Darkness did not feel empty anymore.
It pressed.
It listened.
Liora drifted somewhere between waking and falling, her senses dulled yet painfully aware of something vast brushing against the edges of her mind.
She could feel the bond,no longer a thin thread but a wide, pulsing tether anchored deep in her chest.
It hurt to breathe.
It hurt more not to.
She tried to move and found her limbs heavy, as if gravity itself had doubled its grip on her body. Cold stone pressed against her back. The air smelled of ash, old metal, and something faintly bitter,magic residue.
"Liora."
The sound of her name cut through the fog in her mind.
She opened her eyes.
Light flared painfully.
She lay on a wide stone dais etched with runes that glowed faintly blue, the symbols crawling slowly beneath her skin when she looked at them too long. Tall iron pillars ringed the chamber, chains hanging unused from hooks embedded deep into the stone walls.
Across from her,
Kael.
He was upright, bound.
Not with chains.
With sigils.
Bands of light wrapped around his wrists, ankles, throat, and chest, pinning him upright against a standing monolith carved with symbols far older than anything Aldric had ever shown her. Shadows bled from his body in slow, restless tendrils, recoiling violently each time they touched the glowing restraints.
"Kael!" Liora tried to sit up.
Pain speared through her chest.
She gasped, collapsing back onto the stone.
Kael's head snapped up instantly.
"Don't," he said urgently. "You'll tear it."
"Tear what?" she whispered.
"The bond," he said. It's… wider now.
She swallowed hard. "You feel it too?"
His mouth twitched. "I feel everything."
Footsteps echoed through the chamber.
Measured. Calm .Unhurried.
Maeven emerged from the shadows between the pillars, hands clasped loosely behind her back. Her expression was serene,satisfied.
"You're awake sooner than expected," she said pleasantly. "Both of you."
Liora glared at her. Let him go.
Maeven's gaze flicked toward Kael, amused. "You make it sound like I'm holding a pet.
"You're holding a person," Liora snapped.
Maeven tilted her head. That depends on how one defines person.
Kael snarled, shadows surging violently against the restraints. The sigils flared brighter, forcing him still. He hissed in pain, jaw clenching hard enough that blood welled at the corner of his mouth.
"Stop it!" Liora cried.
Maeven sighed. "You see? Uncontrolled. Dangerous." She turned her attention fully to Liora. "And you are the only reason he hasn't torn this entire sanctum apart.
Liora's stomach dropped. What did you do to us?
Maeven smiled. We stabilized you.
Kael barked out a bitter laugh. You anchored us.
"Temporarily," Maeven corrected. Until we determine what you truly are.
A door creaked open behind her.
Aldric entered slowly, his staff dim, his face drawn and pale. Serin followed close behind him, bow unstrung at her back, jaw tight with barely contained fury.
Serin's eyes locked onto Kael.
Then to Liora.
"You're alive," she said flatly.
"Is that a problem?" Liora shot back.
Serin flinched,just slightly. "No."
Aldric cleared his throat. You should know… she hasn't slept since you collapsed.
Maeven arched an eyebrow. How touching.
Serin ignored her. "You called something," she said to Kael. "Something big."
Kael looked away. I didn't mean to.
"But you did," Aldric said quietly. And whatever answered… noticed her too.
His gaze shifted to Liora.
Her pulse spiked. Noticed me how?
Aldric hesitated.
Maeven answered instead.
"The awakening ripple spread outward," she said. "Most of it converged on Kael. But some of it," her eyes gleamed ,latched onto you.
Liora's throat went dry. "Latched how?"
Maeven stepped closer, boots echoing softly against stone. "You are no longer just an anchor," she said. You are a conduit.
Kael's head snapped up. "Don't say that."
Maeven smiled faintly. "It's already true."
The sigils around Kael flared violently as his breathing grew ragged. Liora felt the pressure spike inside her chest, sharp and sudden, stealing her breath.
She cried out.
Instantly, the sigils dimmed.
Kael gasped, body sagging against the restraints.
Maeven froze.
Slowly, she turned to stare at Liora.
"Well," she murmured. "That's new."
Serin's eyes widened. She suppressed the restraints.
Aldric stared at Liora in stunned silence.
Liora pressed a trembling hand to her chest. "I didn't mean to.
Kael's voice was rough. You didn't have to.
Maeven's smile returned,this time sharper. Hungrier.
"Fascinating," she said. The bond isn't just stabilizing him.
She leaned in close to Liora, lowering her voice. "It's rewriting you."
Liora's blood turned to ice.
"No," she whispered. "I didn't agree to any of this."
Maeven straightened. "Awakenings never ask for consent."
Serin swore. "You can't keep them here."
"Oh, I can," Maeven replied calmly. "And I will."
Aldric stepped forward, voice tight. Maeven, this was not our agreement. Observation, not incarceration.
Maeven's gaze hardened. "Plans change."
She gestured sharply.
The sigils around Kael flared again,harder, brighter. He screamed, shadows tearing violently against the restraints.
Liora screamed too.
"STOP!" she sobbed. "You're killing him!"
Maeven hesitated.
The sigils flickered.
Kael's breathing slowed.
Silence fell.
Maeven stared between them, calculation flickering behind her eyes.
"You see?" she said softly. You are a vulnerability.
She turned to Aldric. And also an opportunity.
Serin's fists clenched. "You're talking about training her.
Maeven nodded. "If she breaks, he breaks. If she grows,
Kael snarled. Don't you dare!
Maeven ignored him,we may finally understand what awakening truly means.
Aldric's voice was barely above a whisper. Or destroy the world trying.
Maeven's smile sharpened. Progress demands risk.
She turned on her heel and strode toward the exit. "Prepare the lower chambers. Separate them.
Liora's heart slammed painfully. "No!"
Kael surged violently against the restraints. "Don't touch her!"
The sigils screamed.
Liora collapsed forward, choking as pain ripped through her chest.
Maeven paused at the doorway.
"Oh," she added casually, and Kael?
He glared at her through pain and shadow.
"If you lose control again," she said, we won't restrain you next time.
The doors slammed shut.
Darkness rushed back in.
Liora lay gasping on the stone, tears streaking her face.
"Kael," she whispered desperately.
His voice reached her through the bond,frayed, terrified human.
"I'm still here," he said. "No matter what they do."
The bond pulsed.
Deep.
Wide.
Awake.
And somewhere beyond the sanctum,
Something ancient leaned closer to listen.