Chapter 145 — The Price of Time
"Choose."
Azael's voice carried through the sanctuary.
Behind him, the forest broke apart.
Mórkr was coming.
Brook could feel it through Death.
The lifeline was enormous.
Ancient.
Wounded.
And moving directly toward them.
But Brook's eyes remained on Azael.
"What do you want?"
Azael smiled.
"Finally."
Sera stepped forward.
Crowley immediately caught her arm.
She pulled away.
"Stop doing that."
Crowley didn't.
"Sera."
"I can handle myself."
Azael laughed.
The sound made Brook's grip tighten.
"You've grown."
Sera stared at him.
"Last time we met, you nearly killed me."
Azael's smile widened.
"I remember."
The air changed.
Brook moved.
Crowley noticed.
"Brook."
Brook didn't stop.
Azael looked at him.
"Oh."
Brook stepped past Sera.
"You remember?"
Azael raised an eyebrow.
"Everything."
Brook's voice was quiet.
"Good."
Azael smiled.
"Then you understand why I want you angry."
The words stopped Brook.
Crowley looked at him.
"What?"
Azael's smile remained.
"Elias is very interested in what happens when you lose control."
Brook's eyes narrowed.
Azael glanced toward Sera.
"And what happens when she refuses."
Sera went still.
Crowley understood immediately.
"Your orders."
Azael nodded.
"Simple."
He lifted his wounded arm slightly.
"Bring Sera."
Sera stared at him.
Azael smiled.
"Or leave her broken."
Brook remembered.
The blood.
Sera barely breathing.
Azael standing over her.
The anger came back.
Death stirred.
Then something else.
A faint sound.
Laughter.
Lucifer.
Brook's vision darkened for a moment.
Henry noticed.
"Brook."
Brook blinked.
The feeling disappeared.
Azael smiled.
"There it is."
Brook looked at him.
Azael's expression changed.
"Do it."
Crowley stepped in front of Brook.
"No."
Brook grabbed Crowley's shoulder.
Crowley didn't move.
"Brook."
Azael laughed.
"Your friend understands."
Brook's voice lowered.
"Move."
Crowley looked back.
"No."
Brook stared at him.
Crowley stared back.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then the ground shook.
Mórkr roared.
The sanctuary walls cracked.
The dead moved forward.
Shoyo raised her hands.
"Enough!"
Everyone looked at her.
Shoyo's eyes were fixed on the forest.
"We have seconds."
Azael looked toward her.
"The First Witch."
Shoyo stared back.
"You don't belong here."
Azael smiled.
"Neither does your sanctuary."
The king stepped forward.
The air changed.
Azael looked at him.
The former king's voice was calm.
"You know why this place exists."
Azael's smile faded slightly.
"I know what Elias told me."
The king nodded.
"Then you know less than you think."
Azael's expression darkened.
The king looked toward the forest.
"Mórkr will destroy this place."
Azael smiled again.
"That is why I brought him."
Brook understood.
Azael wanted the sanctuary destroyed.
But why?
The open seal.
The path.
The king.
Silvet had opened something.
Azael was here to make sure nothing stopped it.
Brook's eyes narrowed.
"You're working for Silvet."
Azael laughed.
"No."
The answer came too quickly.
Brook stared.
Azael smiled.
"Elias doesn't serve him."
Crowley frowned.
"But you know him."
Azael looked toward the trees.
"I know enough."
That was all he said.
The first tree exploded.
Mórkr emerged.
Henry stopped breathing.
The Hunter was larger than anything Brook had imagined.
Its body was covered in old wounds.
Some fresh.
Some ancient.
Blood covered its side.
Azael had hurt it.
Or Mórkr had hurt Azael.
Maybe both.
The creature's eyes moved.
Brook.
Crowley.
Sera.
The king.
Then—
the open door.
Everything stopped.
Mórkr stared at the sanctuary.
The dead began moving toward it.
Azael stepped backward.
Brook noticed.
"You're afraid."
Azael smiled.
"Of that?"
Mórkr roared.
The sound struck Brook's chest.
Azael's smile disappeared.
"Yes."
Brook understood.
Azael had brought it.
But he couldn't control it.
The Hunter moved.
The dead attacked.
Bodies crashed into it.
Mórkr swung.
One of the dead disappeared beneath its claws.
Henry stared.
"They're trying to stop it."
Shoyo stepped forward.
"They can't."
Brook looked at her.
"Then what?"
Shoyo looked toward the open seal.
"We close it."
The king's expression changed.
"No."
Shoyo turned.
"We have to."
The king shook his head.
"Not until he remembers."
Everyone looked at Crowley.
Crowley stared at the black door.
Brook understood.
The king knew something Crowley needed to remember.
Something connected to closing the path.
Henry looked toward them.
"Can we do this after we survive?"
The ground shook.
Mórkr tore through another dead guardian.
Azael laughed.
Brook turned.
"What?"
Azael looked at the destruction.
"The dead never learn."
The king's expression hardened.
"No."
The king looked directly at him.
"But monsters do."
Azael's smile faded.
Mórkr suddenly turned.
Not toward the sanctuary.
Toward Azael.
Azael froze.
Brook watched.
The Hunter moved.
Azael jumped back.
The creature struck.
Azael blocked with his good arm.
The impact threw him through a broken wall.
Henry stared.
"Okay."
Brook almost smiled.
Mórkr roared.
Then moved toward Azael again.
Brook's lifelines flared.
Azael was running.
Not fighting.
The Hunter followed.
The forest swallowed them.
Their roars continued in the distance.
The sanctuary became still.
Henry looked around.
"Did we just get lucky?"
Crowley answered.
"No."
Brook looked at him.
Crowley stared toward the forest.
"We got time."
The king turned toward Crowley.
"Now."
Crowley didn't move.
The king stepped closer.
"You need to remember."
Crowley shook his head.
"I don't know how."
The king looked at the black door.
"You made it forget."
Crowley frowned.
"What?"
The king nodded.
"The path."
Shoyo became still.
Brook looked at her.
"You knew?"
Shoyo spoke quietly.
"I knew someone sealed it."
The king looked at Crowley.
"You did more than seal it."
Crowley's expression changed.
"What did I do?"
The king looked toward the black structure.
"You took the memory."
Silence.
Crowley stepped back.
Brook stared at him.
"You erased your own memory?"
Crowley laughed once.
Without humor.
"I apparently do that."
The king's expression softened.
"You asked me to."
Crowley stared.
The king continued.
"You knew you would not survive remembering."
Sera stepped toward Crowley.
"What happened?"
The king looked at her.
Crowley shook his head.
"No."
The king stopped.
Crowley's voice became firmer.
"I remember."
Everyone looked at him.
Crowley closed his eyes.
And this time—
the memory came.
The old world was dying.
Crowley stood beneath the sanctuary.
Younger.
Blood covered his hands.
The king stood inside the black chamber.
His family waited behind Crowley.
A woman.
Two children.
The king looked at him.
"They are safe?"
Crowley nodded.
"They will be."
The king smiled.
Then looked toward the darkness beyond the door.
A path.
Something on the other side.
Crowley couldn't see it.
But he could feel it.
Watching.
The king looked at him.
"How long?"
Crowley lowered his eyes.
"Forever, if the deal holds."
The king smiled.
"Then do it."
Crowley stepped toward him.
The king stopped him.
"One more thing."
Crowley looked at him.
"When this is done, you will forget."
Crowley frowned.
"Why?"
The king looked toward the darkness.
"Because someone must remember what you did."
The memory broke.
Crowley opened his eyes.
He was crying.
The king stood in front of him.
Crowley whispered:
"You stayed."
The king nodded.
"To hold it."
Brook looked at the door.
"You were the last seal."
The king looked at him.
"Yes."
Henry stared.
"Then you're the reason the path stayed closed."
The king nodded.
"For as long as I could."
The ground shook.
Everyone turned.
Mórkr roared.
Closer.
Azael roared back.
They were coming again.
The king looked toward Crowley.
"The deal gave me immortality."
Crowley stared.
"But not freedom."
Silence.
The king looked toward the black door.
"I protected my family."
Crowley's breathing slowed.
"And then I became the prison."
Brook understood.
The former king had received immortality to protect his family.
But Crowley had used that immortality for something else.
To keep the path sealed.
Crowley had not betrayed him.
But he had condemned him.
Crowley whispered:
"I'm sorry."
The king smiled.
"You came back."
Crowley looked at him.
"I forgot."
The king's expression softened.
"But you came back."
A scream came from the forest.
Not Mórkr.
Sera froze.
Brook looked toward the trees.
Azael.
Brook's grip tightened.
Death showed him the lifelines.
Mórkr.
Azael.
Both badly damaged.
But something else was moving.
Brook's expression changed.
Henry noticed.
"What?"
Brook looked deeper.
A familiar lifeline.
Wrong.
Broken.
Henry.
Everyone turned toward him.
Henry was standing beside Brook.
"What?"
Brook stared.
Then another.
Not Henry.
The Ectoplasm inside him.
Brook stepped back.
Henry's face changed.
"Brook?"
The lifeline moved.
Violently.
Henry dropped to his knees.
Sera rushed toward him.
Henry screamed.
Black fluid spilled from his mouth.
Shoyo froze.
Brook looked toward Crowley.
"The Ectoplasm."
Henry screamed again.
And suddenly—
he stopped.
His eyes opened.
They weren't his.
Brook raised his weapon.
Henry looked at him.
Then smiled.
A cruel smile.
One Brook had never seen before.
Crowley whispered:
"Elias."
Henry turned his head.
And spoke.
But the voice that came from his mouth was not his.
"Now you understand."
End of Chapter 145