The voice wasn't male or female. It wasn't even outside her, it was inside every part of her, ancient and sorrowful, strong and full of warning. Mae tried to speak. No words came. "You've touched divinity before you were ready. The fracture stirs, but the war has not yet begun." She blinked, or thought she did, and a figure appeared, not formed of flesh or bone, but of red-gold shimmer, the same color that had poured into her. The figure didn't speak aloud, but she could feel every word against her soul like pressure against a wound.
"You carry existence. You carry destruction. You carry both paths, and those who follow you will either thrive, or perish." Mae's heart throbbed once, like it was waking up.
"Kaine must be rewired," the voice continued, almost gently. "His tether is unraveling. If he breaks, he takes many with him. And you, you must learn. You must train. If you do not master what lives inside you, the next time it stirs, it may not be your body that remains."
She wanted to scream. Wanted to say, I didn't ask for this. But the figure only looked at her, though it had no face, and whispered into her blood: "You were not chosen, Mae. You were born. You are the echo of what was lost. And what must now be found."
And then, pain. A sharp shock tore through her chest, bright and hot and sudden like being struck by lightning from the inside. Mae screamed without sound, then she fell. She landed in her body with a silent gasp. Back in the castle. Back on the couch. Back in the room she had vanished from. Still unconscious, but this time her body was different. Warmer. Faintly glowing under the skin, as though the very script of creation had written itself into her blood. The others didn't know it yet. But she had seen what was coming.
And this was only the beginning. "What the hell?" Kaine's voice cut through the room like a blade. Everyone turned, Ashar first, then Riven. The others followed in stunned silence. There she was. Mae. Back on her feet. She stood where she'd been before vanishing, but different. The air around her shimmered like a mirage, a faint pulse of power breathing from her skin in slow, rhythmic waves. Her eyes weren't glowing, but they held something. Something older. Something that had seen, more. She didn't speak. She just walked. Each step toward Kaine was slow, deliberate. The room didn't dare breathe. Kaine instinctively stepped back, but she reached him before he could go far.
Without hesitation, she grabbed his shirt, fisting the fabric tight in both hands. Still silent. But inside her, the words hummed like a chant she didn't need to say aloud:
Rewire. Rewire family. Her heart pulsed. Her fingers tightened. Her eyes flared blue, a hue they hadn't seen before. One that seemed ancient. Kaine froze in her grip. Not paralyzed, overwhelmed. Riven's eyes widened. "Ash, you feel that?" Ashar's jaw tensed. "I hear her." They both did. Inside their heads, as clear as breath: "Remember Mae. Rewire. Family."
Mae's entire body began to glow, a deep, vibrating blue aura cascading out from her like ripples through reality. Kaine began to shake. Not from fear, but from exposure.
His body answered hers, his aura igniting in turn, tethered unwillingly to hers.
And then came the burn. Not fire. Not smoke. But spiritual combustion, a peeling back of everything false. Kaine screamed. Not in pain, but in pure overload. Like something inside him was being ripped apart and rebuilt all at once. He collapsed to his knees, clawing at the air, eyes wide in helpless awe. "What are you, what are you doing?"
Mae said nothing. She just held him there, commanding the energy until the rewiring was done. Until the Kaine they knew, was no longer capable of betraying her. Not her. Not this place. Not the other four men she was bonded to. When she released him, he gasped, falling fully to the floor, dazed, sweat-covered, and shaking. She looked down at him. Her voice was low. Calm. Final. "You should be thankful. All I did was make it so you can't ever betray me again. Or this place. Or them." She gestured toward the other four. Ashar. Riven. Lucien. Sethis.
Kaine looked up, chest rising in ragged pants, and saw something he hadn't seen before: power without mercy. "You'll always remember how you feel about me, Kaine," she added. "Fear."
"But when you leave here, and you will, you'll forget how to come back. You'll forget the path. The names. The way the walls curved and the stars looked above this place." She turned her back on him and walked toward Ashar and Riven. "And if you do manage to find your way back,"
"it'll be your own demise." No one moved. No one questioned. Kaine stayed where he was, quiet, stunned, and hollow-eyed. Whatever Mae had done, it had worked. He had been rewired. But not forgiven.