The Wellspring was unnaturally calm.
Elena and Jaime floated in its depths, pale, bandaged, and drained. Every pulse of magic within the waters healed them at a divine rate, yet left an eerie residue of exhaustion clinging to their bones.
Señora Behike knelt at the pool's edge, hands hovering over them, palms glowing green as she whispered subtle incantations. Each movement was precise, measured. A silent hymn to restoration.
Alejandro remained on guard nearby, eyes sharp, scanning the cave entrance for any hint of cult activity. Occasionally, he muttered encouragements, steadying himself as much as them.
The water around them hummed, faint but alive. Shadows of storms past shimmered across the surface, reflecting memories the Wellspring had recorded, as if it remembered everything: every death, every stolen moment, every act of violence and grief. Watching, waiting, their silent eyes accusing.
Jaime stirred first. His spiraling lightning scars on his arm flared faintly, a reminder of the magic still coursing through him.
Elena's eyes fluttered open, her own scars glimmering in response, both old and new. She could feel only a trace of Guabancex's strength, her goddess too depleted to shield her fully.
Señora Behike's brow furrowed. "Stay alert," she murmured to Alejandro. "The Wellspring… it's stirring."
Alejandro tensed, hand resting on his sword, eyes scanning the rippling waters. Even the faint hum of healing carried a warning now.
The storm rose from within the water itself. Currents twisted unnaturally. Lightning arced faintly beneath the surface, illuminating faces that weren't there: the broken, the damned, the witnesses to atrocities Elena and Jaime had survived. Shadows of gods long gone flickered in the currents, their eyes hollow, accusing.
From Jaime's body, Coatriskie manifested- a towering, rain-wreathed presence, storm and river entwined, Jaime only partially aware, his body a trembling conduit. The air thickened; every drop of water seemed electrified with promise and threat.
The voice boomed through Jaime's lips, smooth and commanding, yet threaded with something colder, merciless:
Elena, bind yourself to me. Swear to walk with me, and I will restore Guabancex. I will give you the strength to strike vengeance at El León Negro.
But know this: your oath will tether your heart. Your body. Your life. Every pulse, every breath, every spark of love and fear will belong to me as it belongs to the storm. Refuse, and Guabancex will die. With her, so will you.
The cave quivered, water and stone responding to the presence. Alejandro's muscles tensed. Señora Behike laid a steadying hand on the water, murmuring under her breath, sensing the growing, dangerous weight of the bargain.
Coatriskie's power brushed against her own lightning scars, probing, testing. Tenderness and threat intertwined, igniting her pulse with a primal fear. The currents tugged at her, whispering promises of strength and vengeance- but also the cold reminder that everything she loved, everything she was, could be claimed.
Her chest rose and fell with the weight of the moment. Desire and danger tangled around her like a living thing.
She didn't speak. She didn't need to.
The tension between mortal and divine, love and obligation, pulsed through the Wellspring itself, a heartbeat of terror and seduction.
A low drumbeat echoed through the jungle outside the cave. Alejandro stiffened, turning towards the entrance of the cave with a dangerous glint in his eye. Señora Behike's eyes narrowed, sensing the cult's approach. The Serpiente were close, their magic pressing against the edges of the Wellspring's calm.
Coatriskie's voice sharpened through Jaime, jagged with warning:
If she leaves without swearing the oath, Guabancex will fade. She will die. And you, Jaime… you will watch it happen. Every heartbeat of your life will carry that witness.
The air thrummed with imminent threat. The water rippled around Elena and Jaime, reflecting the tension of gods and mortals, storm and jungle, love and danger. Each pulse carried the weight of choice, of life and death intertwined.
Slowly, deliberately, Elena moved through the water, her fingers curling around Jaime's. Their bodies pressed together, mortal and vessel, heart and storm entwined. Every movement was an answer, every touch a test of trust.
The Wellspring pulsed around them, waiting, watching, holding its breath- bearing witness to a choice that could reshape the world, and the hearts of all who lived in it.
Elena smiled bitterly.
There was only one choice.