Chapter 1
The world around Regina was fire and blood. Smoke billowed from the torched fields, curling into the storm-filled sky. The clamor of steel clashing against steel was deafening, but Regina could still hear the screams—some filled with defiance, others with agony. Every breath she took tasted of ash and iron, but she pressed forward, her sword cutting through the mass of enemies with practiced precision.
“Regina!” Emma’s voice rang out from behind her.
Regina turned just in time to see her lover cut down two soldiers in one fluid motion, her golden hair whipping around her face like sunlight caught in a storm. Even now, in the heart of battle, Emma was breathtaking.
“Stay close!” Regina shouted, parrying a blade aimed for her neck.
“You think I need protecting?” Emma called back, a grin tugging at her lips despite the blood streaking her cheek.
Their connection was unbreakable. Even as chaos raged around them, Regina felt it like a tether, grounding her in the storm. She and Emma moved as one, cutting through the enemy ranks like wolves among sheep.
But this wasn’t a battle they were meant to win.
Regina felt it before she saw it—the heavy, oppressive presence that made the air grow colder despite the fires burning all around them. The sky darkened further, as though the sun itself were retreating in fear.
“Emma,” Regina whispered, her grip tightening on her sword. “It’s here.”
The shadow brute stepped through the carnage, its massive form cloaked in swirling darkness. Eyes like embers burned within its faceless head, and every step it took sent tremors through the earth. Soldiers on both sides fled in terror, leaving only Regina and Emma standing in its path.
“We can take it,” Emma said, though Regina heard the strain in her voice.
“Not alone,” Regina replied.
The brute moved with horrifying speed for something so large. Its shadowy limbs lashed out like whips, forcing Regina and Emma to dodge in opposite directions. Regina’s heart clenched as she lost sight of Emma in the chaos.
“Emma!” she shouted, her voice nearly drowned out by the creature’s deafening roar.
“I’m fine!” Emma called back, appearing on the brute’s flank. She drove her blade into its side, but the weapon passed through the shadows harmlessly. “Regina, it’s not solid!”
Regina cursed under her breath, searching for a weakness. The brute turned on Emma, swatting her away like a rag doll. She hit the ground hard, her cry of pain cutting through Regina like a blade.
“No!” Regina ran to her, dropping to her knees at Emma’s side.
Blood stained the ground beneath her, pooling around Emma’s battered armor. Her golden hair was matted with it, her face pale and slick with sweat.
“Reg…” Emma’s voice was barely a whisper. She reached up, her hand trembling, and Regina caught it, pressing it to her cheek.
“Stay with me,” Regina begged, her voice breaking. “Please, Emma. I can’t do this without you.”
“You have to…” Emma’s eyes fluttered, and her grip on Regina’s hand weakened. “Promise me you’ll keep fighting.”
Regina shook her head, tears streaming down her face. “Not without you. Never without you.”
Emma’s hand fell limp.
The world seemed to stop. The sounds of battle faded, replaced by a deafening silence. Regina felt something inside her shatter, a grief so profound it turned to rage.
“No!” she screamed, her voice echoing across the battlefield.
A blinding light erupted from her, so intense it seared the ground and turned the brute’s shadowy form to ash. The blast expanded outward, consuming everything in its path. The last thing Regina saw before the light overtook her was Emma’s lifeless face.