The room went deathly still. Terragon blinked his heavy, stone-lidded eyes. The Twins looked at each other in disbelief.
"The Kid?" Zephyros breathed. "He healed us... through the baby?"
"He didn't just heal you," Luviyah added, a soft, sad smile touching her lips. "He used the 'Resonance' to refuse your deaths. He saved the lineage through the very blood he is protecting."
The shock of the news rippled through them—the revelation that they were not only saved by their "Vessel" but that a new life, a new Dragon of the Lineage, was growing within Luviyah. For a moment, a flicker of genuine hope warmed the cold infirmary.
But then, the warmth hit a wall.
The brothers looked at the empty space between them. They looked at the small pile of grey ash still clutched in Nerathis's hand. The realization that their circle would always have a gap now crashed back down.
"Zarathorak," Aurion whispered, his head bowing. "He really didn't make it, did he?"
