Lysandra's fingers hovered over the glowing chains wrapped around her wrists. They pulsed with an eerie light, faint but unyielding.
Bound.
All this time, she had believed she was merely cursed, a victim of cruel fate. But this was deliberate. A shackle. A control.
Her throat tightened as she looked up at Kastian. "If the Forgotten God made these chains, how do we break them?"
Kastian's gaze darkened. "There are only two ways."
The air between them grew thick with tension.
Lysandra exhaled. "Tell me."
Kastian hesitated, but only for a moment. "The first—" he lifted his wrist, letting the cursed silver shimmer under the moonlight. "Is to find the one who forged them."
Lysandra clenched her fists. "And the second?"
Kastian's smirk was grim. "To force them to break through sheer power."
A slow chill curled through her veins.
Raw, untamed power.
Her magic had always been a whisper, something she feared. But now she understood why—because it had never been whole.
She wasn't weak.
She had been limited.
The Forgotten God's Mistake
Lysandra's voice was steady when she spoke. "You said the Forgotten God made a mistake when he created us."
Kastian nodded. "He tried to make something beyond his control. And when he realized he had gone too far, he cursed us. Not to punish us—" his eyes met hers, sharp and knowing, "—but to stop us from reaching what we were meant to be."
A thrill ran through her chest.
Not cursed. Sealed.
The Forgotten God feared them.
Lysandra's heart pounded.
If the god who created them was afraid, then that meant…
She and Kastian were more powerful than they had ever known.
A Dangerous Plan
Lysandra squared her shoulders. "So we find him."
Kastian arched a brow. "And then?"
She didn't hesitate.
"We make him break the chains."
Kastian huffed a short laugh, but there was admiration in his eyes. "You say that like it will be easy."
Lysandra smirked. "I thought you liked impossible odds."
Kastian shook his head, but a grin tugged at his lips. "Then I hope you're ready, Shadow Beast. Because if we're going after a god…"
His eyes burned with determination.
"…we'll need to become monsters first."