The Invisible String Theory

Chapter 9 - Not Yet

The mist lifted, golden light rising from the forms of my people. I felt them– all of them– surging around me, through me. Their trust. Their memories. Their love. They were not here to haunt me.

They were here to help me rise.

The Hollow shrieked and lunged, its form twisting with rage.

I let go of fear.

The shield around me evaporated and something far stronger took its place– light, woven in violet and gold, ribboned with celestial energy that felt infinite and true. The Heartstream coursed through my veins now, luminous and boundless, as natural as breath.
I opened my hand. The relic dissolved into my skin

The Hollow collided with me– fangs, claws, fury.

And I met it with a wave.

A burst of energy exploded from my core in a brilliant arc, crashing into the Hollow and engulfing it in a pillar of golden flame, threaded with amethyst streaks that surged like stars reborn. It howled, twisting and screeching–

– and was gone.

Ashes to echoes. Shadows to light.

I hovered in the space left behind, breath steady, my aura a brilliant blaze. The relic was no longer a separate thing.

It was me now.

I was the Heartstream.

And I wasn't hollow.

___________________________________________________________

Loki's POV

She was gone.

But not like before.

When she had collapsed in my arms, the tether frayed, barely holding– like a single thread left in a storm. I could feel her then. Weak. Fading. But still there. Still herself.

Now.. there was nothing.

No spark. No pull. No lingering hum in the air. The tether didn't feel strained or silent– it felt severed. Vanished.

And I had no idea if she was coming back.

The pulse of her magic– of the Hollow– had evaporated in the final burst of light, leaving only the smoking imprint of where she once stood. And I stood there like a fool, frozen, fingers twitching, my breath caught somewhere between a prayed and a scream.

"No," I rasped, barely sound. "No–no, this isn't–"

I staggered forward as if I could chase it down, as if the void would grant me passage simply because I needed her. Because she wasn't supposed to do this alone. Not again.

"I felt you," I muttered, hands shaking as I reached for the space where sh'ed been. "Even when you were slipping, I still felt you..."

But now– now it was emptier than it had ever been. Worse than when I severed the bond myself. That still left a whisper in my chest, an ache where she should've been.

This was silence.

And gods help me, I didn't know how to live in that silence again.

My knees met the dirt, the remnants of her energy still scattered in golden dust around me. I clutched at it like it could speak. Like it might answer.

But the ground did not answer.

"Bring her back," I whispered. "Please..."

The plea wasn't meant for any god or force. It was for her. For the stubborn support enchantress who never backed down. For the woman who had somehow made me believe that a soul tether could be something other than a curse.

And then– a tremor.

My head shot up.

A glimmer split the sky above the ruins, like a fault line in reality tearing open, line with molten gold. It cracked wider, strands of violet and white light weaving through, and my breath caught in my throat.

Something was coming.

Someone.

I stood slowly, as if afraid I'd break the moment. Magic coiled beneath my skin in recognition, an ache of familiarity curling low in my chest.

And there– descending like starlight.

It was her.

Alive.

Transformed.

More radiant than I had ever seen her.

Her feet didn't even meet the ground at first– barely a whisper of air disturbed the earth as she landed with grace not even the gods could replicate. The light from the broken sky kissed her shoulders, trailing along the edges of a new form, a new presence.

Her attire flowed with divine elegance– an asymmetrical dress like those worn by goddesses of myth, short enough not to hinder movement, yet ethereal in its shape. It shimmered with violet and deep plum undertones, lace with soft threads of gold that curls and twisted like stardust caught in silk. A delicate belt cinched at her waist , adorned with sigils of her people– Elyardi runes reborn in radiant light. Her bracers glowed faintly, pulsing with a familiar warmth: the Heartstream now woven into her very being.

And her eyes– by the Norns, her eyes–
They weren't just hers. They glistened, a fluid fleam of starlit violet and gold, brighter than anything I remembered. Not burning. Not chaotic.

Balanced.

Whole.

I didn't speak. I couldn't. The lump in my throat had taken root and stretched into my chest. Strangling the breath from me.

She looked at me like she always had.

And yet... not.

There was power in her now that demanded reverence. And yet it was still her. The woman who never failed to meet me halfway, who challenged me without fear, who made even silence feel like company.

I took one step forward– and another.

And then I ran.

No illusions, no projections. No guarded movements or coy remarks. I ran straight to her, and she didn't flinch, didn't brace, didn't turn away.

When I reached her, I pulled her into me– arms wrapping around her, head burying into the crook of her neck . She was warm. Solid. Real.

I didn't care that my hands trembled or that my breath hitched.

She was here.

I whispered into her hair. "You came back."

Her arms came around me slowly. "Of course I did," she murmured. "You didn't think I'd let you get rid of me that easily, did you?"

I laughed. Choked on it. Pressed my forehead against hers.

"Don't ever do that again," I breathed.

She smiled through glassy eyes. "No promises."

Our foreheads stayed pressed together, breaths mingling. There was no need for magic between us now. The tether didn't hum like it used to.

Because it didn't need to.

What bound us now was something deeper than relics or threads of soul-stuff.

And when I leaned in, she didn't stop me.

Our lips met– slow, certain, searing with everything we'd held back for too long. It wasn't desperate. It was inevitable. A sealing of all the things that had been left unsaid.

My goddess.

My equal.

My enchantress.