Chapter 165 CHAPTER 165

Chapter 165 CHAPTER 165
The chamber felt heavier after Raven’s warning; the three Elders stood closer together now, the silver‑haired witch, the wolf man, and the pale vampire, united not by strength, but by fear.

The silver‑haired woman was the first to find her voice. “What do you mean by ending the cycle?” Her tone wavered, but there was a quiet determination beneath it.

Raven didn’t soften in response; she stepped forward. “Circe designed the seed to be anchored. It draws from living conduits, sources that feed it, stabilise it, and allow it to evolve. As long as those sources remain alive and bound, the seed cannot be undone.”

The wolf Elder’s jaw tightened. “Speak plainly, please.”

Raven met his gaze. “The only way to end the seed’s influence is to kill the sources it is tied to.”

Raven’s words silenced the room, the weight of them settling on each of the elders.

Then the vampire Elder’s composure cracked. “You mean kill us?”

Raven didn’t look away. “Yes.”

Talia’s breath hitched sharply, and Elara felt her whole body tense. She tightened her arms around her, instinctively protective, as though she could shield her from the weight of the truth.

The silver‑haired witch shook her head, stepping back as though the air had struck her. “No. No, that cannot be the only way.”

“There is another,” Raven said quietly.

All three Elders looked up at once, hope flickering in their eyes.

“Tell us,” the wolf Elder demanded.

Raven folded her hands in front of her, her expression grave. “The magic can be extracted. Pulled out. Unwoven from the seed and from each of you.”

The vampire Elder’s voice was barely more than a breath. “But at what cost?”

Raven hesitated, enough that the silver‑haired witch answered for her, her voice trembling. “Extraction would strip us of everything. All magic. All power. Everything that makes us what we are.”

Raven inclined her head. “Yes.”

The wolf Elder let out a low, wounded sound. “You are asking us to choose between death and losing ourselves.”

Lyra stepped forward, keeping her voice calm. “We would try not to strip everything. We would try to preserve what we can. There may be a way to separate Circe’s magic from your own.”

The witch Elder’s eyes softened with a painful kind of hope. “You would try?”

Lyra nodded. “We would not harm you if there is another path.”

The vampire Elder looked between them, suspicion and longing warring in his expression. “But you don’t know if it is possible.”

“No,” Lyra admitted. “We don’t.”

The wolf Elder’s voice cracked. “We want to be free. Not killed.”

Talia’s breath hitched again, and Elara felt her trembling intensify. “I don’t want anyone to die,” Talia whispered, her voice small and breaking. “And I don’t want us to lose who we are.”

The silver‑haired witch looked at her with a gentleness that made Talia stop trembling slightly. “We do not want to die either, child.”

Kaelan stepped next to Elara, placing a hand on Talia’s shoulder. “We need time to think. All of us.”

The wolf Elder nodded slowly. “We will think on what you’ve said.”

“And we ask that you do the same.” The vampire Elder added.

Elara inclined her head. “We will.”

Raven exhaled, tension easing from her shoulders. “It is late. None of us should make this decision now.”

Kaelan gestured toward the archway. “We’ll camp just outside the chamber. We’ll return in the morning to discuss further.”

The Elders did not stop them.

They simply watched, three frightened, exhausted souls caught between survival and sacrifice, as the group turned and made their way back through the corridor.

Outside the sanctuary, the air was colder than before they entered. The group found a sheltered alcove just beyond the entrance, a natural hollow in the stone that offered protection from the wind. Saphira coaxed a small fire to life, its glow soft and warm against the rock.

Talia fell asleep quickly, curled against Elara’s side. It had been a lot for her to handle. Elara stroked her hair until all the tension eased from her small body.

Only when Talia’s breath deepened did they all gather around the fire. Kaelan sat closest to Elara, his posture tense, his gaze fixed on the flames. “We came here prepared to kill them,” he said quietly. “We thought they were the threat.”

Darius nodded grimly. “We thought they were the ones controlling the seed after Circe started everything.”

“But they aren’t,” Lyra said softly. “They’re just victims, like Talia.”

Saphira folded her hands in her lap, her expression troubled. “Circe didn’t just break laws. She broke lives. She stole them from their homes, their families, and their futures.”

Raven stared into the fire, her expression unreadable. “The magic still needs to be dealt with. The seed will not stop evolving. If we do nothing, it will consume Talia, and they will be consumed by the power and the influence of Circe. That could make them as bad as her.”

Elara looked over at Talia. “I know what we planned,” she said quietly. “But I can’t kill them. They are innocent, and I just can’t.”

Kaelan’s gaze softened as he took her hand in his. “No one is asking you to, and I agree.”

“But we have to choose,” Raven said. “And whatever we choose will change everything.”

Elara lifted her eyes, meeting Raven’s gaze. “Then we choose the path that doesn’t begin with killing people who never asked for this.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the crackle from the fire being the only sound between them.

Saphira finally spoke first. “Tomorrow will decide everything, and it will be difficult. But we do not kill innocents, we aren’t Circe.”

Elara nodded, though her chest felt tight. “So we save them, all of them.”

Kaelan pulled Elara closer to him. “We’ll face it together, and we will succeed.”

Elara leaned into the warmth of his touch, drawing strength from it. “We have to find a way that doesn’t destroy who they are in the process.”

Raven’s gaze flicked toward the sanctuary entrance; doubt was evident in her eyes. “We can try,” she said. “But Circe’s magic was never meant to be undone.”

Elara looked down at Talia, sleeping peacefully for the first time in days, unaware of the impossible choice waiting for her.

“We’ll find a way,” she whispered. “We have to.”

But even as she said it, the mountain seemed to shift around them, letting out a low, distant tremor that vibrated through the stone. Then the fire flickered, and Elara felt it, a quiet, creeping dread settling into her bones. Almost like a premonition from the air around her, or a warning.

Tomorrow would not just bring a choice.

It would bring consequences.