They found the heart at the center of the gardens a pulsating mass of shadow and light, the size of a house, suspended in midair. It beat like a living thing, each pulse sending waves of energy through the city.
"This is it," Ren said. "The core of Amaranth's power. If we destroy it, the Sleeper will be weakened. Maybe enough to seal it away again."
"But the souls inside it," Kira said. "The billions of souls. They'll be destroyed too."
"Not if we free them first," Lee said.
He raised the Dawnblade. The light blazed, brighter than ever before, filling the garden with golden radiance.
"I need everyone's help," Lee said. "I need to channel my light through all of you. Together, we can reach every soul in this city. We can offer them a choice."
"What choice?" Taro asked.
"Freedom. True freedom. The freedom to suffer and to love and to live. They can stay here, in Amaranth's peaceful cage, or they can return to the world. The real world. The broken, beautiful, terrifying world."
"And if they choose to stay?"
Lee's jaw tightened. "Then we respect their choice. But at least they'll have a choice. That's more than Amaranth ever gave them."
Kira stepped forward, placing her hand on Lee's shoulder. Her fire flowed into him, warm and fierce.
Taro stepped forward, his flexible body coiling around Lee's, lending his agility and his hope.
Ren stepped forward, his ancient shadows merging with Lee's light, creating something new something that was neither light nor shadow, but balance.
Inyocha stepped forward last. He placed his hand on Lee's chest, over the spiral that connected them.
"You're not alone," Inyocha said. "You never were."
The light exploded.
It poured out of Lee, out of his friends, out of the Dawnblade, and washed over the garden. The flowers the millions of glowing flowers began to sing. Not with voices, but with emotions. Joy. Sorrow. Love. Fear. Hope. Despair.
All the things that made life worth living.
"Choose," Lee said, his voice echoing through the city. "Choose to stay or choose to leave. Choose peace or choose freedom. But choose. For the first time in eons... CHOOSE."
The city held its breath.
Then the first flower bloomed not with preserved memory, but with new life. A soul emerged, shimmering and confused, looking around at the world with wonder.
"I remember," the soul whispered. "I remember who I was. I remember my name."
It rose into the darkness, toward a sky that was beginning to show stars.
More souls followed. Thousands. Millions. Billions. They streamed out of the garden like a river of light, rising through the Sunken City, through the rift, into the world above.
The heart of Amaranth convulsed.
And the Sleeper screamed.