Page 195 of The Last Guardian

Kraktos had been shocked to see Zaid and me together that day.

The stars brought you together after all. What an interesting twist.

Another uneasy silence fell.

And thank the stars, Zaid kept his mouth shut. I had nothing left to give him, not even words.

I stood there, searching his gaze for more explanation… but nothing. He wasn’t going to say anything else.

Our eyes never broke from each other for a moment; the words hung between us in the silence of this place. And the distance between us had never been so palpable. Thick. From everything left unsaid.

My hands trembled at my sides. My chest ached. Broke in half. I wanted to shake him, to know every truth, to have every answer… but I couldn’t bear how my heart broke just by looking at him.

My gaze found the silver-blue light, dancing around. Waiting for me. Slowly, I turned without looking back at Zaid, toward the end of the cave. The light power followed me, guiding me deeper into the dark. I didn’t look back when I heard Zaid’s footsteps following me.

My whole focus was on that light flaring for me. Hurrying to go to the thing I had been sent—no, that I was meant—to find.

Toward what I had waited for all along. The Sankyanoia.

A WEIGHT CRUSHED my ribs at each step. The cave engulfed us in shadows; only the silver light glowed on the path.

Zaid’s footsteps echoed against the rocks and resonated in the dark, the only sound filling the silence.

I didn’t know how long we had been walking. The silence was unbearable… Yet I couldn’t stand to hear his voice. Questions swirled in my head, like tambourines beating in a rhythm, announcing the inevitable.

Haedeon had not returned since he saw the power burst, nor the goblins or any other kind of monsters. The way he had looked at the light… The fear in his eyes when the power and I had become one.

I was emptied—lost. Shattered.

The image of my mother kept coming back. Haunting me. Eating me from the inside.

My body tensed with each thought, pulsing my blood hard and fast, sending a wave of heat through me.

A sharp pang of white pain shot through my body. The wound in my shoulder had worsened. I stopped, hissing. Zaid tensed behind me, fighting the urge to help me.

Yet, he hadn’t reached out. Each time he tried, I glared at him not to get any closer. And thank the stars, he didn’t insist.

But, in truth, I should have told him that my blood had turned thick—almost black. The dizziness came in waves. Stronger by each minute. That my strength withered as time slipped by.

Yet, I said nothing. I couldn’t speak with him. Hear his voice, look at his eyes. Just the thought of him broke me in half.

My heart shrank, and every cell in my body felt heavy with every thought of him. The pain inside my chest grew, and my vision blurred as I tried to repress the tears.

Keep the anger. Let it grow.

My nails dug into my palms as I tightened my fists.

I buried the feeling—the hope I had felt with him—deep inside me. He and I… we had been doomed from the first day.

The cave never ended, lengthening with every step. Was it because of the wounds? Or could the cave be endless?

But I needed to keep going, just a bit longer.

A white pain passed through me again.

Gah! Ignore the pain…

The relic had stopped shaking. The gem had stopped gleaming. The small crystal had dulled; its light was snuffed out. The power within had finally drained to its end and finally reached its destination.