Harlow and I race down the cement stairs to the catacombs together, Harlow leading the way. She stops at the bottom of the stairs to look around the corner of the cold stone wall, stone archways resting across from the stairway and lining a long corridor that leads both left and right. Harlow waves and the two of us run towards the right. After going right, we take a left and continue going straight until we reach another pair of stairs on the left that lead down. We take the stairs and Harlow stops at the bottom again to scan her surroundings. Eventually, we end up in front of a pair of old wooden doors with iron bolts that have long rusted and broken off. Harlow grabs her wand and gently pushes open the door to peek inside. A few seconds later, she fully pushes open the door and I find myself gasping.

The room we end up in has a beautiful girl with long red hair and blue eyes in a white dress hanging from chains above a well, archways to the left and right of us that overlook the rest of the catacombs. The girl lifts her head upon hearing the door open and her eyes widen, and I'm able to clearly see the blood and dirt smeared on her face and arms. Her dress is also slightly tattered and my heart clenches to see her like that.

"Leave!" She cries out and pulls on her chains, swaying around slightly, her eyes wide with urgency. "Go away! They'll be back soon!"

"We are here to help you and to help save others," Harlow says as she runs up to the young woman and takes a step on the rim of the well. "We will not leave."

"You don't understand," she shakes her head. "You need to leave. Even I couldn't...I can't..."

"You could not fend yourself from them because the Dark Lady has imprisoned you, not them. They have simply kept you imprisoned in these chains. Your curse is partially influenced by these chains you are being held captive by. Once her protege is defeated, the curse will fully be lifted and you will be free. Let us first free you from these chains," Harlow says and aims her wand at the chains.

"No!" The woman yells out and shakes around again. "Don't do that! You must not do that! You don't understand!"

"Quit making so much noise. You will attract unwanted visitors much faster than they would have originally arrived," Harlow scolds.

"You don't get it," the woman lowers her voice, "if you break these chains, I will die and the Dark Lady's powers will be restored."

"The Dark Lady is dead," I frown. "You don't mean that they would go to her bloodline, do you?"

"Dead?" The woman says, "the Dark Lady lives."

"What?" Harlow's eyebrows furrow as footsteps echo in the background.

"I should've known you would figure it out eventually," Augustina sneers as she walks through the doors, wand in hand. "It's a shame. Now I'll have to get even more blood on my hands."

Simultaneously, Augustina and Harlow cast spells at each other, one using ice while the other uses light. The two stand their ground as their magic wars against each other, creating a bright flash of blue and yellow as their energies clash repeatedly.

"Augustina! Stop!" Solstice shouts as she and Tempest burst through the doors and my eyes widen upon seeing them.

Solstice attempts to cast a light orb at Augustina, but Augustina whirls and turns her magic on Solstice. Tempest, however, steps in the way and Augustina's eyes widen. Augustina immediately turns her wand to the right so that her magic slams into the wall and breaks apart some of the stones while Harlow's ice bolts hit against Augustina's back and make her fall to her knees a few feet from where she was standing.

"How did you know what was happening?" I ask, directing my gaze to Solstice and Tempest.

"Tempest told me she didn't trust Augustina and she wanted to follow her around, so I went with her. When we noticed her sneaking to the catacombs, we knew something was wrong," Solstice explains.

"Why did you jump in the way?" Augustina grits through her teeth as she climbs to her feet, narrowly avoiding another assault of ice bolts from Harlow while Solstice keeps her wand threateningly pointed at Augustina from the front.

Harlow and I exchange a confused glance while Solstice furrows her eyebrows at Augustina's question to Tempest.

"I won't let you hurt their family ever again," Tempest says as she pulls out her wand and immediately releases a burst of red energy towards Augustina, whose eyes widen.

Within seconds, Augustina burns to ashes in the energy and crumples to dust on the ground, leaving the rest of us stunned.

"Tempest..." Solstice trails off uncertainly.

"It seems the time has come, I suppose," Tempest sighs as she puts her wand away and approaches the well.

"Traitor," Harlow sneers and casts a wall of ice towards Tempest, who swats it easily out of the way.

"I really didn't want you to find out this way, to learn the truth this way," Tempest sighs as she removes her eye patch, her gaze fixated on the ground. "All this time, I gave you information in hopes of you learning to trust me. I wanted to be friends with you, Solstice and Philomena, I truly did. And Solstice, you were the best friend I ever had. That's why I had to do this. Don't you see? I did this because I had to. I wanted to mislead you, to keep giving you pieces of the truth in hopes that you wouldn't find it before I finished my work."

"Tempest...what is going on?" Solstice whispers, her hand clenching tightly around her wand.

"When Lux died, I swore to myself that I would figure out why he had to die," Tempest starts. "I swore to myself that I would avenge his death. Solstice, you were the best companion I could ever have asked to have and I never meant to betray you, but when I found out who killed Lux, I ended up making a deal with them. You see, Augustina was the one who killed Lux. Inside of me, I've carried this secret around for years. My abilities scare people, have scared people, that is why I chose to hide my true self. Lux was the only one to ever know the true me and love me for it. When I learned that my true self was the real reason Augustina killed Lux, I vowed to do whatever it took to get close to Augustina to ruin her. I pretended to be close to her in private, but I let my true hate for her show in public. She thought it was an act that I hated her."

"Tempest, what did you do?" Solstice's voice breaks as her hand starts to shake slightly.

"My plan was to eventually kill Augustina to avenge Lux. When I learned that Ryder was being killed due to his familiar being tortured by Augustina, I intended to also free his familiar. However, I learned that because of what I did long ago, not even my own magic could undo what I had done," Tempest explains. "I regret who I used to be and I can't change what I did. All I can do is ask for forgiveness. I never wanted any of you to find out because I knew you would feel hurt and lied to. I knew you would hate me for it, for who I am, no matter how much you may love the me that you know now. I don't think you could look passed who I used to be. That is why, my final intention is to finally give Ryder peace in the only way I know how."

Tempest turns to finally look at Solstice and I and I'm surprised to find that her revealed eye is bright red with a rune inside of the pupil, unlike her other dark grey eye.

"Lolita Gammathine," I breathe out, "you're...Lolita Gammathine."

Tempest sends me a sad smile and Solstice falls to her knees as she breaks down in tears while Harlow clenches her jaw.

"I will not allow you to end my brother's life," Harlow says and raises her chin.

"If you don't, you'll only prolong his suffering," Tempest shakes her head as she turns her attention back to Harlow. "And if you don't let me kill his familiar, whoever she binds to next will ultimately suffer the same fate as Ryder. It will continue and it will never stop until she finally dies centuries from now. Don't you understand?"

"No," Harlow snaps, "I do not understand. I do not understand in the slightest and I never will. There is always a way to fix things. There is always another way. I will not let you take away that option."

"Lux had no options," Tempest says quietly. "Tell me, what were his options?"

"It is unfortunate what happened to Solstice's brother and your boyfriend, but he made his own fate by investigating into Augustina's business. Let Ryder make his own as well," Harlow shakes her head.

"Tempest, this isn't what Lux would want," Solstice says sadly, her face revealing how shattered she is inside as she looks up at Tempest. "I don't care who you were in the past, we don't care who you were. You learned from your past mistakes. It doesn't excuse what you did, but you're a different person now. Please, don't make another one. I don't...I don't want to lose anyone else. Not you, not Ryder. Don't do this."

"Solstice is right, Tempest. We don't want to lose anyone else," I start. "You avenged Lux, you accomplished that. You don't need to hurt anyone else. Please, don't do this. I'm begging you. I love Ryder with all my heart and you've come to be a dear friend of mine. I don't want to have to come between the two of you. If I have to, you know who...you'll know what I...what I'll have to do."

"Your soul is so bright that it should guide you through any darkness..." Ryder's words echo through my mind and suddenly I know in my heart what I have to do.

I may not be a sorceress, but I embody light, I embody love. Light does not always mean good and darkness does not always mean bad. Every situation, every person, must only be judged by who they are at heart. It doesn't matter where they came from or if they come from darkness or if they come from light or what kind of abilities they have, if they even have any. I know in my heart that love is unconditional. I believe in my soul that it does not matter if you use dark magic or if you use light magic or if you are rich or if you are poor. What matters is if you have a good heart. That is what truly matters. Deep down, I know that I must try and save both Tempest and Ryder, because I refuse to lose either of them, even if it costs my life.

As Tempest goes to unleash her magic on Ryder's familiar, everything seems to slow down in time. Harlow begins to summon a spell to attack Tempest as Tempest surges towards Ryder's familiar and Solstice cries out brokenly, reaching out in the air as I run between Harlow and Tempest. I leap through the air and draw my arms in towards my chest, clasping my right hand over my left as I fly between them and close my eyes right as a bright light begins to go off. The last thing I hear before I hit the ground is multiple shouts until the world goes dark.

***

"...told me what happened," Ryder's voice swirls around in my head even though all I see is darkness and I feel as if I can't move. "Selia is grateful that you freed her and Solstice is grateful that you were able to save Tempest, Flinn, and myself, Selia included. Antheia is taking care of Flinn for now. Tempest is in a coma and we don't...don't know if either of you will wake up but...you're alive and there's a chance and I...Philomena, I don't think I could live without you, literally. You saved my life, you are my life. So, please wake up. Wake up for me, Philomena. Please..."

"Hey there girlie," Ace's voice seems sad and tired. "Ryder left a few hours ago to go get some sleep and I promised him I'd stay by your side while he sleeps. He wouldn't leave otherwise. I don't know if you can hear me, but I've been told you might be able to. I want you to know that I'm really grateful that you saved my brother's life. Harlow's grateful too, even though she won't admit it. I think you might've even impressed her cold heart and earned her respect. Wake up soon, okay? I don't think any of us can take the suspense much longer, especially Ryder. He tries to hide it, but he's falling apart inside. Consequently, so is your room. I'd yell at him and say he's making a mess for you both, but I don't have the heart to."

What feels like a long time later, my eyes slowly open to see a white panel ceiling and I blink a few times before I turn my head to the left to see Ezra putting red roses in a tan vase on the nightstand by what appears to be my hospital bed. Ezra briefly glances over at me before he goes back to tending the roses, not seeming to register the fact that I'm awake yet. Within a few seconds of looking away, Ezra's eyes widen and he whips his head back to face me before he smiles and turns to run out of the room, yelling for Ryder.

Moments later, Ryder rushes into the room, followed by Ezra and Selia, Ryder's familiar.

"Philomena!" Ryder cries out and runs to my side, kneeling by the side of the bed and grasping my left hand in his as his eyes scan my face.

"Hi," I smile tiredly. "I heard you...when you spoke to me. How long was I out?"

"Two weeks," Ryder smiles sadly and squeezes my hand gently. "You really scared me..."

"What happened?" I ask. "I mean, to me."

"Harlow explained that you took the force of both hers and Tempest's magic as you released your own magic outburst. Your magic freed Selia from her bonds and also broke the curse. It also put Tempest into a coma because she hit her head when she flew back from the force of the spell," Ryder explains. "You're lucky to be alive, Philomena. I'm lucky that you're alive."

"I'll be forever grateful to you for saving me and Ryder," Selia bows her head slightly before she stands back up straight and smiles warmly. "I believe that we will become great friends."

"I do too," I smile back at her.

"I'm not sure if you know my name or not yet, but I'm Selia Rostova," Selia says. "I also heard that you helped tame Ryder, and I'm glad that you got to him before I did."

Selia chuckles as Ryder sends her a brief glare while Ezra's lips twitch into a smirk.

"We should let you rest. I'll go tell the doctors that you're awake," Ezra announces. "We'll always be here for you. I'll go get your work from the teachers and put it in your room for when you're back in classes."

"Thank you, Ezra," I smile and he nods before he heads off.

"I guess we'd better go," Ryder sighs and stands up reluctantly before he bends down and kisses my forehead. "I'm glad you're okay, Philomena. I love you."

"I love you too, and I'm so glad you're okay," I grin and Ryder smiles back before he reaches for my hand once more and squeezes it gently before he walks out with Selia, who gives me a small wave on the way out.

I don't know what the future holds, but I know that I'll be okay as long as Ryder's in it, as long as he's safe, because Ryder is just as much my life as I am his.