Dawn breathed icy fire across the valley as dawn-torches flared. The expeditionary force–the Crimson Alliance–assembled under the blood-red sky. Vampires in dark cloaks stood beside scarred werebeasts and hooded warlocks. Mary, atop a rise overlooking the camp, surveyed them. Each banner bore a sigil of broken fang, signifying more than unity–it was a pact between predator, outcast, and mage.
Lela stood next to her, spear sheathed at her back. "You sure they'll follow?" she asked, voice raw with the tension of command.
Mary met her gaze. "Fear makes followers. But if there's hope, they'll fight."
"Fear is no substitute for loyalty," Lela said softly.
"Yet both are born from a choice," Mary replied. "We'll give them a reason to stand."
Loosie joined them, weighing two knives. "Let's hope that reason isn't 'Mom's got a power spike.' I like my mom alive."
Mary offered a small, grim smile. "Then we go together."
The march began. Columns of creatures winded through the valley floor, blending terror into the morning mist. Vampires led, their lights reflected off armor and weapons. Werebeasts stalked flanks like living shields. Warlocks trailed, ready to weave elemental wards and illusions. Each footstep carried purpose: reach Elarith before the Aether Vault, and stop the Sovereign from completing the Shadow Crucible.
Mary rode at the front, astride a spectral steed bound in moonlight. The Mist Blade hung at her side, whispers of its double arcs flickering through the dawn haze.
"Report," she called to Loosie, who rode beside her in greeted armor.
"We passed the Ruins of Havenwood. No sign of cultists. But the land… it's sick. Trees shuddering as if in fever. Magic's off–skills fall flat." Loosie's voice echoed with dread.
Mary narrowed her gaze. "He's ahead of us. The Sovereign's influence is already bleeding the wards."
They moved into the forest. Here the air tasted of ash and decay. Light fractured through sick trees. Beneath it, cultists ambushed them. Wraith-like. Eyes hidden by ritual marks. Screams burst into the air as warlocks confronted them–metal barriers snapped, beasts went silent, vampires closed distance.
Mary leapt from her steed, landing at the heart of the clash. She drew the Mist Blade, unleashing its secret phantom arcs in a single breath:
Mist Blade!
Three phantom slashes streaked through earth and spirit, severing limbs and summoning shrieks of shattered illusions. The ground trembled and the ambush shattered.
Lela charged, slicing through two blood-blessed cultists. Loosie dispatched another with twin knives across the neck.
Mary's voice rang, "Form up! Advance!"
The Crimson Alliance surged forward. Warlocks raised wards; werebeasts lashed into snarled charges; vampires closed with silent acumen. The cultists fought, drawing blood and terror, but not halt the force.
They reached the forest edge. Ash-grey mountains sprawled ahead at horizon's edge. Crumbling spires of Elarith pierced the skyline—ruins of the Aether Vault. Mary's heart pounded.
"We rest," she commanded. "Tonight we break into the Vault–tonight we stop the final piece."
That night they made camp on broken stone. Guards stood watch, wards glowed feebly, beasts circled, warlocks murmured old protections. Mary studied the map etched in her mind, each contour a memory of prophecy.
Lela approached, handing Mary a cup of spiced wine. "For focus," she said.
Mary accepted it. "I owe you."
"Would you be at peace if I didn't do this?"
Mary looked into her eyes. "No. I wouldn't be at peace if any of us died trying."
Lela nodded and vanished into her tent.
Loosie came next, leaning on her shoulder.
"You don't have to carry this alone."
"I know," Mary whispered. "But I will."
Loosie squeezed her arm. "Then carry me too."
Mary hugged her, feeling warmth in a frozen world.
They woke beside the grey dawn. Lela and Mary prepared for battle. Loosie's warded knife glinted at her hip.
At the Aether Vault's gate they paused. Carvings of dragons, runic serpents, and shattered stars covered its pillars. The obsidian entrance sealed with a pulse in three sigils—fang, flame, and star.
Mary placed her hand on the fang. The sigil flared white. She spoke:
"One for blood, one for sacrifice, one for final light."
The sigils glowed. The gate rumbled. Dust fell. It opened.
A chill sigh escaped within.
They entered.
Elarith Vault: vast hall of suspended crystals and collapsed platforms. Ley lines arced overhead like broken lightning. Walls carved into faded constellations. The Crucible site lay at the center: a frozen altar of glass and bone; a blackifice mirror atop it.
Mary stepped forward. The Codex in her palm glowed bright.
Then a rumble. The cult returned—led by Dread-Shield, the Sovereign's Herald. Cloaked in black, eyes burning red.
He raised the Herald-Coil, a twisted rod that crackled with stolen energy. "Mistborn queen," he jeered. "Your alliance is beautiful… but brittle."
Lela roared: "For every drop of alliance blood, we'll drown you in truth!"
Loosie leapt forward.
Mary gazed at the black mirror. It shimmered with dark promise.
Then she spoke.
"By blood, by blade, by binding word… I sever the Shadow Crucible!"
She pressed the full Codex to the altar. Runes flared. Ley lines screamed. His crucible shattered into dust. The room bathed in mirrored light.
The Herald screamed. Magic clashed. Alliance fought cultists tooth and claw. The spell reversed—cultists evaporated. Ley lines pulsed golden.
Then silence.
Mary stood in the center, Codex burning in hand. The black mirror cracked down its center, light pouring from its fracture.
But the Herald remained—scowling.
"You wrecked the Crucible—but not me."
Mary stepped forward. "Then end it."
He lunged.
This time Mary responded with the Saber's final secret: "O' Sun, Abide to Death."
Her blade erupted into blinding divine light. Its beam cleaved space, unmaking reality around the Herald.
He faltered—his scream echoing across the ley lines.
Mary advanced.
He fell.
Light.
Silence.
She knelt before the broken mirror. The shards reflected nothing now—no past, no future. Just the cold stone hall.
Lela crouched beside her. "It's done?"
Mary pressed her palm to the shattered mirror shards.
"I think… it's begun."
Loosie placed a hand over Mary's. "Then we stand with the future."
They rose.
The Vault doors swung open, revealing a silver sunrise over a world ready to heal.