Contents
Chapter 48
Overview
Aris stabs Raker through the heart, but he survives as the God of Death. Realizing their shared bond lets her wield his blade, Aris steals his sword and flees. After a desperate weeklong chase, she slips through the closing gates, leaving Raker trapped outside for fifty years and vowing to protect the twin swords.
Summary
Aris drives Stellaris through Raker’s heart, only to watch him grin and endure. When Raker fixates on whether she meant her confession, Aris uses the distraction to seize his fallen sword, proving their bond lets her wield it. She cuts free, sheaths both blades to block his call, and flees.
Mounting her dragon, Aris takes the goblet of pure magic and flies, resolving to learn how to kill Death and to keep the twin swords apart. She recognizes Raker’s mounting fury through their tenuous thread and races the countdown to the gates’ closure.
As the fiftieth sunset nears, Aris parts from her dragon at the gates, promising to return. Raker arrives and drags her back. She gambles that his own blade might kill him and stabs his heart again; it fails, confirming Death cannot be ended so simply.
Her dragon’s shriek breaks Raker’s grip for a heartbeat. Aris dives through the narrowing gap as the gates seal. Raker slams against the metal, unable to break through. Facing each other across the bars, Aris keeps both blades and tells him they will meet in fifty years, then turns toward her ruined home, determined to guard the swords and find a way to end him.
Who Appears
- ArisProtagonist; stabs Raker, steals his sword, flees by dragon, and escapes through the closing gates.
- RakerNow the God of Death (and War’s power); survives heart-stabs, pursues Aris, but is stranded beyond the gates.
- Aris’s dragonLoyal mount; speeds Aris’s escape and distracts Raker, enabling her passage through the gates.