Chapter 48 The Return of Ronan
"Get ropes! Now!" Mara shouted. Wolves scrambled to obey.
But before they could lower ropes into the vault, Ronan climbed out. His movements were wrong. Jerky. Inhuman.
"No need for rescue," he said. His voice had changed. Deeper. Multiple voices speaking at once. "I am already free."
"What did the Devourer do to you?" Kieran demanded.
"Gave me purpose. Power. Hunger." Ronan smiled. His teeth were too sharp. Too many. "I am his prophet now. His voice. His hand. And when he breaks free, I will help him consume everything you built."
"He is sealed for fifty years!"
"Is he though?" Ronan tilted his head. "Or is that what you want to believe? The truth is the seal is already weakening. Every day. Every hour. Soon Oblivion will return. And when he does, I will be rewarded. Elevated. Made eternal."
"You are insane," Luna said.
"No. I am enlightened. I see the truth now. Everything ends. Everything returns to nothing. Fighting it is pointless. Embrace the void. Welcome the end."
"Never," Mara said. She called on her golden light. It flared around her. "We beat Oblivion once. We will beat him again. And we will beat you too."
"You can try." Ronan raised both hands. Darkness poured from his fingers. Not shadow darkness. Void darkness. The same emptiness Oblivion commanded.
The darkness shot toward Mara. She threw up a shield of golden light. The two forces collided.
But Ronan's darkness was strong. Stronger than it should be. It pushed against Mara's light. Cracking it.
"He is channeling Oblivion's power!" Kieran realized. "As long as the connection exists, Ronan is nearly invincible!"
"Then we break the connection!" Zevran transformed and charged at Ronan.
But the darkness swatted him aside like he was nothing. Zevran crashed into a wall. Hard.
"Zevran!" Mara's concentration broke. Her shield shattered.
The darkness rushed toward her. She could not stop it.
Then Brutus appeared. Threw himself between Mara and the void.
"Not on my watch!" he roared. His own power flared. Gray light. Old power. Royal blood awakening.
The gray light held back the darkness. Barely.
"Interesting," Ronan said. "The traitor has returned. Tell me, cousin. Did you really think they would accept you? Did you think redemption was that easy?"
"I do not care if they accept me," Brutus gritted out. "I am done being selfish. Done putting myself first. Even if I die here, at least I died trying to protect something good."
"How noble. How boring." Ronan pushed harder. "But ultimately futile. You cannot stop what is coming. None of you can."
More wolves joined Brutus. Adding their power to his. Pushing back against Ronan's darkness.
"We do not need to stop you," Mara said. She was back on her feet. Gathering her power. "We just need to slow you down long enough to figure out how to break your connection to Oblivion."
"You have no time. While we waste moments here, the seal weakens. Soon my master will be free. And then you all die."
"Let him try!" Queen Adira appeared with her cat warriors. "We did not come all this way to lose to a dead prince and his void master!"
Her cats joined the fight. A hundred of them. All channeling their magic into the defense.
The combined power was enough. Ronan's darkness was pushed back. Contained.
"Clever," Ronan admitted. "But this changes nothing. I have infinity on my side. You have finite strength. Eventually, you will tire. And I will consume you all."
"Then we do not tire," Mara said. "Kieran! Can you create a barrier? Something to trap him?"
"Maybe. If everyone keeps him distracted for three minutes!"
"You have three minutes! Make them count!"
Kieran began chanting. Drawing symbols in the air. Building magic.
Ronan laughed. "You think a barrier will hold me? I am touched by Oblivion! I am—"
"Annoying," Nyra interrupted. She appeared beside Ronan and threw a potion in his face. "Shut up already."
The potion exploded. Ronan screamed. His face burned. The darkness faltered.
"Now!" Kieran shouted. The barrier snapped into place. A dome of white light surrounding Ronan.
"No! You cannot trap me!" Ronan slammed against the barrier. It held. Barely.
"That will not hold long," Kieran said. "Maybe an hour. Maybe less. We need a permanent solution."
"What kind of solution?" Marcus asked.
"We need to sever his connection to Oblivion. Cut the thread that binds them." Kieran pointed at Ronan. "Look closely. Can you see it?"
Mara focused. Through her enhanced vision, she saw it. A thin black thread connecting Ronan's chest to somewhere far away. Deep underground. Where Oblivion was sealed.
"I see it. How do we cut it?"
"With something stronger than void magic. Something pure. Something—"
"Golden light," Mara finished. "My light. The one that pushed back Oblivion."
"Exactly. But it will hurt him. Probably kill him."
"He is already dead in all the ways that matter," Zevran said coldly. "Do it."
Mara hesitated. Ronan was a monster. But he was also a victim. Consumed by something he could not control.
"Do not pity him," Brutus said. "I made terrible choices too. But I owned them. Took responsibility. He chose to serve the Devourer. Let him face the consequences."
"You are right." Mara called on her golden light. It gathered around her hands, blazing.
Ronan's eyes widened. "Wait! Wait, I can help you! I know things about Oblivion! About how to defeat him permanently!"
"You are lying."
"I am not! Please! I do not want to die! I just want to live!" Ronan's voice cracked. "I am scared! Please!"
Mara's hand wavered. The golden light dimmed slightly.
"He is manipulating you," Nyra warned. "Playing on your compassion. Do not fall for it."
"But what if he is telling the truth? What if he really does know how to stop Oblivion?"
"Then we can question him after we sever the connection. If he survives."
Mara made her decision. She threw the golden light at the black thread.
It struck. The thread began to burn. Dissolve.
Ronan screamed. It was not a human scream. It was the sound of something being torn from reality itself.
The thread snapped. The connection severed.
Ronan collapsed inside the barrier. His body convulsed. The void darkness poured out of him like smoke.
When it cleared, he was just a man. Broken. Bleeding. But alive.
"It worked," Kieran said with relief. "The connection is broken. He is mortal again."
The barrier dissolved. Mara approached Ronan carefully.
"Can you hear me?"
Ronan's eyes opened. They were normal now. Brown. Human. Filled with pain and regret.
"I can hear you," he whispered. "And I can think. For the first time in months, my thoughts are my own."
"What did Oblivion do to you?"
"Showed me things. Terrible things. The end of everything. The futility of existence. He made me believe the only escape from pain was embracing the void." Ronan coughed blood. "But I was wrong. The void is not escape. It is slavery worse than any curse."
"Can you stand?"
"I do not think so. Everything hurts. I think I am dying."
"Let me heal you." Mara knelt beside him. Called on her light.
"No. Do not waste your power on me. I do not deserve it."
"Everyone deserves a chance to make things right. Even you."
She poured healing light into Ronan's body. The wounds closed. The bleeding stopped.
Ronan sat up slowly. Stared at his hands like he could not believe they were real.
"Why? After everything I did?"
"Because killing you makes me no better than Oblivion. We choose mercy. We choose hope. That is how we win."
Ronan looked at all the wolves surrounding him. At Zevran who he had wronged. At Brutus who he had corrupted. At Mara who he had tried to destroy.
"I am sorry. I know that means nothing. But I am sorry."
"Sorry is a start," Zevran said. "But you will spend the rest of your life proving you mean it. Starting now. What did you learn about Oblivion? How do we stop him permanently?"
"The seal. It is not weakening naturally. Someone is weakening it deliberately. From the outside."
"Who?"
"I do not know. But whoever it is, they want Oblivion free. They are performing rituals. Dark rituals. Sacrificing lives to corrode the seal."
"Where are these rituals happening?"
"Multiple locations. All over the kingdom. Small villages. Remote areas. Places no one would notice." Ronan struggled to his feet. "They are taking people. Making them disappear. Using their life force to break the seal."
"How many people have disappeared?" Marcus demanded.
"Dozens. Maybe hundreds. I do not know the exact number. But it is happening fast."