Chains materialized around Elara's wrists and ankles, black and spectral. She gasped, struggling against them, but they only tightened.
"You have bound yourself to me," Edran said, stepping closer. "Do you understand what that means?"
Elara shook her head, tears streaming down her face.
"It means your betrayal has marked you. You are mine now. And I will not rest until every betrayer has paid the price."
The amulet in Elara's hand cracked, its dark light extinguished. She let out a scream as the chains pulled her to the ground, her body trembling.
Edran turned away, his staff tapping against the stones as he began to walk. The cemetery seemed to darken further, the trees bending under an unseen weight.
His voice echoed through the night.
"Betrayers never escape their fate."
***
༺ Noah's POV ༻
I was slumped against a jagged rock, my chest heaving as I sucked in labored breaths. Each inhale burned like fire, and each exhale felt like it dragged my soul out with it. My entire body screamed in protest, a searing heat radiating from my core. The lightning spell had done its job—too well, perhaps. It had pushed my body to its limits and beyond, leaving my mana channels flaring open, raw and exposed.
But I couldn't move.
My legs... they were dead weight. I tried to shift them, even just a little, but it was useless. A paralyzing numbness crawled up from my toes, and the only sensation left was the faint thrum of pain in my thighs, as if to mock me.
I let my head fall back against the rock, staring up at the night sky. My vision wavered, blurry from the exhaustion—or maybe it was the tears I hadn't realized were building.
I cursed under my breath, my voice hoarse and trembling. "What the hell was I thinking?"
"Oh my," he said, his voice smooth and laced with something I couldn't quite place. "It seems someone wandered off."
Relief washed over me, though it was muted by my exhaustion. "Professor..." I rasped, my voice barely above a whisper.
He crouched down in front of me, a faint smile playing on his lips. "You've had quite the night, haven't you, young one?" His tone was casual, almost amused, as if this were all just some minor inconvenience.
I tried to sit up straighter, but my body refused to cooperate. "I... I can't move," I admitted, the words tasting like ash in my mouth.
Caelan tilted his head, studying me.
There was something in his eyes—a glint that sent a chill down my spine, despite the heat still radiating from my body.
"I just... I need to rest," I mumbled, more to myself than to him. "I'll be fine after—"
"Rest, yes," he interrupted, standing up again. "Rest is important. But you see..." He reached into his coat, pulling out a small, unfamiliar object. "Sometimes, rest is eternal."
My heart stopped as I saw the object in his hand—a sleek, compact device unlike anything I'd ever seen in this world. But I knew what it was. The shape, the design, the glint of metal in the moonlight.
"A gun?" The words tumbled out before I could stop them, my voice trembling.
My breath caught in my throat as he aimed the weapon at me, the barrel cold and unyielding.
"No witnesses," he said softly, his voice as calm as if he were commenting on the weather.
Time seemed to freeze. My mind raced, a cacophony of thoughts and emotions crashing into each other. Panic, confusion, disbelief.
And then, the sound.
A deafening crack echoed through the forest, the gunshot tearing through the night. Birds scattered from the trees, their wings beating furiously as they vanished into the darkness.
The world went silent.