Chapter 26 – The Second Oath of the Restless Soul
The sky above Prufen did not move. Yet beneath it, something began to tremble.
Xelix. The woman who once rebelled.
Now her body lay still in a special chamber within Enver's Prufen. Usually, she seemed asleep. But that day… something was different.
Her body shivered. Her cries tore through the air.
"Hot… too hot… cold… so cold… he… imprisoned me…!"
Enver stood before that chamber. Unmoving. But his mind sank deep into Prufen.
The Medusa card rose on its own.
Its color was dark red. A crack spread across its right edge. Black aura crawled like living maggots.
"Are you rebelling, Medusa?" Enver whispered.
The card pulsed.
Then burst.
Half of Medusa's body emerged. Astral serpents coiled around her arms and face, her eyes glowing violet.
She lunged at Enver without a word. No warning. No gratitude.
Enver did not fight back.
Her strike landed. Blood dripped. But he stood his ground.
"If you must hurt me to be free, then do it."
---
Elsewhere, the Hall of the Hellseer Council was wrapped in uncanny silence.
Thadric entered. His steps slow, yet his voice was enough to make Dorvas open his eyes.
"I want to speak."
Saelmir watched him. Silent.
"You… have lost control. Now even his cards reject Enver. Doesn't that mean… he is no longer the Hellseer?"
Dorvas tapped his finger on the arm of his seat. "And you?"
"I am not perfect," Thadric replied. "But if this balance must be preserved, then at least someone must be willing to stand amidst the ruins."
Saelmir whispered, "You wish to replace him?"
"No. I only wish not to let destruction grow unchecked."
---
Back in Prufen.
Medusa still attacked. Yet her strength was unstable. She was furious. But also lost.
"Why did you imprison me?!"
"Because I did not know how to heal you…"
Medusa froze.
Her astral serpents collapsed.
The card returned to its form, but its crack widened. From within, another voice emerged.
A woman's voice. Gentle. Deep.
"If you purify without listening… all you build is a prison of light."
Enver lifted his face. Gaze fixed on the void.
"Morren…"
But the voice was gone. Nothing remained. Only the faint tremor of Prufen's sky settling once more.
---
Outside, Thadric stood on the stone terrace before the Council Hall.
He gazed at the sky. Calm, yet filled with doubt.
"If even his own power rejects him, then Enver is no longer the Hellseer. He is… something far wilder."
---
Enver sat on the floor of Prufen's chamber. Three cards lay scattered.
One of them: Medusa. The others remained uncalled. Yet all of them trembled.
From within one card, a faint voice echoed:
"I do not hate you, Enver. I only do not yet understand why I should forgive."
Enver clasped one card. His blood dripped onto its edge.
"If you must wound me to be free, then let me be that wound."
No answer.
But deep beneath Prufen's ground, a sound stirred.
Faint. Profound.
Like the heartbeat of the world awakening from its long slumber.