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đź“– Chronicles of the Watchers
Chapter 16: The Unveiling
The chain screamed as the beast climbed higher.
Every claw strike sent a tremor through the iron. Sparks rained. Wind howled. Selene's lantern guttered, shadows stretching long and thin across the abyss.
"Kairo!" she gasped, her hand gripping his arm. The mark burned so brightly now that her skin hissed from the heat. "You can't hold it back much longer!"
"I don't want to become him!" Kairo shouted, voice breaking.
Liora's sword lashed out, striking the creature's reaching claw. Her face was pale, sweat streaming. "Then we all die here!"
The beast lunged. Its jaws split wide enough to swallow them whole.
Kairo screamed as the mark seared up his chest. His vision tore apart. For a moment, the world was nothing but light and wings and a voice older than mountains.
"You are no longer boy. You are gate. You are me."
Chains exploded around him. Golden fire erupted from his arm, splitting into vast, feathered wings that weren't his own. The creature froze mid-strike, its many eyes widening in primal terror.
Azariel was rising.
Kairo's body lifted from the chain, glowing like a star in the abyss. His voice doubled, layered with another that shook the Vale itself.
"Begone, carrion of the Abyss."
The golden wings struck once. The force flung the beast backwards, ripping through its scaled body. It shrieked, writhing, claws tearing into nothing as it plummeted into the black below.
The abyss swallowed it whole.
Silence fell.
Only the sound of the chain groaning beneath them remained. Selene stared, trembling, her lantern dim in the overwhelming glow of Kairo's body. Liora raised her blade again—but not at the creature. At him.
"Kairo…" she whispered, fear and awe tangled in her voice. "What are you?"
The glow faded. The wings dissolved into ash and light. Kairo collapsed to his knees, panting, the mark still burning like fire.
"I… don't know," he whispered.
But deep in the abyss, far below, the golden eyes opened again. Not just one, not just a thousand—millions.
And every single one was looking at him.
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⚡ End of Chapter 16.