Villain's Last Chance

The air inside the chamber had changed. It was heavier now, thick with something unseen, something old.

I could still feel the echoes of the vision clawing at the edges of my mind—the eyes watching, the hands reaching. The whispers of something worse than the Revenants.

And now, the Seer expected me to do the impossible.

Find the Origin.

Break the bond before it was too late.

I clenched my jaw. "Where is it?"

The Seer tilted her head, her storm-gray eyes settling on me like she already knew what I would do next. "You don't find the Origin," she said. "It finds you."

Marek let out a sharp breath. "Okay, that's really not helpful."

The Seer ignored him. "The Codex was not created in the way you understand. It was summoned. A fragment of something far greater, something that should never have been brought into this world."

Cairon stepped forward, his voice controlled but sharp. "Then who summoned it?"

The Seer exhaled slowly. "A long-dead order of scholars and sorcerers who thought they could control knowledge itself. They bound it into a form that could be wielded, believing they had tamed something ancient. But you cannot chain what does not belong to this world. The Codex does not serve its wielder—it consumes them."

A cold feeling slid down my spine.

"So, what? It's been feeding off me?" I demanded. "Since the moment I woke up in this body?"

The Seer regarded me for a long, unreadable moment. Then, finally, she said, "It has been watching you."

The silence that followed was suffocating.

Cairon moved closer, his voice lower now, controlled but edged with something dark. "What happens if it fully binds to her?"

The Seer's gaze didn't waver. "Then she will no longer belong to this world."

A chill cut through me.

No longer belong to this world.

I wasn't sure what that meant, but I knew it wasn't death—not in the way I had known it before. It was something worse.

I took a slow, steady breath. "And if I break it?"

The Seer hesitated.

Cairon caught it immediately. "There's a cost, isn't there?"

"There is always a cost," the Seer said. "And you are not ready to pay it."

Something flickered in her expression—pity, maybe. Or warning. But I didn't need either of those things.

I needed control.

I needed answers.

And I was done playing by the Codex's rules.

"I don't care what the cost is," I said. "Tell me what I need to do."

The Seer sighed, as if she had been expecting that answer. "The Codex is a fragment, but the Origin is whole. If you truly wish to sever your bond, you must face what it was before it became this."

Marek narrowed his eyes. "You're talking in riddles again."

The Seer ignored him. "The Origin exists in a place that is neither here nor there, neither dead nor alive. It can only be reached by those who carry the Codex's mark."

I lifted my hand before I even realized what I was doing, staring at the ink-dark sigil that had appeared the first time I touched the Codex.

"So, you're saying I need to go to this place and what—negotiate with it?"

"No," she said. "You need to survive it."

The weight of her words settled over us like a storm.

I felt Cairon's gaze on me, watching, waiting. For me to hesitate. For me to break.

But I wouldn't.

I couldn't.

Because if I did nothing, if I let this play out the way the Codex wanted, I wouldn't just lose control. I wouldn't just become something else.

I would cease to be.

And that was something I refused to accept.

I met the Seer's gaze, my voice steady. "Then tell me where to start."

The Seer studied me for another long moment before finally speaking.

"There is a temple," she said. "Far beyond the reach of kingdoms or maps. It is where the Codex first took form. If you wish to break its hold, you must return it to where it began."

Marek scoffed. "Oh, perfect. A forgotten temple in the middle of nowhere. That sounds easy."

Cairon was silent.

I turned to him. "You knew something like this was coming, didn't you?"

He didn't answer immediately, but when he finally spoke, his voice was quieter than I expected.

"I knew that whatever bound you to that thing wouldn't let you go without a fight."

There was something in his expression, something almost unreadable.

A flicker of something like regret.

I wasn't sure if that made things better or worse.

But it didn't matter.

Because I had already made my choice.

I turned back to the Seer. "Tell me how to get there."

The Seer's lips pressed into a thin line. "You will need a guide."

I arched a brow. "Oh? And where do I find one of those?"

She hesitated. Then, finally, she said, "He will find you."

Something about the way she said it made my stomach tighten.

I exhaled sharply. "Of course he will."

Because nothing about this was going to be simple.

And if the past had taught me anything, it was that whatever was waiting for me at that temple

It wouldn't let me leave alive.