✦ CHAPTER SEVEN
The Harbinger's Choice
Reality fractured around Eryndor.
The sigil in his palm pulsed like a heartbeat — not his own, but something ancient, something vast. His vision blurred, filled with streaks of white fire and shadow.
Theron's hand remained pressed against the mark.
Kaelith lunged, scythe reforming mid-air with blistering speed.
"STEP AWAY FROM HIM!"
The High Reaper's strike would have cleaved through Theron's skull—
Except the chains moved.
They twisted like serpents, catching the blade mid-swing. The resulting shockwave shattered half the chamber wall.
Dust and debris rained down.
Theron didn't flinch.
He looked down at Eryndor, his voice barely more than breath.
"You were not chosen for obedience."
He guided Eryndor's hand to the center of the sigil.
"You were chosen because you question."
Kaelith ripped his scythe free, eyes blazing.
"You don't know what he is, Eryndor! He is a curse — a calamity. The last time he walked free, entire realms—"
Theron snapped the chain at Kaelith's feet.
The floor cracked beneath him.
"My freedom saved them."
Eryndor staggered to his feet, throat dry. "Both of you — stop!"
His voice shook, but it carried.
Kaelith pointed the scythe at him. "You cannot trust him. He wants to end all reapers."
Theron countered, voice low and steady. "I do not want to end reapers. I want to end the system that devours them."
Eryndor stared between the two.
Kaelith, refined and deadly, the leader of everything Eryndor had ever known.
Theron, the chained legacy, speaking to him like he mattered.
Eryndor swallowed hard. "Why me? I'm no leader. I'm barely a reaper."
Theron stepped closer, chains dragging across the floor like the echoes of centuries.
"You listened to a soul no one else heard."
He lifted Eryndor's hand again.
"You are not weak. You are compassionate."
Kaelith took a sharp breath, as though the word itself offended him.
"Compassion kills reapers. It ruins judgment. It corrupts—"
"No," Theron said calmly.
"It redeems."
The chains around Theron's wrists glowed brighter.
A deep rumble shook the chamber and the lanterns outside the door flickered back to life — only to erupt in violent black flame.
Alarms screamed through the Citadel.
Reapers poured into the corridors beyond, shouting orders. Doors slammed. The Citadel entered full lockdown.
Kaelith exhaled, and the torches answered, bending their flames toward him. He seemed to absorb the light, growing taller, darker.
"If you release him, every realm will bleed."
Theron lifted his wrists, chains clinking.
"If you keep me chained, they already are."
Eryndor's pulse hammered.
He hated this.
He hated choosing.
But one truth had cut through everything:
A chained soul had begged him not to be forgotten — and he had listened.
He stepped between Kaelith and Theron.
Kaelith's eyes widened. "Move."
Eryndor shook his head. "No."
"Eryndor."
Theron's voice was quiet, steady.
"You must choose."
Kaelith raised his scythe.
Theron lowered his chained hands.
Silence.
Then Eryndor spoke, voice trembling but sure.
"I choose the truth."
His power surged.
Light erupted from his sigil.
The chains binding Theron shattered.
The explosion of released energy blew Kaelith backward, slamming him into the chamber wall. The scythe clattered across the floor, clanging like the toll of a funeral bell.
Theron inhaled sharply — his first breath as a free being in a millennia.
The flames in the room guttered out.
Silence reclaimed the chamber.
Theron looked at Eryndor, eyes wide, sudden emotion breaking through his stoic calm.
"You freed me."
"I— I didn't know if I could."
"You did."
Kaelith rose to one knee, shaking with fury and a grief that seemed centuries old.
"You have doomed us all."
The Citadel trembled again — but this time, it wasn't Theron's power.
It was the response.
Across the fortress, alarms shrieked as the entire Reaper Order mobilized.
Footsteps thundered. Voices shouted.
"High Reaper down!"
"Contain Eryndor and the anomaly!"
"Seal all gates!"
Theron offered Eryndor his hand.
"Come. We do not have long."
The chamber doors blew open — Seris burst through, panting, eyes wide.
"What in the nine realms did you do?!"
Eryndor grabbed their wrist, pulling them toward Theron.
"Something I can't undo."
Seris stared at Theron, speechless. "Is that— is that the chained soul? He has abs."
"Not the priority," Eryndor hissed.
Theron met Seris's gaze. "We will need you."
"That is the priority," Seris muttered, flustered.
Kaelith stood, shadows gathering around his form, his voice a quiet, deadly promise.
"I will unmake you, Eryndor."
Theron positioned himself between them.
"No.
You had your chance."
He snapped his fingers.
A portal tore open — raw, wild energy spiraling into a rift that led far beyond the Citadel.
Eryndor hesitated.
Once he stepped through, there was no going back.
Seris squeezed his hand. "We jump together, yes?"
He nodded.
They leapt.
The portal sealed shut behind them.
Kaelith stood alone in the ruined chamber, surrounded by collapsing walls and dying lanterns.
He whispered to the darkness:
"Harbinger."