2025-08-14 21:45:02The hooded figure didn’t move closer, They didn’t need to.
Even at this distance, Axel felt the weight of their gaze pressing against him, an invisible pressure that made his chest tighten. The soldiers behind them stood in unnatural stillness no clinking of armor, no shifting of boots, as if they’d been carved from the same pale metal.
Don’t speak to them, the goddess murmured in his head, her tone like frost biting skin. They are a Herald, Axel’s grip tightened on the hilt. “Herald of what?”
Of me. Before I was betrayed.
The hooded figure tilted their head slightly, as if hearing the goddess’s voice themselves. “Ah… so you do still whisper to your vessel. I wondered if the seal had broken enough for that.”
Kael’s hand brushed his arm, low and tense. “We need to go. Now.”
The Herald raised a single gloved hand, palm outward and Axel’s feet locked in place. Not by will, but by a pressure in the air, a binding like invisible chains around his ankles.
“You were not chosen for this, Axel,” the Herald said. “And yet here you are, carrying the Blade of Cindral as though you understand what it is. Do you know what will happen if you keep it?”
Axel swallowed. “Enlighten me.”
The Herald stepped forward, the glow from their soldiers casting long shadows. “You will burn. Your body will break. And when the last drop of your soul is gone, she will be free again. Do you understand? You are not her wielder. You are her host.”
The goddess’s voice was a sharp, cutting laugh, And you think I would waste him so easily? I have plans for this one, The Herald ignored her. “Give me the sword, Axel. Now. And you might live to see the next moonrise.”
For a heartbeat, the world was nothing but the weight of that choice, Kael’s grip on him tightened. “Axel… they’re telling the truth.”
He turned to her sharply. “You knew?”
Her jaw clenched. “I suspected.”
The goddess’s voice turned venomous, She’s lying. They’re both lying. This is a trap to take me from you, Axel’s mind spun. Trust Kael? Trust the Herald? Or trust the voice in his head that had already dragged him into half a dozen fights in under two days?
The Herald stepped closer, boots clicking against the wet cobblestones. “Choose.”
Axel made his choice, He yanked the blade free, the runes flaring brighter than they had in the market. The soldiers shifted, raising spears, but the Herald simply exhaled, and the air itself seemed to ripple.
Then the world erupted, Chains of light burst from the cobblestones, wrapping around Axel’s arms, legs, chest, pinning him in place. The sword screamed not in his mind, but aloud, a keening sound that rattled windows.
Fight them, Axel! Now!
The chains burned cold where they touched his skin. Every muscle screamed against the pressure, but the more he struggled, the heavier they became.
The Herald extended a hand. “Last chance.”
“Go to hell,” Axel spat.
The Herald’s head inclined slightly. “Then burn with her.”
Kael moved first. A blade flashed from her sleeve, slicing across the nearest chain. It didn’t break, but it shuddered, and the goddess seized the moment. My turn.
The runes exploded in light, and the chains snapped one by one, shattering into sparks that rained across the street. Axel staggered forward, sword raised, but the Herald was already retreating, their soldiers moving like a wall of steel to cover them.
“This isn’t over,” the Herald said, voice echoing as they vanished into the fog.
Silence fell, broken only by the crackle of fading sparks, Axel turned to Kael, his pulse still hammering. “Start talking.”
She looked at the sword, not at him. “That wasn’t just an enemy. That was someone who once served her. And if they’re after you… it means the rest of them will come too.”
Good, the goddess purred. Let them come. We’ll kill them all, Axel didn’t answer. Because for the first time, he wasn’t sure if he’d survive long enough to decide whose side he was actually on.
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Chapter 9 – The Ring in the Rift
Axel couldn’t move. The hand was still there, emerging from the dark seam in the ground, fingers flexing slowly, the silver ring glinting in the moonlight, It was his mother’s ring, It had to be.Every detail was exact, the thin, delicate band etched with the same tiny swirl pattern she used to say looked like a galaxy. He remembered holding it between his fingers as a child, the way she’d laugh and pretend to spin it to “start the stars moving.”Kael was already pulling him back, but he dug his heels into the cobblestones. “Wait!”“Axel, that’s not”The hand twitched, then curled in a beckoning motion, Don’t, the goddess’s voice coiled around him, sharp now. That’s not your mother. Axel’s throat tightened. You don’t know that.I do, she said flatly. I know what the Seal takes, and I know what it gives back. That thing in the rift? It’s neither alive nor dead, it’s a message, Kael’s grip on his arm was firm. “If you go near it, you might not come back.”Axel’s eyes stayed locked on th
Chapter 8 – The First Wielder
The words stuck in Axel’s mind like splinters. The one who put me here. The goddess’s voice still coiled in his thoughts, smooth as ever. Don’t look so shocked. You didn’t think I forged myself, did you?Kael was still staring at him, her eyes narrowing. “What did she just say to you?”Axel tightened his grip on the sword. “That Ethan’s message… wasn’t from her.”Kael’s expression darkened. “Then who?”Tell her, the goddess whispered, like she was daring him. Let her squirm, Axel didn’t take the bait. “She says it’s from someone else. Someone who… put her here.”Kael’s hand hovered near her dagger. “Then that’s worse than I thought.”The night air carried a damp chill as they moved through the winding streets. Every shadow looked deeper now, every corner a potential breach point. The lamps seemed to flicker more than before, and Axel found himself watching the ground, half-expecting another seam of darkness to rip open at his feet.Kael’s voice was low, cautious. “You’ve heard the sto
Chapter 7 – The Mark Left Behind
The silence after the breach collapsed was deafening. No distant voices. No hum of unstable magic. Just the faint creak of warped boards beneath Axel’s boots as he forced himself to stand.Kael straightened slowly, pressing a palm to her ribs. “That… wasn’t a clean closure.”Axel looked around the safehouse, his pulse still hammering in his ears. “Where did Ethan go?”Kael’s jaw tightened. “You think I know? One second he was here ” She gestured sharply to the space where Ethan had stood. “The next, he’s gone. That’s not normal magic.”He didn’t leave, the goddess said, her voice curling around Axel’s thoughts. He was pulled, Axel’s fingers tightened around the sword hilt. “Pulled? By what?”By me, she whispered, almost teasing, but there was something underneath. Not pride. Not malice. Something Axel couldn’t name.Kael bent over the floor where the breach had been. Frost still coated the boards in jagged, uneven patterns, as though a storm had frozen the space mid-movement. She touc
Chapter 6 – The Seal Cracks
The room felt too small. The safehouse had always been narrow, but now the walls seemed to press in, the air thick with the weight of three different storms about to collide. Kael’s hand never left the dagger on her belt.Ethan’s eyes never left the sword in Axel’s grip. And the goddess, she was inside his head, burning hot, her voice wrapping around his thoughts like a vice. Kill him before he opens the wound further.“Axel,” Kael said, her voice low and precise, “tell me exactly who this is. And don’t try to downplay it.”“I already told you,” Axel replied, trying to steady his breathing. “He’s”He stopped himself. No, that wasn’t the whole truth. The word “friend” didn’t fit anymore. Not after everything Ethan had just said.Ethan smirked, reading the hesitation. “We were friends,” he said for him, taking another deliberate step into the room. His boots made no sound on the warped floorboards. “Before the accident. Before your second life started.”Kael’s gaze sharpened. “Second li
Chapter 5 – Ghosts Don’t Belong Here
The safehouse wasn’t much to look at a narrow, leaning building squeezed between two abandoned warehouses, its front door half-hidden under a sagging awning.Kael led him inside without lighting a lamp. The air smelled faintly of dust and dried herbs. “Don’t touch anything,” she said. “Some of these wards are old and… unpredictable.”Axel lowered himself onto a worn bench, still feeling the phantom weight of the Herald’s chains on his skin.“You going to explain now?” he asked.Kael hung her cloak by the door, but didn’t turn to face him. “Heralds don’t hunt at random. If one found us, it means they knew exactly where you’d be. Which means someone or something is tracking the blade.”Of course they are, the goddess cut in, her voice like a knife drawn along glass. They’re my old pets, and they can’t accept I’ve chosen a new keeper. “Keeper?” Axel said. “You mean host.”Kael’s eyes flicked to him. “So they told you.”Lies, the goddess hissed. Twist the truth and make him doubt me, tha
Chapter 4 – The Herald of Chains
The hooded figure didn’t move closer, They didn’t need to.Even at this distance, Axel felt the weight of their gaze pressing against him, an invisible pressure that made his chest tighten. The soldiers behind them stood in unnatural stillness no clinking of armor, no shifting of boots, as if they’d been carved from the same pale metal.Don’t speak to them, the goddess murmured in his head, her tone like frost biting skin. They are a Herald, Axel’s grip tightened on the hilt. “Herald of what?”Of me. Before I was betrayed.The hooded figure tilted their head slightly, as if hearing the goddess’s voice themselves. “Ah… so you do still whisper to your vessel. I wondered if the seal had broken enough for that.”Kael’s hand brushed his arm, low and tense. “We need to go. Now.”The Herald raised a single gloved hand, palm outward and Axel’s feet locked in place. Not by will, but by a pressure in the air, a binding like invisible chains around his ankles.“You were not chosen for this, Axel
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