As the final, potent words left her lips, Aurelia screamed again, a sound of profound agony that tore through the night. A golden, luminous mark, intricate as an ancient glyph, blazed into existence on her forehead amidst the fiery tempest.
Aurelia's body convulsed, her continuous scream piercing the courtyard, and behind her, from the very heart of the inferno, the enormous flaming goddess screamed with her. A deeper, echoing voice, raw with despair, cried out.
"NO!"
The sound shook the heavens, and Seraphielle's eyes widened. The seal was almost complete....almost. She only needed one final incantation. She lifted her dagger to kill after the final spell, but before Seraphielle could complete the final, crucial syllable, before her hand could move to deliver the killing blow, the heavens themselves exploded.
A blinding, silvery bolt of lightning, thick as a tree trunk, descended with a sound that tore through the air, like a cosmic shriek.
