Chapter 63 Serac Returns
Chapter 63 Serac Returns
Serac appeared without warning.
This time he came alone.
No army. No large force. Just a single figure standing on the ridge above their camp, watching them with the same calm, intelligent eyes he had shown before. The air around him felt different. Less like an assassin. More like a scientist watching an experiment reach a critical stage.
Veth’s hand tightened on her axe. Mara moved instantly to Darius’s left. Solis stepped slightly behind him. Pell pulled a dagger from his belt, though everyone knew it would be useless against whatever Serac carried.
Serac did not attack immediately. He simply stood there, robes moving in the wind that touched only him. “I came alone this time. The others were… too obvious.”
Darius looked at him steadily. “You are not here to kill me.”
Serac smiled faintly. “Not yet. I came to talk.”
He stepped down from the ridge and walked toward them with the same patient calm. No weapons drawn. No aggression. Just observation.
“You are changing,” Serac said quietly. “The black veins are spreading. The bonds are fighting each other inside you. Most vessels would have died by now. You are still standing. Still thinking. Still calculating.” He looked at the group. “I am starting to understand why the Pantheon is so interested.”
Veth growled. “Talk fast, Hunter. We don’t have time for your little experiments.”
Serac ignored her. He kept his eyes on Darius. “Multiple factions inside the Pantheon are now fighting over you. Some want you dead immediately. Others want you contained. A few… want you completed.”
The word landed like a stone in still water.
Darius asked the question directly, voice calm but carrying weight. “What am I supposed to become?”
Serac smiled faintly. “That depends which god answers first.”
He took one more step closer. “The fourth bond is the true test. After that… the real question begins.”
Before anyone could react, Serac turned and walked away, no longer looking like an assassin. He looked like someone who had decided the experiment was still worth watching.
As he reached the ridge, he glanced back at Kael specifically.
“You know what happens if the fourth bond completes.”
Kael did not answer.
She simply watched him with ancient, tired eyes.
Serac nodded once, almost respectfully, and disappeared into the trees.
The silence that followed was heavier than any threat.
Veth broke it first, voice sharp. “He’s playing a longer game now. This is worse than assassination.”
Mara stayed glued to Darius’s side, her hand never leaving his arm. “He knows things he shouldn’t. And he’s no longer in a hurry to kill you. That means he wants something else.”
Solis whispered, “He’s afraid of what happens when the fourth bond is done. That’s why he’s watching.”
Darius looked at the empty ridge where Serac had stood. The black veins beneath his skin pulsed slowly. “He’s not here to kill me. He’s here to test me. And he’s starting to understand the design better than the rest of us.”
Mara’s voice was tight. “You are not safe anymore. Not even from the people who were sent to stop you.”
Darius gave her a small, tired smile. “I know.”
Kael watched them from the ridge, her form flickering in and out of perception. She had said nothing. She had done nothing. She simply continued walking beside them, as if the conversation had never happened.
But the silence she left behind was heavier than any battle cry.