Chapter 122 Balance

Chapter 122 Balance
The silence after the vision was suffocating.
Not even the wind seemed to dare to cross that clearing.
The door remained open before us, slowly pulsing with shadows, while the golden runes glowed faintly around the structure.
But I could barely look at it now.
Because the phrase still echoed inside my head.
“The second key… chooses who stays behind.”
My chest tightened violently.
Then I felt Conrad's hands holding my face.
Firm.
Warm.
Desperate.
“Maya.”
I slowly raised my eyes.
His golden eyes were filled with something I had never seen so clearly before.
Fear.
Not fear of the rift.
Not fear of the creatures.
Fear of getting lost.
Conrad moved closer, as if he needed to make sure I was still there.
“You're not going into that thing.”
His voice was low.
But absolute.
My heart ached immediately.
“Conrad…”
“No.” He shook his head before I could even finish. “I don’t care about prophecies. I don’t care about keys.” His fingers trembled slightly against my face. “I won’t let you stay trapped there.”
The words hit too deep.
Because part of me…
was already beginning to understand.
The heiress didn’t seem like someone defeated.
She seemed like someone who had chosen.
And that was worse.
Much worse.
I carefully took his hand.
“Maybe she didn’t have a choice.”
“Then we’ll find another.”
The answer came too quickly.
Too painful.
Kael discreetly looked away beside us, as if realizing that this conversation wasn’t really about the heiress.
It was about me.
About what could happen to me.
Conrad slowly rested his forehead against mine.
“Promise.”
My throat tightened.
“Conrad…”
“Promise you won’t sacrifice yourself.”
The baby moved strongly at that instant.
A warm wave swept through my womb.
And the runes on the door pulsed immediately in response.
Kael approached the structure again while I was still trying to find words that wouldn’t destroy Conrad at that moment.
“The inscriptions have changed,” he murmured.
We both moved back just enough to look.
The golden runes really were different now.
Ancient symbols slowly slid across the stone like living ink.
Kael carefully ran his fingers over one of them.
His eyes widened almost immediately.
“No…” he whispered.
Conrad stiffened.
“What?”
Kael turned slowly to us.
“The keys weren’t created to close the rift.”
A heavy silence fell.
My heart raced.
“Then what are they for?” I asked.
Kael swallowed hard before answering.
“To maintain its balance.”
The air seemed to leave my lungs.
Conrad immediately turned his eyes to the door.
Then to me.
And I saw the exact moment the worst thought crossed his mind.
Sacrifice.
The heiress had activated the keys to keep something trapped there.
To prevent the rift from completely losing control.
The shadows inside the door began to move violently at that instant.
As if they had heard our understanding.
The monstrous voice surged again in my mind.
“SHE WEAKENS.”
I immediately put my hand to my head.
Pain shot through my skull.
“Maya!” Conrad held my waist before I fell.
But another voice emerged alongside the monstrous one now.
The heiress.
Weak.
Desperate.
“Hurry…”
Tears streamed down my face uncontrollably.
Because I could feel it.
She was tired.
Too tired.
Centuries holding something on the other side of the rift.
Alone.
Kael was observing the runes rapidly now.
“The balance is failing.”
The black roots around the structure began to pulse violently.
The ground trembled beneath our feet.
And then…
a deep sound echoed from within the darkness of the doorway.
A knock.
Like the awakening of a gigantic heart hidden in the depths of the rift.
The knock echoed again.
Louder.
Closer.
The sound rippled through the entire clearing like a living pulse, causing the black roots to writhe violently around the structure.
The horses began to stir behind us.
The guards instinctively retreated.
But I…
I couldn't move.
Because along with that knock came a horrible sensation.
Consciousness.
Something was awakening on the other side of the crack.
Conrad immediately pulled me behind him.
“Everyone back from the door,” he ordered.
Kael didn't move.
His eyes frantically scanned the runes, trying to understand the symbols that kept shifting before us.
“The balance is worse than we imagined,” he murmured.
Another knock.
This time the ground cracked beneath our feet.
Liquid shadows began to slowly trickle from the opening of the door, sliding across the stone like black blood.
The guards raised their weapons immediately.
But the shadows didn't attack.
They just scattered across the ground…
as if searching for something.
Or someone.
The baby moved violently inside me.
A sharp pain shot through my womb.
I gasped immediately.
“Maya.” Conrad held my waist. “We’re getting out of here.”
But before we could move away…
the door gleamed.
Golden runes exploded in light throughout the entire structure.
And the heiress appeared again.
Not as a memory this time.
She stood before the opening, partially shrouded in shadows, like someone trapped between two worlds.
Her dark hair floated slowly around her pale face.
Her golden eyes met mine immediately.
And I felt it.
Exhaustion.
Pain.
Loneliness.
Centuries of loneliness.
“He’s waking up,” she whispered.
Her voice came out shaky.
Weak.
Kael paled beside the door.
“Who?”
The shadows behind her moved violently.
Gigantic.
Hungry.
Darkness itself seemed to breathe.
The heiress closed her eyes for a moment, as if gathering the strength to continue speaking demanded everything of her.
“Balance must be restored before the third key.”
My heart raced.
“How?” I asked immediately.
Her eyes slowly returned to me.
Then to my stomach.
The sadness in her expression intensified so much it almost destroyed me.
“The heir…”
The shadows exploded violently behind her.
A monstrous roar echoed from the infinite darkness.
The heiress was pulled back abruptly, disappearing into the darkness as the runes began to flash uncontrollably.
“MAYA!”
Conrad pulled me back the instant a wave of shadows exploded from the doorway.
The impact shook the entire clearing.
Guards were thrown.
Trees cracked.
The ground trembled violently.
And then…
for just a second…
I saw.
Enormous eyes opening in the depths of the chasm.
Staring directly at us.
Staring directly at my baby.