They reached the frozen city.
It was worse in person.
Everyone trapped mid-movement.
Time stopped.
Fear preserved.
Lyra touched one crystal statue.
Her power reacted.
"They're alive," she whispered.
Kael clenched his fists.
"Then we fix this."
Rylan asked:
"Who does this?"
A voice answered from above:
"I do."
A man descended floating.
White armor.
Black halo.
Terrifying calm.
"My name is Seraph Varyn."
"And you are exactly what I've been searching for."
He bowed slightly.
"Welcome, Lyra. Future destroyer of worlds."
Seraph Varyn did not attack.
He evaluated.
Studied.
"You contain opposing forces," he said.
"That imbalance will eventually destroy reality."
Lyra answered:
"Then help me control it."
He shook his head.
"Balance cannot exist. Only dominance."
Kael whispered:
"I already hate this guy."
Rylan agreed:
"Same."
The stranger asked the real question:
"What do you want?"
Seraph answered calmly:
"To eliminate the risk."
He pointed at Lyra.
"Which means eliminating you."
Seraph attacked.
His power was terrifyingly precise.
Light blades that cut reality itself.
Lyra struggled.
Even with her evolution.
"He's stronger than the Guild leader," she realized.
Kael got injured protecting her again.
Rylan nearly lost an arm.
The stranger used his forbidden pact again.
Lyra screamed:
"Stop sacrificing yourselves!"
Kael answered:
"Too late for that."
Seraph revealed his true form.
Six wings of fractured light.