Emma punched the air and reality cracked like glass.
"I choose to fight," she declared, silver light pouring from her fists.
The Necro-Sovereign lunged at her with claws made of shadow, but Emma was ready. She grabbed the nearest consud soul - a knight who’d been eaten centuries ago - and threw him between them.
Instantly, the knight blazed back to life.
"My sword!" he shouted, swinging a weapon made of pure light at the Necro-Sovereign.
Emma grinned fiercely. She’d figured out her new power. She could bring souls back to fighting strength in seconds, even in the middle of battle.
"Everyone who wants revenge," she called to the consud souls, "line up behind !"
Thousands answered her call. Warriors, mothers, children, teachers - everyone the Necro-Sovereign had ever hurt. Emma touched each one as they passed, filling them with life energy.
"This is impossible!" the Necro-Sovereign shrieked as its victims turned into an army. "They’re MY souls! I consud them!"
"You stole them," Emma corrected, bringing back a fierce woman with a spear. "But you never actually owned them. Their love, their hope, their dreams - those were always theirs."
The battle exploded across the realm of the dead.
Emma’s army fought with weapons made of mories and shields built from love. Every ti one of them fell, Emma brought them right back up. The Necro-Sovereign created monsters from its dark power, but Emma’s warriors destroyed them with light.
But sothing was wrong.
Each ti Emma used her power, she felt a piece of herself disappear. Like tearing pages from a book.
"What’s happening to ?" she gasped, stumbling as she resurrected a fallen soldier.
The warrior she’d just saved looked worried. "My Queen, your light is getting dimr."
Emma looked at her hands. He was right. Her silver glow was fading to gray.
"Using power in the realm of the dead has a cost," the Necro-Sovereign laughed, even as it fought off three of Emma’s warriors. "Every soul you bring back takes a piece of your own soul as paynt!"
Emma’s heart sank. That’s what Sarah had been trying to warn her about. If she kept fighting this way, she’d burn herself out completely.
But her army was winning. The Necro-Sovereign was getting weaker with every consud soul Emma freed.
"I can do this," she told herself. "I just need to be smart about it."
Instead of bringing back fighters one at a ti, Emma raised both hands high.
"Everyone the Necro-Sovereign ever hurt," she shouted, "RISE!"
Every consud soul in the entire realm ca back to life at once.
The cost nearly destroyed her.
Emma fell to her knees, her silver light now barely a candle fla. But around her, millions of souls stood ready to fight.
"Attack!" she whispered.
The battle beca chaos. The Necro-Sovereign couldn’t fight that many enemies at once. Its dark energy began cracking like old paint.
But Emma was dying.
No, not dying. Sothing worse. She was becoming nothing. Using up her soul piece by piece until there wouldn’t be anything left of her.
"Emma!" a familiar voice called from far away.
She looked up, confused. The voice sounded like Kael, but he was frozen in the living world.
Then she saw sothing impossible.
In the distance, a crack appeared in the air. Through it, she could see the star-sand beach where her body lay. Kael was moving - slowly, like he was pushing through thick mud, but moving.
"Dad?" she whispered.
"I’m coming, sweetheart," his voice echoed across dinsions. "Hold on!"
"How are you breaking free?"
"Love doesn’t follow rules," Kael grunted, forcing one foot forward. "I’ve been your father for eighteen years. No magic is stronger than that!"
Hope filled Emma’s fading heart. But the Necro-Sovereign heard him too.
"NO!" it roared. "I won’t let the living interfere!"
The monster abandoned its fight with Emma’s army and shot toward the crack in reality. If it could close the connection between worlds, Kael would be trapped forever.
Emma tried to stand, but her legs wouldn’t work. She’d used too much of her soul. All she could do was watch as the Necro-Sovereign reached for her father.
"Sobody help him!" she scread.
Her army heard her. The millions of souls she’d freed turned as one and flew toward the crack. But they were too far away.
The Necro-Sovereign’s claws were inches from Kael’s face.
That’s when Emma made a choice that surprised everyone, including herself.
She gave the last of her soul to one specific warrior.
Not to save Kael.
To save the Necro-Sovereign.
"Stop!" she commanded her chosen fighter.
The warrior - a young man with kind eyes - grabbed the Necro-Sovereign and pulled it away from the crack.
"Why?" the monster demanded. "Why save ?"
Emma looked at it with dying eyes. "Because Sarah was right. I can see inside you now. You’re not evil. You’re just scared."
The Necro-Sovereign stopped struggling. "What?"
"You were the first person to ever die, weren’t you? The very first soul to cross over. And you were so afraid of being alone that you started consuming others to keep yourself company."
The truth hit like lightning. The Necro-Sovereign began to shake.
"I... I didn’t an for it to go so far. I just didn’t want to be alone in the dark."
"I know," Emma said gently. "But consuming people didn’t make you less lonely. It made you more lonely, because they weren’t really with you. They were trapped."
The monster’s form began to change. Instead of shadows and claws, Emma could see what it really was. A frightened soul who’d been alone for so long it had forgotten how to love.
"I can help you," Emma offered. "All these souls I freed - they can be your friends for real this ti. No more consuming. No more trapping. Just... friendship."
The Necro-Sovereign looked around at the millions of souls Emma had saved. Instead of hatred in their eyes, it saw understanding.
"We know what it’s like to be scared," one of them said.
"We all died once too," said another.
"You don’t have to be alone anymore."
The Necro-Sovereign began to cry. Not tears of shadow, but tears of light.
"I’m sorry," it whispered. "I’m so sorry."
The apology broke the last of its dark power. The realm of the dead began to heal. The cracks between worlds started closing properly. The balance between life and death slowly returned.
But Emma was fading fast.
"Dad," she called weakly to Kael, who was almost through the crack now.
"I’m here, baby girl. I’m here."
"I don’t think I can co back. I used up too much of myself."
Kael’s eyes filled with tears. "Then I’ll stay here with you."
"No! The living world needs you. And... and soone has to rember ."
Emma closed her eyes, feeling herself dissolve like smoke.
But just as she was about to disappear completely, sothing warm touched her hand.
She opened her eyes to see Sarah, sohow back and glowing brighter than ever.
"How?" Emma gasped.
Sarah smiled. "When the Necro-Sovereign said sorry and ant it, all the souls it destroyed ca back. Including !"
"But I’m still dying."
"No, you’re not." Sarah’s grin got bigger. "Rember what I said about splitting your soul? Well, you already did it. Part of you has been in the living world this whole ti, keeping your body alive. That’s how your dad could break free - your love was helping him!"
Emma felt a pulling sensation, like being grabbed by invisible hands.
"What’s happening?"
"Your other half is calling you ho!"
Emma began to glow silver again as her split soul pieces flew back together. The realm of the dead started to fade around her.
But as she was pulled back to life, she heard the Necro-Sovereign call out:
"Emma! Wait! I need to tell you sothing!"
"What?"
"The reason I consud souls... it wasn’t just loneliness. Sothing is coming. Sothing much worse than . And when it arrives, you’ll need an army of the dead to fight it!"
Emma tried to ask what it ant, but she was already falling back toward her body.
The last thing she heard was Kael shouting her na.
And the sound of sothing enormous waking up in the deepest part of death itself.
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