He leaned down to kiss her, “It’s time. The world will be ours, my love. I will kill them all for us.” When he pulled away, he didn’t see the look of agony on her face, his attention to focused on the sealed door to the darkness.
She stood back, watching him as he placed his hand on the door, shadows rising around him and spreading across the edges of the door. He was pouring all of his energy into opening it, seizing the opportunity of the new moon that increased the darkness and its strength, his strength. She knew that in a few moments, when the doors opened, demons would be unleashed and kill everyone under Zak’s command.
“Come, my minions of darkness! Destroy this world!” he shouted as the door began to creak open and shadows began to leak out.
Tears formed in her eyes as she thought of all of her loved ones. Her family and friends. She couldn’t let this happen. She couldn’t let them die, but as she looked back up at Zak, she couldn’t betray him. Not again. She loved him too much.
Again, she thought of her family. Her dearest grandsons, Arkan and Zaren, who’d always taken care of her and loved her, even when she doubted them. They’d always protected her and they’d been willing to sacrifice their lives to save her. She thought of Arian as well. The boy whom she’d thought lingered to close to the edge of darkness. He’d proved her wrong and had also been willing to sacrifice himself for her. They all loved her and she couldn’t allow them to be killed. Not for her. Not when she could stop it.
She stared at Zak’s back with tears streaming down her cheeks as a familiar sword materialized in her right hand. She’d finally had him in her arms again, had his trust, but she would betray him again. Betray her love. She took hesitant steps forward until she stood behind him, unable to see through the tears blinding her.
She reached out her left hand to rest on his shoulder. “I’m sorry,” she cried as he turned around to face her. Before he could react, she plunged the sword deep into his chest. “I’m sorry.” She pushed him through the small opening in the door, back into the darkness.
She finally looked up to lock eyes with him as she grabbed the edges of the door. His eyes were filled with hurt and confusion. “Aria!” He tried to reach out his hand to her, and she could see the desperation in his eyes, begging for her to grab that hand. “Don’t do this! Aria! You’ll die!”
“I know,” she said sadly and began to call upon every last bit of energy in her to close the doors. The edges began to come together and she felt everything drain from her. She could feel her life seeping away. She knew she would die.
She took one last look at Zak, who kept calling her name in desperation. “I love you,” she whispered, unsure that he’d heard her, as she fell back onto the floor behind her. “I love you.” She closed her eyes as the last essence of her life left her and embraced the open arms of death.