CHAPTER 314: THE MOUSE IN THE TRAP [2]

...Had he wanted me to figure out... just to feel this exact crushing helplessness?

It seems like I’d outsmarted myself right into a checkmate.

Ossian continued watching me as understanding dawned on my face, the violet light in his sockets gleaming with infinite amusement. He leaned forward, the shadows coiling around him like affectionate serpents.

"You know," he whispered, the sound slithering into my ears. "At the start, I was genuinely not going to harm you and your friend. I would have let you leave with the precious relic, with your ’gifts’, your hopeful hearts intact. You would have been my hearlds, my unwitting liberators, and I might have even felt a flicker of gratitude. But you..."

His voice dropped to an intimate, chilling pitch, full of mock regret.

"...You just had to be ’clever’."

...He’s insulting me, right?

But I didn’t have time to get emotional. I need to continue with the plan.

"...Then, are you going to kill us now?"

"..." A beat of silence.

"Hehe~" Ossian laughed again, a dry, rasping sound that held no warmth. "Kill you? No, no, no. That’s such a crude and boring solution. That’ll be too wasteful. I have another idea~"

With a casual flick of his skeletal claw, the oppressive shadows receded like a tide pulling back from shore. The chamber returned to its previous state - the soft blue glow, the ancient bone architecture, even the gentle pulsing of the Nexus Stone.

Everything was exactly as it had been before.

Except...

My blood turned to ice.

Zephyr still stood frozen beside me, but his eyes were vacant and unfocused, staring straight ahead like a statue. His chest rose and fell in mechanical rhythm, but there was nothing behind his gaze.

...Nothing at all.

"What did you do to him?!" The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, cold dread clawing up my throat.

Ossian’s head tilted, the violet light in his sockets narrowing to sly slits. "So he is indeed your weak point. How... predictable. I expected more from you. But then again, it is beneficial for me that way."

I clenched my jaw, refusing to give him the satisfaction of a response, but my silence was answer enough.

"Alright, boy. I’ve decided."

"I am going to give you a choice," He purred, gliding closer. "A testament to my... benevolence as the ’eternal guardian’."

I nodded, ready to listen to his choices.

...Thankfully, he’s a manipulative one.

"Your first choice," Ossian said, holding up a single, obsidian-taloned finger. "The Path of Defiance. You fight me. Right here, right now. You use every clever trick, every gifted toy, every ounce of that formidable wit you’re so proud of."

He leaned in, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper. "It will be ’glorious’. But utterly, completely futile. I will break your body, shatter your spirit, and make you watch as I unmake your friend, piece by piece. I will ensure his suffering is an exquisite masterpiece that lasts until your own mind shatters from the horror."

He leaned back, the violet light in his sockets dancing with cruel amusement. "But you’re far too clever to pick that one, aren’t you? All bravado and no payoff. A choice for fools, not for strategists like you."

A cold knot tightened in my stomach. He was right. A direct fight wasn’t a choice; it was a slow, theatrical suicide. There’s no way I would choose that.

My mind recoiled at the image of Zephyr being torn apart while I could do nothing.

"...What are the other choices?" I asked, my voice tighter than I wanted it to be.

Ossian’s grin widened, a terrifying crack splitting his bony face. "I knew I was right about you. Pragmatic to the core."

"Your second choice," a second talon rose. "The Path of Submission. You play your part. You take the Nexus Stone, you walk out of here with your vacant friend, and you fulfill your ’noble quest’. You become my heralds. You free me."

He spread his claws as if bestowing a great gift. "In return, I will restore your friend’s mind. He will remember nothing of this... unpleasantness. Only the story of the noble Guardian Ossian, who sacrificed himself so you could escape. You alone will carry the burden of truth. The weight of knowing you damned your world to save your friend."

The dread in my gut turned into a lead weight. This was worse. This was a poison tailored just for me. He was offering me exactly what I’d pretended to want: Zephyr safe and whole.

The cost was everything else.

I could see it... a lifetime of watching Zephyr smile, ignorant of the cataclysm we’d unleashed, while I drowned in the secret. He’d live, but could I?

...But, it’s obvious that he’s intentionally not mentioning other points.

Like how I could announce the truth to the whole world. Or the fact that he was just messing with me and lying.

But I still decided to continue the act.

"...And the last one?" I forced the words out, already fearing what ’masterpiece’ of cruelty he had left.

"Ah, the final option," Ossian murmured, his voice softening into something almost gentle, which was more terrifying than any shout. "The Path of Oblivion. A mercy, really."

"I don’t harm a single hair on his head. Instead..."

"I will simply... erase you. Completely. Not just ’kill’ you."

"I will unravel your soul from history’s tapestry. I make it so that Lumin never existed."

He gestured to the frozen Zephyr. "Then, I will carefully edit his memories. I will become the sole focus of his gratitude and loyalty. The noble guardian who chose him, and him alone, for this great mission. He will never feel your absence because he will never have known you. He will complete his task with a pure, unwavering heart, free of the grief of losing a brother. He will be happy."

The chamber seemed to tilt around me.

This wasn’t a choice. It was an abomination. It was the absolute victory of his lie.

Zephyr would be safe, even happy, but the me that cared about him would be utterly gone. Not dead. Unwritten. Our friendship, our struggles, every memory... all would be replaced by a perfect fiction crafted by this monster.

It was the most profound violation imaginable.

...If it were possible.

"So choose, clever little mouse," Ossian whispered, the words slithering into the silence. "How shall your story end? In futile defiance? In damned salvation? Or in merciful oblivion?"