Uncle Fahrem smiled coldly as he slowly advanced on them. You could see it in his eyes—he had no doubt that he'd come out victorious, with the corpses of his enemies bowing at his feet.

Remi tried to pull Killure backwards, away from her uncle, but he refused to budge.

Panic raced through Remi's veins like a lightning bolt. If he didn't move, he was going to die! The last thing she wanted was for him to die just as he'd begun to live. He hadn't been free from slavery for long, and he was supposed to have his whole life ahead of him. He wasn't supposed to die here with her.

"Killure, please!" she begged, voice full of desperation. The fish in the pond seemed more erratic than usual, flashing and gleaming and dancing wildly, as if in a frenzy. Remi knew they wouldn't get another chance to run.

He let out a low, deep growl, holding his clawed hands at his sides in wait. He knew as well as she did that they probably wouldn't be able to make it out of this situation.

They'd been lucky so far with The Unseen Duke and when Killure almost burned at the stake, but it seemed like their luck had finally run out.

They were going to die, and both of them were helpless to stop it from happening.

"What I said, on the ship—" Remi started, biting her lip and pausing. "I didn't want you to go."

He completely ignored her, almost as if he didn't hear her.

She tugged on his arm, but he was a heavy statue that could not be moved, and no matter how hard she pulled, she only succeeded in ripping the sleeve of his dark shirt.

Killure inclined his head toward the man before them and parted his lips, speaking in his entrancingly silky smooth voice that always sent goosebumps racing up her arms. "Shadows. Everyone has them. People walk around all day, never noticing them or giving them a passing glance," he spoke, his voice clear and taunting as he eyed her uncle with that piercing gaze of his. Every syllable that came out of his lips was pronounced so clearly and crisply. "You are a shadow. You're insignificant, and no matter what you do, and who you kill, that will never change. You hunger after power, but it will be that very hunger that destroys you from the inside."

Fahrem scowled darkly at him. "Your big words mean nothing to me when you're going to die today. And for what? My niece? That's not something I would die for. She's bewitched you, Icix."

Killure simply crossed his arms, listening but saying nothing as her uncle continued. "Who knows what happened while you were asleep? It's what she's been studying all her life, you know—the brain. All you had to do was doze off for just a moment and she could have sunk her energy into your mind and kept you from waking up while she forced you to care for her."

What?!

Remi clenched her fists at her sides, her nails digging painfully into her skin. She would never do something like that to him.

What a liar!

"Either way," Uncle Fahrem stalked towards them like a lion advancing on his injured prey. "It's pathetic. You could make something of yourself—become a horror unlike the world has ever seen, and one it will never forget—but you're wasting all your potential on senseless things like this!"

Remi crossed her arms over her chest. He was too close now for them to escape—all she could save now was her dignity. She would not be hunted down like a deer, and she would not give her uncle the satisfaction of seeing fear on her face.

If she was going to die, it would be with pride.

"And you, my niece. Your father and I truly wanted you on our side, you know," he went on, waving his hands around theatrically. "Your energy potential is remarkable. But alas, it was not to be. We can't have someone who angers over every injustice, and whines over the death of things as insignificant as bugs, slaves, and birds. To become great, one must be willing to make sacrifices—they must sacrifice their morality to improve the state of the world. And you, my niece, will never become great. We cannot have someone with powers like yours running around with the potential and desire to ruin our plans, so I must end you now."

Remi didn't even like bugs. In fact, she hated them.

Killure's wings suddenly emerged from his back, breaking through his shirt and expanding to their full wingspan. A few feathers fluttered to the ground, dancing in what seemed like slow motion as they descended. Blood pooled around the base of his wings where they'd ripped open the skin of his back, turning his dark shirt a deep shade of maroon where the blood trickled down his back. It was horrifying, and magnificent.

Killure suddenly pulled her to his side, an arm wrapped protectively around her waist. His razor sharp claws lightly pricked her side.

Was he intending to fly them away? If he left her, he'd easily be able to get away from everything, and her uncle probably wouldn't even try to catch him, considering Uncle Fahrem's focus was on killing Remi. However, if he were to try and carry them both away, they'd be slower, and her uncle would probably still catch them.

Perhaps Killure just wanted his last moments to be in his true Icix form. She could understand that.

"Any last words?" her uncle taunted, the sun beating down on his light face.

"Yes," Remi said after a long moment. She fixed her face in determination. "Uncle, you may kill me today, but you'd be a fool to think that that's where my story ends. If you feed my body to the wild animals of other islands, my spirit will inhabit them, living on through them. If you dump my corpse into the forest for the worms to slowly devour and turn into soil, I will create a magnificent tree that will stand tall and strong. Even if you sell me for meat, I will not truly die. As they eat out my heart, they will catch my disease, and rise up against you. Though I die today, nothing will crush or stop my spirit from soaring forever and ever towards your demise. You can't snuff my fire out."

Uncle Fahrem's face twisted in rage. He reached his hand up, dark energy spiralling up from his fingertips. Coils wound up behind him, and as he brought his hand forward with tremendous force, the dark coils flew towards Remi and Killure with all the rage of a forest fire, the speed of a tornado, and the deadliness of molten lava.

Remi allowed the remainder of her energy to glow through her skin and clothes, despite the imminent threat of death.

Remi tossed her uncle one last smirk. "I'd rather die with my morals than subject myself to a life of compromising them." Then, she let her eyes flutter shut and let his dark energy take them away into oblivion.

———

A/N: Guys, I'm so sorry for updating this so late!! I just started university and I've had next to no time to write ): Buttttttt here's a new chapter!! Leave a vote and comment if you enjoyed(;

Cheers!!(: