The cavern felt smaller, as if the walls had closed in around them.
Lysandra could feel the weight of the prisoner's words settling into her bones.
Kill me… or set me free.
Jael stood utterly still, his golden eyes locked onto the silver gaze of the forgotten heir. His fingers flexed against the hilt of his sword, but he did not move.
Lysandra's heart pounded. She wanted to say something, anything, but the air between them felt charged, like the moment before a storm.
"I don't even know your name."
Jael's voice was low, unsteady.
The prisoner tilted his head, the glow of the runes reflecting in his pale irises. "That is because it was taken from me."
Lysandra shivered. She had heard of magic powerful enough to erase someone from history, but to see the result standing before them—**alive, but forgotten—**made her stomach twist.
Jael exhaled slowly. "You're asking me to trust you."
"I am asking you to decide."
Silence.
Lysandra stepped forward before she could stop herself. "What happens if we free you?"
The prisoner's silver eyes flickered to her. "Then I will take back what was stolen from me."
Jael tensed. "Revenge."
The prisoner smiled—a slow, cold thing. "Justice."
Lysandra hesitated. "And if we don't?"
The prisoner's expression didn't change. "Then I will remain here. And the curse will live on."
The words were a blade to the gut.
Jael flinched.
Lysandra could see the war in his eyes—duty versus anger, the weight of a history he had never questioned.
The truth he had never been told.
She wasn't sure how long they stood there, the three of them, the cavern alive with the hum of old magic.
And then Jael moved.
The Blade's Edge
Lysandra barely had time to react before Jael drew his sword.
The steel caught the eerie blue light, gleaming as he stepped forward, his grip steady.
Lysandra's breath hitched. "Jael—"
But he didn't look at her.
His gaze was locked onto the prisoner.
Lysandra braced herself, expecting an attack—a final blow, a choice made in blood.
Instead, Jael raised his sword—
And brought it down on the chains.
A sharp, ringing clash filled the chamber. The impact sent a crack through the ancient metal, the sigils flaring brightly before shattering into fading embers.
The prisoner staggered as the magic holding him broke.
A gust of power rushed through the cavern, making Lysandra's hair whip around her face. The walls shuddered, the runes flickering as if some unseen force had been unleashed.
Jael stood there, chest heaving, watching as the prisoner took his first unbound breath.
Lysandra could barely believe what she was seeing.
"…You freed me."
The prisoner's voice was barely more than a whisper.
Jael tightened his grip on his sword. "I made my choice."
A slow smile spread across the prisoner's face.
The cavern seemed to darken, the shadows curling like smoke as the weight of his release settled over them.
"Then let's begin."