Chapter 11: Bonded by Blood
The stars never quite stopped shifting since Kael's return. They twisted above Marrowspire in strange, dreamlike formations, blinking out of familiar constellations and reforming into newer, stranger shapes most notably, the crowned silhouette now cleaved down the middle like a split mirror. Time had become malleable around Kael, stretching like silk in a storm. Even the city below reacted differently now. The cobbled bones of its walkways groaned with every footstep, like the realm itself was aware that Kael had changed.
No, not changed. Remembered.
Kael stood alone on the spine-ridge of Marrowspire, staring out into the glowing wasteland that shimmered beyond its borders. Their veins burned quietly with golden light beneath their skin. Their heartbeat no longer matched the tempo of Elaris.
They didn't know what that meant.
Footsteps approached.
Kael knew who it was without turning. The Vein recognized him.
"Riven."
The name came out like a blade.
He said nothing, just stepped beside them. His presence was sharp and quiet, like moonlight filtering through broken glass.
Kael watched the shimmer on the horizon. "You lied to me."
"I withheld truth," Riven said.
Kael scoffed. "Is that what you call it?"
Silence.
Then, "There was no easy way to tell you I've killed someone like you before."
Kael closed their eyes.
They had felt it since the kiss under the Blood Arch the way his power echoed against their own, the familiarity buried under tension, the ache in his touch like mourning.
"You loved him."
"Yes."
"And you killed him."
"Yes."
Kael's voice cracked. "Tell me everything."
Riven's story came slowly, like wind dragging through dying leaves.
"Ilias was Veinborn. Like you. But older more composed, more dangerous. He carried his soul like a sword, and the world bent around his presence. I met him during the Stormfall, when the Vein was breaking in five directions. He was already a legend.
"He didn't want love. He wanted power. Wanted to fix the world and didn't care what it cost."
Kael turned to him. "But you loved him."
Riven's mouth twisted. "He made me believe that love was survival. That I was necessary to his vision. That the pain meant it was real."
Kael stared.
"Was it?"
Riven shook his head. "No. It was addiction. Worship. He used the Vein to manipulate time, reweaving events to favor him. He erased a hundred lives in the name of peace. I tried to stop him. I failed. So I..."
He didn't finish.
Kael already knew.
"You killed him," they said softly.
Riven nodded.
Kael's hands trembled. "And now you see him in me."
"No." Riven's voice was sharp. He turned, silver eyes fierce. "I see you. You aren't Ilias. You listen. You feel. You bleed. He stopped doing those things."
Kael turned away, heart thudding.
"I don't know if I can trust you."
"I don't ask you to." Riven's voice was quiet now. "But I want you to understand why I flinch when I see power in your hands. It's not fear of you. It's fear of losing you to the same ruin."
Kael breathed in sharply.
"I'm not him," they said again, firmer.
Riven nodded. "Then don't let me forget it."
Their gazes met.
And something moved beneath Kael's skin.
It began as a pulse.
Then a flicker.
Then fire.
Kael staggered, clutching their wrist.
"Ah !"
Riven caught them. "Kael?"
But the pain spread.
Golden fire erupted from beneath Kael's skin, crawling along their arm, bright and fast. Symbols bloomed in lines, wrapping from wrist to elbow in a spiral of runes. The air cracked with Vein energy.
Kiel and Laeth appeared in the doorway of the ruin.
"What the hell is "
"Don't touch them!" Aeris shouted as she approached, eyes glowing.
Kael collapsed to one knee, gasping.
Thorne lifted them gently as Kiel traced the glowing marks.
Laeth swore. "That's a soul-bond pattern. Isn't it?"
Kiel nodded slowly. "It's not just any bond. It's active. That means..."
He trailed off.
Aeris whispered, "Their soul just chose someone."
Kael's voice rasped out, "Who?"
Everyone turned to Riven.
He looked stunned.
"I I didn't do anything. I only touched "
Kael looked down. The bond mark had his glyphs. His signature. Etched into them by the Vein itself.
"No," they whispered.
A soul-bond.
Permanent. Unbreakable.
Forged by touch, by feeling, by recognition.
Kael backed away.
"I didn't choose this!"
"But your soul did," Aeris said gently. "That's the thing about soul-bonds. The heart doesn't lie, even when the mind does."
Riven opened his mouth.
Kael shook their head. "Don't. Not now."
They ran.
Kael found themselves in the ruins of the oldest part of Marrowspire. The bones here were older than the city. Older than even the gods. They collapsed against a column and stared at their burning wrist.
The runes glowed softly now.
They whispered.
He remembers you.
Kael wept.
Not out of love.
Out of terror.
What if this was how it started for Ilias?
What if Riven couldn't stop it from happening again?
What if Kael became the monster?
Footsteps approached.
Not Riven.
Thorne.
He said nothing. Just sat beside them.
After a long time, he said, "The Vein doesn't bind souls lightly. Whatever this means, it isn't just about Riven. It's about the war to come. You'll need each other."
Kael buried their face in their hands.
"I'm not ready."
Thorne nodded. "Neither was I. But that didn't stop the world from breaking."
Kael turned to him. "Did you love someone before me?"
"Yes."
"What happened?"
"I buried them with my own hands."
Kael stared.
Thorne met their gaze calmly. "But I would still choose to love again. Even knowing the end."
The wind stirred.
Kael's bond mark flared once.
And in the distance, something ancient stirred.
The soul-bond had awakened a guardian.
Or a hunter.