Though trying to speak, the fire crackled in the hearth. The shadows within the cabin walls shifted-not from candlelight but apparently from something far older and more menacing. Something watching. Eli stood at the center of all this, still as stone.
"I don't want to ruin either of you," he said softly. The words floated in the air like frost. Kael turned his gaze away.
Amon stared at him as if he were shattering all over again.
But the First Sin, standing behind Eli like a twin forged in fire and sorrow, whispered inside his thoughts: "You must." Eli closed his eyes. The memory still burned within his chest: the bond once joined between the three of them-the warmth, the power, the terrifying beauty of it all and how it had shattered at Kael's step-back.
He had loved them both. Not equally. Not the same way. But fully. Completely. And that was the problem. He could not carry them both into what came next.
"I'm giving you both one chance," Eli said, voice trembling with something divine. "One truth. One choice. And then…I decide." Amon's Truth Amon stepped forward, eyes like storms.
"You were everything," he said. "Before the fall. After. In every life. You were the only thing that would make eternity bearable."
He touched Eli's hand, gently, reverently.
"But I was selfish," Amon confessed. "I loved you so much I didn't care what it cost you. I wanted you in every version of time, even if it meant torturing you through the bones of mortals and broken memories."
He dropped to one knee.
"I don't deserve to be chosen. But I would burn the world before I let anyone take you from me again." Kael's Truth
Kael didn't move closer. He simply stood there in front of him. Hands folded in front of him, steady as stone. "I loved you even before I knew what love meant. Not as in possession but loss. That's why I broke the bond. That was what the council would do to you."
He looked at Amon. Not in hate. But with sadness.
"I betrayed us. Yes. But not out of jealousy. I did it to save you."
He met Eli's gaze directly. "If I had said the truth back then, you would have chosen both of us again. You would have gone through the ritual. You would have died."
The Room Trembles Magic thickened. Eli could feel it coiling around him in a force of choice: a storm. Time could be felt branching again, reality splintering as he awaited a decision.
His looked at Amon. Fierce. Loyal. Hungry with love.
He looked at Kael. Silent. Sorrowful.
Endlessly patient. They were fire and wind. Rage and restraint. Past and Future.
But only one could walk forward with him. And the other... The other would be claimed by the First Sin.
"It is time," the fire-echo whispered.
The Choice Eli stepped forward. The cabin pulsed with raw light. Wings formed in the shadows. The ceiling faded into stars.
He stopped in front of—