Chapter 106 The Brother Who Never Returned
Chapter 106 The Brother Who Never Returned
Chapter 106
The King's POV
My sword slipped from my hand.
It struck the marble floor with a sharp clang that echoed through the ruined throne room.
Impossible.
I had buried him.
I had carried his body myself.
I had stood beside his grave until sunrise.
Yet the man standing before me...
Looked exactly the same.
His golden armor was scarred by countless battles.
His long black hair flowed over his shoulders.
A jagged scar crossed his left eye—the scar he earned protecting me when we were still children.
There was no mistake.
"Orion..."
The name escaped my lips like a prayer.
My older brother.
The first Crown Prince of Elysium.
The greatest warrior our kingdom had ever known.
The man history remembered as The Unbroken Blade.
He slowly lifted his sword.
His crimson eyes held no warmth.
Only emptiness.
"So..."
His deep voice echoed through the broken palace.
"...you finally remember me."
Sable's POV
The atmosphere changed instantly.
The King—who had faced Moros, Azrael, and even the Devourer without losing his composure looked completely shattered.
Sera whispered his name.
Leonidas stepped protectively in front of me.
Even Eden's cheerful expression vanished.
I looked at the ancient warrior.
His face was calm.
Too calm.
Like someone who had forgotten how to feel.
But beneath the crimson glow in his eyes...
For just a fraction of a second...
I thought I saw pain.
Orion's POV
Little brother.
You grew old.
Older than I ever imagined.
For one dangerous heartbeat...
I almost remembered who I used to be.
The boy who carried you on his shoulders.
The prince who promised to protect our family.
The brother who laughed beside you beneath the silver trees.
Then Moros' command echoed inside my mind.
"Bring me the Heart."
The memories shattered.
Only the order remained.
I tightened my grip on my sword.
"I've come for the Heart."
Leonidas' POV
I recognized that look.
It wasn't hatred.
It was control.
Someone was forcing him to fight.
I lowered my blade slightly.
"We don't have to do this."
Orion's eyes shifted toward me.
"You are...The Alpha."
"I am."
"You love the Queen."
"I do."
He was silent for several seconds. Then, so quietly I almost missed it, he whispered,
"Protect her..."
Before he could say another word, crimson energy erupted around him.
He cried out in agony.
Black chains of shadow wrapped around his arms, neck, and chest.
Moros' voice echoed through the palace.
"Enough."
"You exist to obey."
Orion's scream shook the entire throne room.
Moros' POV
Weak fool.
Even after death...
He still clung to his humanity.
No matter.
Pain had always been an excellent teacher.
The shadow chains tightened around him and his resistance disappeared.
The crimson light returned to his eyes.
Good.
Now...
Finish your mission.
The King's POV
I couldn't watch anymore.
I summoned my sword back into my hand.
Golden light exploded around the ancient blade.
For seven thousand years...
I had prayed I would never have to raise this sword against my own blood again.
But if striking him was the only way to free him...
Then I would bear that sin.
Once more.
I pointed my blade toward Orion.
Tears blurred my vision.
"Forgive me..."
Orion slowly raised his own sword.
The two brothers stood facing each other across the shattered throne room.
The air around them trembled.
Sera covered her mouth while Leonidas pulled Sable back.
Marcus whispered,
"This..."
"...isn't going to end well."
The King's sword ignited with golden flames.
Orion's blade burned with crimson fire.
The two brothers charged towards each other.
Steel met steel.
CLANG!
The impact shook the entire throne room.
A shockwave blasted outward, shattering the last stained-glass windows of the Palace of Creation.
Neither of us moved.
Neither of us yielded.
For one brief moment...
We were boys again.
Training beneath Father's watchful eyes.
"Again," he would say.
"Your sword is only as strong as the heart behind it."
Orion always won.
Always.
He would grin, offer me a hand, and pull me back to my feet.
"One day you'll beat me."
I never did.
Until today.
And I hated it.
Orion's POV
The chains...
They hurt.
Every time I remembered my brother...
The chains tightened.
Every memory became punishment.
Every feeling became agony.
I wanted to tell him to run.
To destroy me.
To end this.
Instead...
My mouth spoke words that weren't mine.
"Die."
No.
Not that.
Please...
Not that.
I swung my sword.
Leonidas' POV
Something was wrong.
The King was defending.
Not attacking.
He wasn't trying to win instead he was trying to save him and I know that hesitation of his would get him killed.
I glanced toward Sera.
She understood it too.
She whispered,
"He still sees his brother."
Not his enemy.
Sera's POV
Because that's exactly who Orion was.
Before the war...
Before Moros...
Before the darkness.
He loved fiercely.
He laughed loudly.
He carried children through the palace gardens on his shoulders.
Even the servants adored him.
He should have been King.
Instead...
He became the first casualty of Moros' lies.
I clenched my fists.
"No..."
Not again.
I refused to lose another member of my family.
Sable's POV
The Second Flame stirred within me.
Different images flashed through my mind.
Not memories.
Feelings.
Orion laughing.
Orion protecting his younger brothers.
Orion kneeling before the First Queen.
Orion standing alone on a battlefield, surrounded by enemies.
Then...
The final image.
Moros.
Offering him a choice.
"Serve me..."
"...or watch them die."
Tears streamed down my face.
"He never betrayed them."
Everyone turned toward me.
"He sacrificed himself."
The King froze.
"What?"
"He let Moros take him..."
"...to save all of you."
Silence.
The King's sword lowered.
His hands trembled.
Moros' POV
Enough!
The Second Flame had seen too much. I couldn't allow the truth to spread.
I extended my hand.
The shadow chains binding Orion glowed crimson.
"Obey."
He screamed. His body convulsed.
Then...
He charged again.
Faster than before.
More brutal.
The King barely blocked the strike before the marble beneath his feet shattered.
Eden's POV
The Heart whispered.
I listened.
Its voice was growing weaker.
Not because it was dying.
Because it was waiting.
Waiting for someone...
To make the impossible choice.
I looked toward Sable.
She wasn't watching the battle anymore.
She was watching the chains.
Good.
She'd noticed.
The chains...
Not Orion...
Were the true enemy.
Sable's POV
I suddenly understood.
The chains weren't magic.
They were promises.
Broken promises.
Every lie Moros had whispered...
Every manipulation...
Every ounce of guilt Orion carried...
They had become chains around his soul.
Not physical.
Spiritual.
I looked at Leonidas.
"I can save him."
He looked at me, surprised.
"How?"
"I don't know yet."
"But I know I can."
He searched my face.
Then...
He nodded.
"I trust you."
No hesitation.
No questions.
Just trust.
My heart swelled as I turned toward the battlefield.
Again the First Flame ignited and the Second Flame answered. Gold and blue light flowed around my hands.
I took one step toward the battling brothers.
"Sable!"
The King shouted.
"Stay back!"
I didn't stop.
Another step.
Another.
The air grew heavier.
The chains around Orion suddenly began to vibrate.
They had sensed me.
Moros' voice echoed through the palace.
"No..."
His calm composure finally cracked.
"Don't touch him."
I ignored him.
The closer I came...
The brighter the flames within me burned.
Orion's crimson eyes slowly turned toward me and I saw a single silver tear rolled down his face.
He whispered one word.
"...Help."
Everything else disappeared.
The battle.
The shouting.
The collapsing palace.
All I could hear was that single word.
"Help."
It wasn't loud.
It wasn't dramatic.
It was the desperate plea of a man who had been trapped inside his own body for seven thousand years.
I refused to let him suffer for one more heartbeat.
Leonidas called my name.
"Sable!"
I kept walking.
The First Flame burned in my chest. The Second Flame flowed through my veins.
Gold and blue light wrapped around me like ribbons dancing in the wind.
With every step I took, the shadow chains binding Orion trembled violently.
They recognized something they feared.
Hope.
Orion's POV
She's coming.
No.
Turn back.
If she touched the chains...
Moros would target her instead.
I tried to speak.
I tried to warn her.
The chains tightened around my throat.
Pain exploded through every part of my soul.
My body raised the sword against her.
No...
Please...
Not her.
Not again.
Leonidas' POV
The moment Orion's blade turned toward Sable, I moved.
I shifted in an instant.
My Royal Alpha form erupted with silver-and-gold light.
I placed myself between them.
The ancient sword struck mine.
BOOM!
The force sent cracks racing through the palace floor.
Orion stared at me.
For a brief second, the crimson in his eyes faded.
"You..."
he whispered.
"...keep your promises."
I frowned.
"What?"
Then his eyes turned crimson again.
Moros' POV
Fools.
All of them.
Did they truly believe love could break a curse forged over thousands of years?
I clenched my fist and the chains answered.
Darkness surged through Orion's body.
"Kill them!"
My command thundered across the palace.
Orion screamed.
Not in rage.
In resistance.
The fool was still fighting me.
Even now.
Sera's POV
I had seen enough.
For too long, I had watched others sacrifice themselves while I remained trapped in crystal.
Not anymore.
I stepped beside Sable.
"You won't do this alone."
The King joined us.
Neither of us spoke.
We simply stood together.
As we once had.
As a family.
Leonidas smiled.
"So..."
"We're doing this together."
Marcus spun his axes with a grin.
"Took you all long enough."
Kael unsheathed his blade.
"I'm getting tired of ancient curses."
Noctis emerged from the shadows, the prophecy scroll clutched tightly in her hand.
"The prophecy doesn't say the Queen breaks the chains."
Everyone looked at her.
"It says..."
She swallowed.
"'The chains of the forgotten shall be broken by those who refuse to forget.'"
Silence.
Then the King understood first.
"It's not Sable alone."
Sera nodded.
"It's all of us."
The King's POV
I lowered my sword.
Not in surrender.
In trust.
I stepped toward Orion slowly and carefully.
"My brother."
His sword trembled.
The chains pulled it upward again. I ignored them.
"You taught me how to fight."
Another step.
"You taught me courage."
His breathing became uneven.
"You carried me when I was too weak to walk."
The crimson light flickered.
"I never thanked you."
Orion's hand shook violently.
Sera's POV
I reached him next.
"You once promised me..."
"...that you'd always bring my husband home."
A broken smile appeared on Orion's face.
"You did."
The chains cracked.
One of them shattered into black dust.
Moros' eyes widened.
"No..."
Leonidas' POV
I stepped forward.
"You told me to protect her."
"I will."
"I swear it."
Another chain broke.
Then another.
The sound echoed like thunder.
Sable's POV
I stood directly before Orion.
Only one chain remained.
It wrapped around his heart.
Not his body.
His heart.
I gently placed my hand against his chest.
The First Flame glowed and as usual the Second Flame answered.
Warm tears filled my eyes.
"You've carried this pain long enough."
His silver eyes met mine.
"I failed them."
"No. You loved them."
"That's different."
He closed his
eyes.
"I couldn't save my brothers."
"You already did."
The words left my lips without thinking.
"You sacrificed yourself so they could live."
"That isn't failure."
"That's love."
The final chain cracked.
A blinding light erupted from Orion's body.
The darkness around him shattered like fragile glass.
For the first time in seven thousand years...
His crimson eyes disappeared.
They became a brilliant golden amber.
The same eyes the King remembered from childhood.
Orion smiled.
A real smile.
Free.
"My little brother..."
The King rushed forward and caught him before he collapsed.
The two brothers embraced.
Neither tried to hide their tears from each other.
The palace stood silent.
Even Moros couldn't speak.
One soul had been freed.
And for the first time since the war began...
The Heart of Creation beat with joy instead of pain.
THUMP.
Golden light spread across Elysium. Flowers bloomed throughout the city.
The frightened people looked toward the palace in wonder.
Hope...
Had just become stronger.
But far beyond the broken heavens...
The crimson eye slowly closed.
Not in defeat.
In patience.
A deep voice echoed through the endless darkness.
"Three Flames remain..."
"...One Door must still open."
The words faded into silence.
None of the heroes heard them. But Eden did.
His smile disappeared.
He whispered to himself,
"The final trial..."
"...has begun."