Villain's Last Chance

The forest stretched endlessly ahead of us, thick with silence. The Revenant's words clung to me, curling around my thoughts like a vice.

"You will hear them soon."

I didn't know what it meant.

But I felt it.

A pressure in my chest, a presence lingering at the edges of my mind like something waiting for permission to enter. I gritted my teeth and pushed forward.

Cairon walked ahead, his grip tight on his sword. His silence spoke volumes. He was thinking, calculating.

Marek, as usual, wasn't. "So, the seer. She's not another Revenant, right? Because I swear, if we're running toward more of them, I'm going to be very, very upset."

Cairon didn't slow. "She's not a Revenant."

Marek frowned. "But she's not exactly normal either, is she?"

Cairon ignored him.

I exhaled, shifting the Codex in my arms. "What kind of seer are we talking about?"

"The kind that doesn't like company," Cairon said. "And the kind that doesn't work for free."

Marek groaned. "Fantastic. Do we even have anything worth trading?"

My fingers brushed the Codex's cover. I already knew what she'd want.

I wasn't sure I was willing to give it.

The trees began to thin, the canopy breaking apart to reveal a sky deep with stars. The ground beneath us changed, shifting from packed earth to ancient stone—ruins buried beneath time and overgrowth.

I slowed. "Where are we?"

Cairon's jaw tightened. "The outer rim of her territory."

Marek rolled his shoulders. "So, when do we get to meet the creepy lady?"

A voice answered before Cairon could.

"You're already here."

I froze.

The air rippled in front of us.

A woman stepped into view as if peeling herself from the very fabric of the shadows. She was tall, wrapped in flowing black, her hair silver like spun moonlight. Her eyes were the color of storm clouds, deep and knowing.

She wasn't old, but she wasn't young.

She was timeless.

Marek let out a breath. "Alright, that's unsettling."

The woman tilted her head, her gaze sweeping over us before settling on me. I felt it in my bones. The weight of her scrutiny.

Her lips curled into something between a smile and a smirk. "So. You're the one the Revenants whisper about."

I tensed. "You know about them?"

"I know many things." Her eyes flickered down to the Codex. "And I know what you carry."

Cairon stepped forward. "We need answers."

The seer's gaze didn't leave me. "And what makes you think you'll like them?"

I swallowed. "I don't have to like them. I just need to know the truth."

A pause.

Then she turned, gliding deeper into the ruins without a word.

Cairon followed. Marek hesitated, shooting me a look before sighing and trailing after him. I took a breath and stepped forward.

The ruins weren't just ruins.

They were something older.

Carvings lined the stone, their meanings lost to time. The walls pulsed faintly, the magic in them humming just beneath the surface. It wasn't dead.

It was watching.

The seer led us to a chamber, its ceiling open to the sky. A fire burned in the center, though there was no wood, no fuel. Just flames that lived without reason.

She sat.

We stood.

Silence stretched.

Then—

"You are bound to it."

She said it like it was inevitable. Like it had already happened, and I was just too slow to understand.

I clenched my jaw. "Bound how?"

The seer's gaze darkened. "The Codex is not just a book. It is not an object. It is a being. It thinks. It chooses. And it has chosen you."

My fingers went cold.

Marek shifted uncomfortably. "That sounds bad."

The seer ignored him. "You feel it, don't you? The whispers. The pull. The way it nestles inside your mind."

I exhaled slowly. "…Yes."

The seer's lips pressed into a thin line. "Then the bond has already begun."

A chill ran through me. "What does that mean?"

"It means you are no longer just yourself."

Her voice was steady, but the weight of her words pressed into me like a vice.

She reached forward suddenly, her fingers brushing over my wrist. A sharp sting lanced through me, and for a second—

I saw.

Not the room.

Not the ruins.

But something else.

A world split open.

Figures standing in the dark, their hands reaching toward me. Their mouths open, screaming without sound. Shadows curled around their forms, twisting them, breaking them.

And above them—

Eyes.

Endless. Watching.

Waiting.

I gasped, jerking away. The vision shattered, and I was back in the chamber, my breath ragged.

Marek's voice was distant. "What the hell was that?"

The seer's expression was grim. "A glimpse."

I swallowed hard. "Of what?"

She hesitated. Then—

"The ones who will come for you."

Silence.

The fire crackled between us, filling the void of words I couldn't find.

Cairon's voice was low. "You mean the Revenants."

"No." The seer's gaze met mine. "I mean something worse."

My chest tightened. "Worse than creatures who can shatter the ground with a thought?"

"Yes."

I didn't like the way she said it.

Calm. Certain.

Like it was already set in stone.

Marek let out a slow breath. "Okay. So what do we do?"

The seer turned back to me. "You must break the bond."

I blinked. "You just said it's already started."

"Yes. Which means you don't have much time."

Cairon crossed his arms. "And how does she do that?"

The seer's gaze didn't waver. "She must find the Origin."

Marek groaned. "You keep saying things like they make sense. What Origin?"

"The place where the Codex was made."

I stiffened. "You mean where the magic inside it came from."

The seer nodded.

I exchanged a glance with Cairon.

This wasn't just about the Revenants anymore.

This was bigger.

Deeper.

The Codex was more than a cursed object—it was a tether to something vast and unknown. And if I didn't sever it…

Then whatever was watching me from the other side of that vision would come through.

I straightened.

"What's the catch?"

The seer's lips curled into that almost-smile again. "You assume there is only one."