>>Amber

Hael and I closed our eyes, our hands squeezing each other's as we waited for the final blow

...

It didn't come but the miasma was enough to corrupt us and we were losing our mind. Though still we both opened our eyes to see what stopped Persephone.

The air around us crackled, the oppressive weight of the miasma still suffocating but... different. My breaths came in shallow gasps, and though my mind was clouded with pain, I forced my eyes open. The world blurred and spun, but then something broke through the haze.

Golden hair.

"Pen!" He said, "Stop! Don't do this!!"

I could hardly believe what I was seeing. Amidst the swirling darkness stood a man with radiant, golden hair. His arms were wrapped tightly around Persephone, holding her back as she struggled against him. The ragged cloth he had on though was all too familiar.

"Stop," The man said, his voice calm yet commanding. His golden eyes were set on Persephone, the charred and monstrous woman she had become. The contrast between them was stark, her form twisted and corrupted by the miasma but he wasn't afraid of her.

He looked human, but something about him was... off. As I squinted through the haze, I noticed cracks running along his skin, they were pretty clear and unmistakable.

The miasma was taking over my vision and my mind but I still saw it.

His form was crumbling, pieces of him flaking away like ash caught in the wind, but he stood firm, holding Persephone in place.

"Who?" Hael croaked beside me, his voice raw with pain and exhaustion. He too had opened his eyes, though the miasma was still trying to consume us both.

"It's... Valenor," I managed to say, though speaking felt like pushing through a wall of thorns. My throat was tight, the darkness pressing in, but I had to tell him. "I... purified him.... when he caught me in the rift." My mind flashed back to that moment, how I'd poured nearly all of my holy power into King Valenor, pulling him back from what he had become."

Now, here he was, standing between us and death, holding Persephone. I could see that Persephone could smash him once and all of him would crumble but she was being careful with him.

Extra careful not to bump into him hard as she tried to move out of his arms.

Persephone snarled, her once beautiful face now contorted in rage. Her jagged wings beat furiously, trying to break free from Valenor's grip, but he didn't let go. "You..."

"Pen! You have to let them do it." Valenor said, "Let her purify you!"

"They will kill me!!" She yelled, "Nothing will be left of me!!"

"This body of yours needs to go for you to get better!" He said, "Please!' He begged, "Do not become a monster."

"You want me to die?!?" She screamed at him

"No!" He replied, "I want to save you!!!" He hugged her tighter, "I always have," He placed his head on her charred neck, "We didn't have an option before, but now-"

"NO!" She began to try harder to get out of her grip

So this was the result of the purification I did to Valenor...

He did not become human... not exactly.

I could tell he was crumbling away. It was probably very difficult for him to get to us.

Darkness took over my mind, engulfing everything.

I collapsed. My eyes closed, I had no energy left and the miasma consumed my mind, stopping all kinds of thinking, making me fall into oblivion.

***

>>Rosie

I was still here

Watching,

I fiddled with my fingers as I watched the endless white space I lived in for years start getting dyed pitch black. I was nervous.

I was always a timid person to begin with. I wanted to help people but I was always afraid of confrontation and taking on horrifying things. It was part of the reason why I let myself be taken by another.

I was giving away the responsibility.

The black goop began to take over everything, fastly coming towards me who was standing in the center. I gulped. The anxiety ready to eat me inside before the miasma could.

Over the years I watched Amber. Her living standards were thousand times better than mine but her environment a hundred times worse.

I did have loving parents at least. They were never home because they were trying to make ends meet was a separate thing.

The black paint like darkness reached me, enclosing around me the form of a circle. I had very little white space left.

Yet despite her sorrows, Amber tried to make things better. I watched her do it. I watched her build a life for herself and she was happy. But then because of us she had to fall into the misery of being a saint.

I clasped my hands together as the black goop now touched my feet.

This was never her responsibility

But mine.

I looked up. Yet she tried her best. I nodded to myself. She's done the best she could. I closed my eyes. She became an inspiration for me. I've been wanting to be better for a long time now.

It's time I do my part, even though I know if I do it what will happen to me.

Golden-white energy began to glow out of my clasped hands

***

I left Amber's body. Originally I can only leave for a few minutes, but this time I'm leaving for good. My spirit tried sticking to hers. Portions of my skin tried going back, sticking to her.

I looked back at her miasma consumed form.

But if I was going to do anything, I had to leave her for good.

I severed my connection with her. That also meant that the Holy Power inside of her was also leaving her.

"I have to kill them!" Persephone fought with her lover who looked human. He was about six feet tall, looming over her, trying to stop her from killing Amber and Hael

My spirit began to materialize a little but my body never took a solid form

"Let me go," She tried to fight him, kicking his shin. The result of her action was devastating. Persephone was far too strong for a crumbling person.

All of Valenor's lower leg disappeared and he stumbled downward.

!!!

It startled her and she looked back at him, "Val!!" She had her back to me as she kneeled down to see the damage she did to him, "Oh..."

She still had the love she had for him in her.

Val was clutching his knee that had nothing below it. He looked up at Persephone but then he saw me. He wasn't sure what I was but I nodded at him, showing him the glow in my palms.

"Pen," He looked at his first love, "Listen to me, this curse can end."

She looked back at him, but with a pained expression, "By killing me?"

"By freeing both of us." He opened his arms to hug her, "Trust me," He passed her a lovely smile, "I've felt the power. It brought the human inside of me out again." He cupped her cheeks

"After suffering for so many years..." She placed her hands over her, "I can feel that power killing me, Val." She shook her head, "And I don't want to die, I want to be free."

He looked at her with a mix of something in his eyes. Pity perhaps, but that was a very small portion of it. There was hurt, empathy but the major portion of it was filled with love.

No matter what she had become, what form she took. He would love her always.

"Freeing us?" She said as she shook her head, "This is the only way we'll be free."

He kept his smile on, and more of his body began to crumble. A piece of his face fell off

"Val!!"

"I want you to trust me." He said and then grabbed her again, pulling her into a hug.

An extremely tight one

"Now!" He yelled and I moved.

She caught on and turned her head to look at me but before she could do anything I collided into her, unleashing all the power I had

All of my entire being

She screamed. It was probably painful for her but this is what I had to do. I did not have the time to think or delay at all.

I had severed my connection to Amber, this meant I would eventually fade away.

Val held Persephone tightly as she thrashed around, her arms and legs bumping into him. She was probably trying to get her hands on me, but I was nothing more than a spirit in its final minutes.

I gave into pure energy, letting it pulse, letting it consume.

She thrashed even more, breaking her lover's body but Val tried to hold on as much as he could. He knew he couldn't last long either but he did his best.

"Pen," He hugged her with all her might, "I love you," His words made her slow down, "I will always love you." She stopped.

Her screaming down down and the golden-white energy that I had became formed a sphere, taking both her and him in it.

Then it grew in size

"I love you too, Val.... Always,"

And then it covered the rift, clearing everything impure there, all that was dark that it swallowed crumbled away.

The huge sphere then burst.

Pulses of Holy power rimmed in the air. They kept spreading in all directions, in the form of circular waves, getting bigger the further they went.

***

>>Enya

I was sitting in my room, on the chair next to the window when I saw those pulses. As they moved through, one could feel the pure heaviness.

I frantically got up from the chair, opened the window and ran out to the balcony, letting the cold air prick on my skin.

"Oh!" A smile appeared on my face as another pulse passed through, with it came a feeling of warmth.

***

>>Delphi

Einar and I were walking on the green lush land high above the seas when we felt the waves of divine power run past us. We both stopped to look in the direction it was coming from

Once

Then again and again and again

Purifying everything in its wake, dissipating all the miasma in its way. It was heavy, intense and fast.

***

>>Einar

"Rosie..." I whispered her name as I felt her energy. I could feel her being in the pulses of light.

I brought my hand out to feel her.

It was a sorrow filled feeling.

But I smiled because I knew she finally fought her fears and achieved what she was meant to do.

"I'm proud of you," I whispered