Jaiden was near to panic as the Queen's pillar rose ever higher, bringing the Queen ever closer. Then she remembered.
She had one more incantation left.
She took a deep breath. Shutting her eyes once again, she began to speak.
"Power of the sun, gift me with your light…"
Jaiden's hair began to glow a golden light. The same light began to surround her. The eagle sensation awoke inside of her, pushing the python into the shadows.
"Shine into the dark, restore our fading sight."
The Queen continued to rise on her pillar. Jaiden slowly began to float a foot above the top of her pillar.
"Rise into the dawn, blazing star so bright…"
The python was lashing out, it and the eagle fighting each other for dominance.
"Burn away the strife, let my hope ignite."
A bright light shot outwards from Jaiden. Everyone who could see it was blinded. Shielding their eyes and squeezing them shut, they heard Jaiden recite the last line of the incantation.
"Let hope ignite."
All the black rocks crumbled to bits. As suddenly as it had appeared, the bright light was gone. Everyone opened their eyes to see Jaiden hovering above her pillar, and the Queen nearly level with her. Jaiden's hair was pulsing with blue and gold light. One of her eyes glowed blue, and the other golden.
The Queen thrust out her hand, but she had no chance to do anything. With a flick of Jaiden's wrist, a rock, similar to the black rocks but yellow, erupted, piercing the Queen's pillar. The pillar began to crumble away, and the Queen began to fall.
Jaiden thrust out her hands. To the astonishment of all, the shadows lurking in the corners of the courtyard began to swirl and change. A long black rope formed out of the shadows. It wrapped around the falling Queen and started pulling her up towards Jaiden.
With a black rock, the Queen shattered the rope.
Jaiden tried once more. The shadows formed the same rope, but this time, Jaiden called on the sunlight as well. The afternoon light shining down on them began to swirl and formed a thin string of gold, which wound itself around the black rope.
The light and darkness raced downward and wrapped around the Queen once again. Black rocks sprouted all around, but as soon as they touched the rope infused with light, they shattered.
The Queen screamed in frustration as the rocks continued to sprout and splinter. The rope began pulling her upward towards Jaiden.
Back on the ground, Varian peered up worriedly. There was so much power in putting those two incantations together. He didn't know if Jaiden would be able to handle it…
She couldn't.
On her skin, lines began to spread, like cracks in her body. The fault lines were in several places, spreading from her mouth to her ear, her wrist to her elbow, her ankle to her knee. From them shone the blue and gold light, like the magic was inside of her and eating her away from the inside.
It's too strong, he thought as he braced himself against the raging winds. She can't handle it.
Jaiden wasn't thinking. She let the magic come over her and control her body. All she knew was that the Queen must be defeated, and the magic seemed to respond to that thought.
She moved her hands and more ropes appeared, circling around the Queen's arms and legs and pulling them outward. Soon, the Queen was suspended spread-eagled in front of Jaiden.
She paused in her struggling for a second and glared at Jaiden, a fire in her eyes. Sometime during the fall, her tiara had fallen off her head.
"And what are you going to do now?" She shouted.
Jaiden stopped. She honestly didn't know. Now that the Queen was at her mercy, she didn't know what to do with her.
The eagle and the python inside of her were clashing against each other, the power of the sun and the moon fighting for dominance. She had set them free to defeat the Queen, and now they were using that freedom against each other. As they battled, she felt something growing inside of her, something too large and too powerful for her body. She tried to call the powers back to her, tried to regain control, but to no avail.
Then she heard a voice from below, calling up to her as if from a different universe.
"Jaiden!"
She looked down to see Varian standing at the base of her pillar, calling up to her. She couldn't make out the rest of his words, but by a power that didn't feel like her own, the pillar began to descend. Both Jaiden and the Queen slowly dropped until they were only slightly above the ground.
"Jaiden," Varian called again, "you need to stop! The power is too strong!"
Jaiden's glowing eyes widened, then shut. With all her will, she called the snake and eagle back into her, forcing them to obey, forcing them back into the corners of her mind they had come from. She kept them apart, kept them from fighting, and finally, they relented, retreating back to wherever they had come from.
With a gasp, her hair faded, her eyes returned to brown, the cracks in her skin stopped shining, and she toppled sideways off of her pillar.
Varian just managed to catch her. She looked up at him, at a loss for words, and after a moment, simply smiled and hugged him.
Then her dad was there, holding her tightly. And for a moment, nothing else mattered.
When Jaiden finally pulled away, she found Rapunzel, whose hair was still long and brown, gazing up at the Queen, still suspended in the air by the shadow and light ropes. Her eyes were closed, her head hanging down in shame.
Jaiden slowly walked up to Rapunzel and quietly asked, "What do you want to do?"
Rapunzel glanced at her, and then back Cassandra. Then she said, "Bring her down."
Jaiden raised her hands and lowered Cassandra to the ground. She stood still, her head hanging down. The ropes dissipated back into shadow and light while one circled her hands and kept her tied.
Rapunzel slowly walked up to her and began to talk to her. Jaiden turned away, getting the feeling Rapunzel wanted to talk to Cass alone.
And because she turned away, she did not see Zhan Tiri coming up behind Cassandra. She did not see the little girl still clutching the sundrop tightly in her hand, her eyes fixed on the moonstone on Cassandra's chest. She did not see her lunge for the glowing stone. She only heard Rapunzel shout as the girl kicked her away.
Jaiden whirled around, but it was too late. Zhan Tiri plucked the moonstone from Cassandra's chest. She didn't even try to fight back. A shudder ran through her body, her hair and clothing changed to black and dull brown, and she fell to the ground.
"No!" Rapunzel shouted as Zhan Tiri smiled.
Zhan Tiri paid her no attention. "Finally," she said, almost to herself, "they're mine."
She began to laugh, a malevolent sound. "At long last!" She shouted triumphantly. "They are mine!"
The moonstone and sundrop travelled down from her hands to her wrists. Zhan Tiri opened her eyes, and they were glowing blue and gold. Then the gray girl began to grow.
Suddenly there was no longer a little girl in front of them, but a horned demon. The ground shook as she laughed, towering over their tiny group and gazing out over the kingdom.
Zhan Tiri, in a voice very different than it had been only moments before, thundered maliciously, "Let the age of Zhan Tiri begin!"