Chapter 17: The Queen's Exile
The mirror no longer reflected Liam.
Or perhaps it did—just not the part he was ready to accept. Behind his own eyes, another presence stirred. Quiet for now. Watching.
Ella knew. She hadn't said it aloud, but the way her grip tightened on his hand, the flicker of unease in her ancient eyes—it was there.
And yet, neither of them turned away.
Because the war hadn't ended.
It had merely changed form.
---
The Crumbling Thread
The Prophet's words echoed in Liam's mind long after they returned to the capital:
"You freed their jailer."
He could feel it—subtle pulses beneath the crust of reality. Like something ancient dragging its claws across the underside of the world, seeking an opening.
The Source was fraying. Not from outside, but from within.
Arin, the halfblood councilor, brought maps etched in flickering mana.
"Two more Chain Sanctums lit up overnight. One in the Blackmarsh, another beneath the Southern Waste."
"That's where it's heading," Ella said. "It's feeding on these forgotten relics. Each one awakens more of it."
Liam rubbed his temple. "Then we need to find what it's afraid of. If the gods created the chains, maybe there's something—or someone—that remembers how."
A silence fell.
Arin hesitated.
"There's one," she said finally. "Someone who studied the first binding. Someone who helped forge the first covenant."
Ella's eyes narrowed.
"No."
"You know who she means?" Liam asked.
Ella's expression darkened. "Yes. My sister."
---
The Exiled Queen
Her name was Isolde.
Before Ella claimed the Crimson Throne, Isolde had ruled. Older, colder, more powerful. A strategist, not a warrior. It was said she once bargained with the Old Blood gods and came out untouched.
Ella had exiled her three centuries ago—for crimes never spoken aloud.
"She wanted to bind the nightborn to a single mind," Ella explained as they rode through the shattered valleys. "A hive. No free will. Just control. Efficient. Cruel. She thought freedom was a weakness."
"And now?" Liam asked.
"She'll want something in return. And she won't care about saving the world—only what survives after."
They found her in the Wraithspire, a forgotten fortress of obsidian and bone, surrounded by spirits bound in eternal torment.
She welcomed them with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Well," Isolde said, descending her throne of ash, "the prodigal Queen returns... with a husband no less. How quaint."
Liam felt the air shift. Power gathered around her like mist.
"We need your knowledge," Ella said flatly.
"Of course you do," Isolde purred. "The jailer wakes, and only the monsters remember its name."
---
The Name of the Nameless
Over hours, Isolde revealed what she knew—etched in her own blood across scrolls of living skin.
"The being the Prophet serves was not a god. It preceded them. The chains were made not to imprison gods, but to protect them."
"Protect?" Liam echoed.
Isolde nodded. "The gods were created as guardians of reality. But something else existed first. Something outside. It was called the Nullmind. A void given will."
Liam frowned. "And I set it free."
Isolde's eyes gleamed. "You didn't set it free. You reminded it of us."
She handed him a shard of obsidian.
It pulsed with heat and hunger.
"This is a sliver of its thought. Not presence—just a thought. And already your soul recoils."
Liam clenched it anyway. "Then how do we stop it?"
"Chains won't work. But there is something older than chains."
---
The Dreamforge
A place beyond the veil. Lost before the first sun rose.
The Dreamforge.
Said to be where the gods themselves were hammered into existence. A forge of will, soul, and cosmic thread.
"If you can reach it," Isolde said, "you can unmake the memory of the Nullmind. Erase it before it completes its awakening."
"Where is it?" Ella asked.
Isolde's smile widened. "Inside him."
They stared.
"In Liam?" Ella repeated.
Isolde nodded. "He's the last vessel. The last link between the divine and the human. The Forge hides inside what remains of that connection."
Liam swallowed. "So I have to go... inside myself?"
"Not just you. Your blood. Your soul. Everything you've ever been. And there's no guarantee you'll return."
He looked at Ella.
She nodded. "We'll find a way."
Isolde tilted her head. "If you die inside the Forge, you die in every reality. Be warned, little Binder."
Liam didn't flinch.
"I wasn't planning on dying."
---
Preparing the Descent
They returned to the capital for supplies, arcane stabilizers, and farewell rites.
Ella didn't leave his side.
On the eve of the ritual, they stood atop the palace balcony, overlooking the starlit city.
"You don't have to do this alone," she said.
"I won't be," he replied. "You're with me."
She touched his cheek. "When I first brought you into my world, I thought you were weak. Mortal. A mistake."
He smiled faintly. "Thanks."
"I was wrong. You've become something... more. Not just because of the blood or the chains. But because you chose to be."
Liam leaned in. Their lips met—soft, aching, full of everything unsaid.
Then the stars above flickered.
One by one, they began to go dark.
---
Descent into the Forge
The ritual was chaos. Lightning arced through the palace. Sigils shattered. The seal around Liam's heart cracked open, and for a moment, he saw everything:
The gods kneeling before a shape with no name.
The Prophet, eyes burned black, smiling as the Nullmind whispered.
Ella, alone on a throne of bone.
Then—darkness.
And silence.
And the sound of forging.
---
Inside the Dreamforge
It was not a place.
It was a memory of a place.
The sky bled light. The ground shifted with every thought. Shapes loomed, unfinished gods still being written into existence.
And at the center: the Forge.
A crucible of infinite size, suspended in a sea of screams.
Liam stepped toward it.
Voices echoed.
"You are unworthy."
"You are impure."
"You are nothing."
He ignored them.
He bled truth from his palms, offered his name, and faced the Forge.
A figure stepped from the fire.
His reflection.
Smiling.
Eyes black with Nullmind.
"You can't erase me," it said. "I am you."
Liam raised the chain-shard Isolde had given him.
"No," he said, voice steady. "You're the part I refuse to become."
He cast the shard into the Forge.
It screamed.
---
Awakening
He opened his eyes to Ella's tear-streaked face.
"You came back," she whispered.
He nodded weakly. "I burned it. The thought of it. The memory. It's gone."
Outside, the stars lit again.
The chains across the world melted into light.
The Prophet vanished.
The Nullmind... slept once more.
For now.
---
End of Chapter 17