The Vault chamber trembled.
Light cracked from the crystal's core, painting the walls in wild streaks of gold, silver, and deepest red. It was neither pain nor purity—but power without allegiance. Primordial. Untamed.
Kael fell to his knees, gripping his chest, breath shuddering.
"It's too much," he gasped. "I can feel it breaking through—my mind, my soul—"
"Then don't fight it," Liara said firmly, stepping toward him. "Let us bear it with you."
She reached out. So did Aeron. Cassian followed.
Their hands met over Kael's heart—and the Trinity ignited.
Flame roared around them.
Not just magic—but memory.
They weren't in the Vault anymore. They were in everywhere. Across timelines. Across lifetimes.
They saw themselves: not only as lovers, not only as soldiers or heirs—but as anchors, time and time again, drawn to Kael's soul like gravity.
Liara burning for him in a world of snow.
Cassian dying to protect him in a shattered throne room.
Aeron holding him as he shattered apart into light.
"We were never only bound to each other," Liara whispered. "We were bound to you, Kael."
The force inside the crystal surged—and Kael screamed.
His body rose, suspended in the air, silver light pouring from his eyes, mouth, hands. The Vault walls cracked. Power lashed in wild arcs.
But this time… the others didn't pull away.
They stepped into the maelstrom, reached through it.
Their magic combined into a single thread—flame, storm, starlight—and they wove it into him.
"You are not a vessel," Cassian whispered. "You are one of us."
"You are not the cage," Aeron added. "You're the core."
"And we choose you," Liara said, voice breaking, "again and again."
The light erupted—pure, unrelenting.
And then—silence.
Kael dropped gently to the ground, eyes wide.
He breathed. Not as a god. Not as a weapon.
But as himself.
The Vault stopped trembling.
The crystal above them… melted into starlight.
And vanished.
They stood in the ruins of what was once a prison—and now, a rebirth.
Kael looked at the three of them, his voice low. "It's gone. The force… it's inside us now. All four. Equal."
Liara smiled, tearful and tired. "Then let's use it our way."