CHAPTER 96: BINDING THE KING

Location : The Moon Temple

The chamber smelled of burnt incense and ancient stone, a mix of past reverence and recent battle. Blood from the king’s earlier wounds still clung to the cracked marble floor, seeping into the etchings of the old Moon Temple altar.

The king knelt before her now, defiant even in defeat. His crown lay discarded, his hands bound by shimmering celestial chains that pulsed with the rhythm of her heartbeat. The chains responded to her alone, a manifestation of her will.

"Go on then," the king rasped, his lips curling into a smirk.

"Strike me down. Finish what you began."

Athena’s fingers twitched at her side. The temptation to end him, to silence the man who had manipulated and destroyed so many, was a sharp edge in her chest. But she would not give him the satisfaction of an easy death.

"No," she said, voice low, steady. "You will not die today. Death is release. You don’t deserve that."

His brow arched, amusement flickering in his dark eyes.

"Oh? And what punishment will your soft heart allow?"

Athena circled him slowly, every step echoing in the hollowed chamber. Her boots scraped across the floor as she approached the ancient altar that had once been her seat of power. The Moon Temple’s throne, carved from luminescent stone, still thrummed faintly with the magic of the old gods.

"You will remain," she said, brushing her fingers over the cold surface of the throne. It pulsed under her touch, awakening after centuries of neglect. "Bound to this place. Bound to me."

His smirk faltered, curiosity replacing mockery. "Explain."

"Your life," she continued, turning to face him, "will be tethered to this throne. You will not leave it. You will not wander the kingdom you once ruled."

She lifted her hand, and the celestial chains yanked him forward, dragging his struggling form to the base of the throne. His protests were nothing but noise to her now.

"Your magic," she added, weaving the binding sigils into the air with precise movements, "will be siphoned, slowly, endlessly, to power the wards that will protect this realm from what’s coming. You will sustain the very people you sought to destroy."

His eyes widened, a flicker of genuine fear breaking through his arrogance. "You can’t,."

"I can," she said, her voice slicing through his desperation.

"And I will."

The celestial chains glowed brighter, wrapping around his chest, his limbs, fusing with the stone of the throne. The binding was ancient, older than either of them, a forgotten punishment crafted by gods who had once feared their own creations.

The king writhed as the magic settled into him, locking his essence to the throne. His energy began to seep away, thin silver threads drifting from his skin to the heart of the stone. His breathing grew ragged, his resistance faltering.

"You think this makes you strong?" he hissed, sweat beading on his forehead. "You think mercy will save you?"

Athena stepped closer, her shadow falling over him. "This isn’t mercy. It’s justice."

"You’re too soft," he spat, his voice cracking under the strain of the binding. "Too soft for what’s coming next."

She narrowed her eyes, her control tightening around the chains.

"What’s coming? Speak."

He laughed then, a low, grating sound that rattled in his chest. "You think this is over? Caelum moves even now. In the godly realms, he stirs the ancient powers. He hunts what remains of the true magic."

Athena’s stomach tightened. Caelum. The name struck her like a fist to the ribs. The god who had betrayed her. The one she had once called her brother, her ally. His treachery had been the first crack in her once-unshakable faith.

"You lie," she said, but her voice lacked conviction.

"You know I don’t. You can feel it, can’t you? In the threads of the realm. He gathers strength. He prepares. And you?"

The binding sigils flared, silencing him, but not before his final words cut deep.

L

"You’re not ready."

Athena’s hands trembled slightly as the last rune settled into place, sealing the binding. The throne pulsed, the final tether locking the king’s life to the stone. His body sagged, powerless now, his magic siphoned into the protective wards she had carved into the foundations of the realm. The chains held him upright, his eyes dulling as his strength became her shield.

Lucas appeared in the doorway, his sword sheathed, his expression torn between relief and concern. "It’s done?"

Athena turned to him, her shoulders heavy with the weight of what she had chosen. "It’s done."

"You didn’t kill him."

"No."

Lucas approached, his gaze lingering on the throne where the king now sat as a living conduit, the center of the realm’s protection and his own endless prison. "Will it hold?"

"It will hold," she said. "As long as I do."

Lucas placed a hand on her shoulder, grounding her. "He mentioned Caelum."

"I know."

"Do you think he was telling the truth?"

Athena’s throat tightened. She had felt it too, the subtle tremors in the fabric of magic, the faint pull toward the celestial planes where gods plotted and schemed. Caelum’s hunger for power had never been sated, and if the king’s words were true, he was already setting his plans in motion.

"I think we have no choice but to assume he was," she said, her voice steeled. "We have to move quickly."

Lucas nodded. "Where to?"

"The star archives. The answers we need will be there."

As they turned to leave, Athena cast one final glance over her shoulder. The king met her gaze, bound, drained, but still smiling faintly as though he knew a secret she did not.

"This is not over," he whispered, his voice barely audible, carried by the lingering threads of his fading magic.

"No," Athena whispered back. "It’s only beginning."

The doors to the Moon Temple closed behind them, sealing the king within his stone prison, his life forever intertwined with the ancient artifact that would now pulse with his stolen power. Outside, the realm awaited, fragile and trembling on the cusp of something far greater than a mortal war.

Athena straightened, the weight of the future pressing down upon her, but she bore it willingly. Whatever Caelum was planning, whatever storm loomed on the horizon, she would not face it with a soft heart.

She would face it as she always had unyielding, sharp as the blade at her side, and ready to fight.

The binding was only the first step.

The true war was still to come.