The prison wasn't made of bars.
It was made of silence.
The kind of silence that wraps around the soul, crushing thought, memory, even name.
Mirex had been buried in that silence for eons.
But silence doesn't mean stillness.
It means waiting.
And now, something had cracked. A thread pulled loose in the tapestry of realms. The Void's death had been the catalyst. But it was Lina's ascension that broke the lock.
Andra felt it first.
A tremor in the flames of their bedchamber. A pull in the bond etched across his chest. Like something was breathing beneath the world—something that shouldn't.
He turned to Lina, but she was already standing at the balcony, crown glowing, hair moving in wind that didn't exist.
"It's time," she whispered.
—
They descended into the Abyss that night. Not the one they ruled. Not the one carved by demon kings or mortal sin. But the original Abyss. The one sealed under every realm. The one where gods went to die.
No entourage. No guards.
Only fire, shadow, and purpose.
The deeper they went, the colder it became. Not physically—but spiritually. Like something was draining them. Testing them. Stripping away everything that wasn't truth.
And at the final gate, carved in bone and stitched with runes made from screams—
Lina saw him.
Mirex.
He wasn't what she expected.
He didn't look monstrous.
He looked human.
Beautiful. Ageless. Wretched.
Eyes like galaxies collapsing. Skin so pale it reflected flame. And when he smiled, it wasn't malice. It was recognition.
"My daughter," he said. "You wear my throne well."
Andra stepped between them instantly, sword drawn, aura snapping with rage. "She's not yours."
Mirex didn't flinch. "Oh, I know. She belongs to you. I can smell it."
He inhaled deeply. "Love. That old, sweet poison."
Lina's voice was like steel grinding against bone. "Why did they seal you here?"
He stepped closer to the edge of his prison. "Because I wanted to change Hell. Like you did. But I refused to share it. I refused to love."
He looked between them, gaze burning.
"And that is your greatest weakness."
—
He lunged.
Even bound, even half-alive, Mirex was faster than thought. Chains screamed, runes shattered. Andra threw himself forward, blade meeting claw. Sparks flew. Shadows howled.
Lina burned.
Not out of rage.
Out of purpose.
The fire she summoned wasn't her own anymore—it was theirs. It bled with Andra's devotion, his fury, his strength. She reached inside herself and drew the bond forward like a sword.
And drove it through Mirex's chest.
He froze.
Eyes wide. Mouth open.
He looked down, saw the golden fire coiling through the wound. And for one heartbeat, he laughed.
"I see," he whispered. "You didn't just choose each other. You became each other."
And then, the fire took him.
And Hell shook.
—
They barely made it out before the prison collapsed in on itself, sealing once more, but this time, not with silence—
With fire.