The smoke hadn't even settled.
Ash danced in the stale air, ghostly remnants of Laeticia's sorrow still clinging to the walls. But Mira didn't have time to mourn.
The soul still loomed before her—
Flickering wildly, its form tearing between faces it had stolen: children, elders, soldiers, a weeping woman.
Its true face? Still buried beneath centuries of possession.
Mira coughed blood into her sleeve. Her vision swam. Knees trembling.
This thing was relentless.
Then—
A whisper echoed in her mind.
"You've always run from your past… but you don't have to run from me."
The voice was soft. Familiar.
Her hand trembled—then ignited with glowing glyphs.
Symbols she had never studied. Words she had never learned. Her breath hitched.
Instinct. Power. Memory.
The soul laughed, its voice fractured across a thousand stolen mouths:
"You look just like her… You are her, aren't you?"
Mira hissed, "I don't know what the hell you're talking about—"
But then her eyes shifted—
Over the soul's shoulder.
Elias.
Collapsed. On his knees. Surrounded by shadows of Laeticia. Reaching. Whispering to things that weren't real.
And Mira snapped.
A surge of rage, sorrow, and untapped power burned through her spine.
She roared, arms wide, as the glyphs on her skin exploded like wildfire.
The ground cracked. The air warped.
"Ride or die, motherf—" she muttered—
And unleashed hell.
The spell hit like a tidal wave of light and shadow.
The soul shrieked as fragments of stolen faces tore away.
The room shook. Light bled from every crack in the floor.
When the smoke cleared—
Mira stood tall.
Scarred. Breath ragged. Eyes burning.
Mira the Wizard.
She flicked the blood from her lip and muttered,
"I really hope that was the final boss… 'cause if it wasn't, he was one hell of a soldier."
She staggered over to Elias, dropping to one knee beside him.
"I'm sorry…" he whispered. "I couldn't do anything for her."
Mira placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't be. We're not done yet."
"What?"
"She talked to you. That wasn't just a ghost, Elias. That means her soul is still here. Somewhere."
His eyes widened.
"How the hell are we supposed to find a soul?"
She stood, eyes still glowing faintly.
"We find one… we find them both."
"Two souls. One mission."
She turned toward the dark corridor ahead—
And behind her, the shadows whispered again.