the world hurt him.

My hands shook.

"Stop," I said—but the command was not mortal. "You have to save him."

Feathers fell from my wings—glowing, burning—marking the rise of angelic wrath.

She didn’t look back. "Do not follow me, Angel. You will die and take that lizard from here."

I didn’t flinch. "Death is not what I fear."

She paused. That silence told me everything: she finally realized I would not break. So she spoke slowly—cruelly—"If you are willing to trade your wings for his... I might listen."

Zephyy hissed beside me, fur standing, "This spirit goddess is annoying."

"Shut up, Dragon... At least I am not like you. I will not be anyone’s slave...whether it’s a seraph bearer."

So...she knows Lief is a Seraph Bearer, and yet...she refuses.

I moved forward, but before that---

"NO"—Zephyy’s voice echoed through my mind—"SHE’LL KILL YOU. SHE WON’T HELP MASTER AFTER."

I already knew.

A goddess who demanded sacrifice didn’t intend to save anyone. She only wanted obedience. So I laughed—bitterly and trembling.

"You think I wouldn’t sacrifice my wings for him?"

Her smile vanished.

She finally understood the angel standing before her was not bluffing. I would bleed, kneel, and burn—anything for my king.

And that made me dangerous.

She raised her hand—light shaping into chains—preparing to bind me. Not to accept my sacrifice—but to stop me from trying.

Zephyy reacted first, "I guess I have no choice then."

His tiny form exploded into scales, claws, and fangs—a massive sapphire dragon roaring between me and the goddess.

The sanctuary shook.

A shockwave split the ground. The goddess stepped back.

Zephyy didn’t hesitate—not for permission, not for fear.

He grabbed her. In his talons. Wrapped in divine cloth so she couldn’t cast.

She shrieked—outraged, furious—"You dare—YOU DARE TOUCH ME—! I AM A GODDESS—!!! I AM THE SPIRIT GODDESS!!! HOW DARE—"

Zephyy snarled, wings ripping open the sky —" I DARE FOR MY MASTER."

The ground fractured under the force of takeoff—and we launched into the sky, the sanctuary exploding behind us in blasts of broken magic.

The goddess thrashed—kicking, cursing, and screaming death threats in a voice that cracked reality.

"PUT ME DOWN, YOU INFERIOR BEAST! I WILL UNMAKE YOUR EXISTENCE—!!"

Zephyy roared back— "SHUT UP OR I’LL DROP YOU INTO A LAKE."

I climbed onto Zephyy’s back mid-air—wings folding against the screaming wind.

Below us, the world turned into a blur of mountains and clouds. Above us, the sky shook with divine rage. The goddess thrashed in Zephyy’s talons, eyes blazing violet, magic crackling violently around her.

"LET! ME! GO! THIS INSTANT!!!" She shrieked, her voice splitting the sky."I WILL MAKE YOU VANISH FROM THIS WORLD!!! I WILL CRUMBLE YOUR SOUL TO DUST!!!"

Zephyy’s roar shook the air—savage and thunderous.

"YOU CANNOT. NO GODDESS CAN HARM A DIVINE. ESPECIALLY NOT THE ONE DESTINED TO STAND WITH THE SERAPH-BEARER!"

His voice boomed through the clouds like judgment itself.

"SO SHUT UP—BEFORE I SHOW YOU WHAT REAL SOUL-SHAKING FEELS LIKE!"

The goddess froze.

Not because she feared him—but because she suddenly understood.

This kidnapping... wasn’t rebellion.It wasn’t treason.It wasn’t arrogance.

It was love.

Love—fierce enough to defy gods.Love—violent enough to tear through destiny.Love—loyal enough to steal a deity from the heavens if that was the price.

I smirked — not cruelly, but with the certainty of someone who finally understood what he was willing to burn for.

No divine can harm another divine. And no divine can stop the one who was destined to stand beside the Seraph King.

The wind whipped past my face, my wings closing tight, my soul igniting with a single truth:

We would reach him. Before fate could take him.

I leaned into the rushing storm—into the direction of home—and whispered into the sky, not for her, not for Zephyy, but for the man lying in our bed, fading one heartbeat at a time:

"Wait for me, my king." My voice shook—but my conviction didn’t. "We’re coming."

For a heartbeat, the entire sky stilled—as if the world itself had heard the vow.

And then Zephyy dove — toward Thorenvald.Toward battle.Toward fate.

Toward Leif.