The throne room had changed.
The sphere of darkness was gone. In its place stood a throne made of bones human bones, demon bones, bones of creatures that had never walked the surface of Tenmon. They were arranged in intricate patterns, beautiful and terrible, and on the throne sat a figure that made Lee's blood run cold.
Amaranth.
But not the formless sphere he remembered. Not the shadowy figure that had spoken to him five years ago. This was something new. Something human.
She looked like a young woman maybe twenty, maybe older, it was hard to tell. Her skin was pale as moonlight, her hair flowed like liquid shadow, and her eyes... her eyes held galaxies. Spinning, burning, infinite. She wore a dress made of starlight and shadow, and on her head rested a crown of thorns that glowed with dark fire.
"Welcome back, Light Bringer," Amaranth said. Her voice was soft. Melodic. Almost kind. "I've been waiting for you."
Lee raised the Dawnblade. "What do you want?"
Amaranth smiled a sad, ancient smile. "I want what I've always wanted. To stop being hungry. To stop being alone. To be remembered as something other than a monster."
"Then why did you kill the Pilgrim? Why did you take the scouts' souls?"
"I didn't kill them. I absorbed them. They're part of me now. Part of something greater." Amaranth stood, and the bones of the throne rattled. "I am building a new world, Lee Zaou. A world without suffering. Without abandonment. Without fear."
"That's not how the world works," Inyocha said, stepping forward. "Suffering is part of life. Fear is part of being human. You can't just... remove them."
"Can't I?" Amaranth's eyes flickered. "I have existed for eons. I have consumed worlds and civilizations and gods. I have seen every possible variation of existence. And I have come to a conclusion: free will is a mistake."
Lee's grip tightened on the Dawnblade. "You want to take away our choices."
"I want to take away the consequences of bad choices. No more war. No more famine. No more children being thrown away because they're inconvenient." Her gaze shifted to Inyocha. "Like you were thrown away."
Inyocha flinched.
"You could have been happy," Amaranth continued. "You could have been loved. But the old ones the ones who split your soul they chose fear over compassion. They chose control over love. And you suffered for it."
"I know," Inyocha said quietly.
"I can fix that. I can build a world where no one suffers. Where no one is abandoned. Where everyone has a place." Amaranth extended her hand. "Join me, Inyocha Han. Help me build the Fallen Kingdom. And I promise you no one will ever be thrown away again."
Inyocha stared at her hand.
The chamber was silent.
Then Lee spoke. "Don't listen to her, Inyocha. She's offering you a cage made of gold."
"A cage without bars is still a cage," Kira added.
Amaranth's smile didn't waver. "Think about it, Shadow Weaver. You don't have to decide now. I will give you time." She looked at Lee. "All of you. Time to see that I am right. Time to understand that the world you're fighting for is already broken beyond repair."
She sat back on her throne.
"Go. Explore my city. See what I've built. And when you're ready to accept the truth... come find me."
The bones of the throne shifted, and a door opened in the wall behind her a door that led deeper into the Sunken City.
Lee didn't move. "We're not here to explore. We're here to stop you."
"You can't stop me, Light Bringer. Not by fighting. Not by killing. I am not a monster to be slain. I am an idea. And ideas don't die. They only change."
She waved her hand, and darkness swallowed the chamber.
When it cleared, Amaranth was gone.
And the door remained open.