CHAPTER 514: TRIALS (3)

The question struck Lindarion harder than any physical blow. Nysha grabbed his collar immediately. "Do not answer that. Do not even think about answering that."

The being reached out, its hand hovering near Lindarion’s cheek. The gesture wasn’t threatening. It was hesitant, fragile, like someone afraid their touch would break what they hoped to hold.

"Please," the being whispered, its voice cracking with something achingly human, "don’t leave me alone again."

Lindarion felt every part of himself split—his bloodline, his instincts, his magic, his humanity—each pulling in a different direction. For the first time since arriving in this world, he realized he no longer knew which part of him was truly his own.

Nysha reacted first. She stepped between Lindarion and the being, blades crossed in a defensive X. Her stance was stable, sharp, and ready to cut through anything foolish enough to move toward him. "Do not touch him," she warned, every word edged with ice. "You come any closer, and I’ll sever whatever part of you is pretending to be sentimental."

The being didn’t flinch. Instead, it slowly lowered its hand, not out of fear, but out of a strange, fragile respect. "I do not wish to harm him," it murmured. "Nor you. Nor the small winged one trembling behind you."

Ashwing bristled indignantly. "I’m not trembling. I’m vibrating with tactical awareness."

Nysha ignored him. Her eyes remained locked on the being. "You are a fragment of the Devourer. Nothing you say can be trusted."

The being shook its head. "No longer Devourer. Not anymore. The Cleanser’s purpose and the Guardian’s purpose warred inside me until both broke. I am what remains of the first intention—before corruption, before despair, before the world rewrote me into a monster." Its gaze turned toward Lindarion again. "And he is... the only one who carries both halves of the equation needed to decide what I become."

Lindarion felt the weight of its stare like a physical pressure on his spine. Something inside him resonated—deep, low, humming like an ancient chord struck on a forgotten instrument. Nysha felt it too. She shot him a sharp look. "You’re reacting again. Stop. Shut it down. Whatever instinct this thing is awakening, do not entertain it."

But Lindarion couldn’t simply turn it off. The resonance wasn’t something he was choosing—it was something recognizing him, calling to him with a familiarity that was terrifying precisely because it didn’t feel foreign. It felt... inherited.

"I’m not trying," he said quietly. "It’s responding on its own."

The being’s expression softened with something unexpected—a flicker of relief. "You hear it then. The chorus of unspoken futures. You understand what it means to hold both creation and undoing in your blood."

"I don’t understand anything," Lindarion replied. "Not yet."

"You will," the being whispered. "You must."

Nysha took a step forward, voice low. "Enough. Tell us what this place even is. What your ’test’ was supposed to be."

The being nodded once, the motion strangely graceful. "This chamber is the cradle of the original intention. Long before the world learned fear. Long before the Cleanser fell into madness and the Guardian fractured under guilt. This is where purpose was born."

Ashwing’s eyes widened. "This whole ruin is—what—some kind of... divine workshop?"

"Not divine," the being said. "Primordial. The gods came later."

Nysha’s grip tightened on her blades. "So what was the third trial supposed to show him? Why reveal yourself now?"

"Because the world changes," the being said, "and its fulcrum has already begun to shift." It turned its head slowly, gaze focusing entirely on Lindarion, as though nothing else existed. "You carry the Tree’s blessing. You carry the Guardian’s spark. And now you have touched the echo I left behind to warn you. The three forces that once shaped creation converge in a single life."

Lindarion’s pulse quickened. "Why me?"

"Because your birth broke a pattern that has persisted since the First Era," the being answered. "And because your choices hold the potential to restore the balance—or to erase it completely."

The chamber rumbled at those words. Dark cracks spread across the stone, whispering with faint, distant voices. Nysha whipped around, scanning the cavern. "The ruin is reacting. Whatever seal was here—it’s destabilizing."

The being looked almost pained. "My existence destabilizes it. I was never meant to wake without a stabilizer present. The Cleanser shattered that stabilizer ages ago."

"Meaning?" Ashwing asked nervously.

"Meaning," the being said softly, "this chamber will collapse soon. And I do not have long."

It approached Lindarion again—but slowly, giving Nysha time to adjust her stance and make it clear that she would intervene if needed. The being stopped just outside the reach of her blades.

"I must give you something," it said. "Before I fade again."

"What?" Lindarion asked.

"A choice," the being whispered. "The first of many. And the one that will decide whether the path ahead leads to salvation... or catastrophe."

The chamber’s cracks widened. Energy spilled from them in thin, erratic lines. The being’s form flickered.

"Hurry," it breathed. "I cannot hold myself together for much longer."

Lindarion stepped forward despite Nysha’s warning hand. The being lifted its trembling arm and pressed two fingers lightly to Lindarion’s forehead. They did not feel like flesh—they felt like cold starlight.

And then—

A second presence poured into his mind. A memory. A seal. A choice.

"You will walk three paths," the being whispered, its voice unraveling. "You may follow the Guardian’s path and protect the world. You may inherit the Cleanser’s burden and change it. Or..."

Its voice dropped to a shiver of fading light.

"...you may forge a path neither of them foresaw."

The chamber buckled. The being’s body cracked, light spilling out.

"Decide," it whispered. "And when the time comes, remember me."

Then the figure shattered like glass struck by a hammer, scattering into thousands of white-gold fragments that swirled once around Lindarion like a final breath... and vanished into him.

Nysha grabbed his arm in alarm. "Lindarion!"

Ashwing yelped as the cavern began to collapse.

And Lindarion opened his eyes, now glowing faintly with the fragments of a memory he never asked to inherit.