Madison stayed where she was.
She did not move away from the center of the chamber, nor did she watch Astrae with vigilance. There was no need. The violent pressure that had once crushed the air was gone, replaced by a fragile stillness that felt almost embarrassed to exist after everything that had happened.
Stone dust finally settled. Hairline cracks stopped spreading. The dungeon, damaged but intact, seemed to hold its breath.
Astrae lay against the fractured floor, her body half-buried in broken stone. Madison had not struck her with anything absolute. No source-level force. No end. Only restraint. Enough to break momentum. Enough to remind who stands upon her.
For a goddess, even a fallen one, that meant time.
Slowly, Astrae's breathing evened out. Blood that had spilled earlier drew back into her skin as though called home. Torn flesh sealed. Cracks vanished. The faint glow beneath her skin softened, stabilizing into something closer to mortal warmth.
She stirred.
The massive wings that had torn the chamber apart earlier dissolved into light, withdrawing until nothing remained but a fragile human form. Astrae pushed herself upright with care, testing her balance as if the world might betray her again.
When she sat, she folded her legs beneath her and rested her hands on her knees. Her posture was straight, controlled. She did not look submissive, but neither did she look defiant anymore.
She looked like someone waiting.
Madison approached, her footsteps quiet against the stone. She moved without urgency, robe brushing lightly against her legs, damp hair clinging to her back. There was no tension in her movements, only certainty.
"You need to stay with Theo," Madison said calmly.
The words were simple. Unadorned.
Astrae lifted her head, confusion flashing across her face before she could hide it.
"Why?" she asked. "And how exactly is someone that weak supposed to help me find my liege?"
Madison did not answer right away. She turned her gaze toward Theo's body lying nearby. His blood had darkened against the stone. His chest was still. To Astrae's senses, his soul was already gone, pulled away by Death.
Madison raised her hand.
A translucent interface unfolded above Theo, numbers and lines settling into place.
Astrae leaned forward despite herself.
"Negative infinity for luck?" she muttered. Her brow furrowed. "That's not just bad. That's absurd. H-how does that help me at all?"
"Keep reading," Madison said in a bored tone.
Astrae's eyes moved lower.
She read. Her expression changed.
The description was short, almost careless in how little space it took. Failure converted into leverage. Collapse turned into insight. Authority gained not through success, but through repeated ruin.
Astrae inhaled sharply.
Madison lowered her hand, and the interface faded.
"Theo is trying to reach higher gods," Madison said. "Not to worship them. Not bargain the usual way. He's looking for doors that aren't supposed to open."
Astrae clenched her fingers. "What does it mean? And do you think he can actually do that?"
"I think you should ask him about those details, assuming if he will trust you enough to open up," Madison replied. "Also, it can also be part of your arrangement."
Astrae frowned. "Arrangement..."
"You help him," Madison said, her tone steady. "You share what you know. What you sense. In return, he helps you trace what's left of the past. The others. What really happened to them…."
Astrae's shoulders tightened.
Madison met her gaze. "Your paths are already tangled. Whether you like it or not. If you want answers, you stay with him... you don't need to trust me, but I know you are confident to trust what I'm saying."
Silence stretched between them.
Astrae had questions. Too many of them. They crowded her thoughts, demanding release, but the presence in front of her made one thing clear. Madison was not someone to interrogate. She wasn't offering possibilities.
She was describing outcomes.
Astrae lowered her gaze slightly. "Fine," she said. "I'll listen to what you're saying."
Then she added with hesitatant tone. "But he's dead..."
Madison flicked her fingers. Nothing visible happened.
She looked directly at Astrae.
"There's something you need to understand," Madison said. "And you're forbidden to tell this information to anyone."
The word settled into the air with quiet weight.
Astrae felt it immediately. Not fear but finality. This wasn't a threat. It was a rule being written.
She nodded. "I understand."
"Theo has endless rebirth," Madison said. "Regression, if you prefer. It's tied to his luck or rather lack of it."
Astrae's eyes widened despite herself.
"No one knows this," Madison continued. "No mortals. No gods. No systems. No observers."
She paused, then added, "If you'd kept killing him, you would've been stuck with him. Forever. An endless loop you wouldn't even recognize as a prison."
Astrae swallowed hard.
"I'm done here," Madison said. "When he wakes up, you'll return to just before his last death."
Astrae straightened. "Then how—"
Madison raised a finger.
"Only this once, only this one death you'll remember," she said. "And only you, get to remember."
Astrae nodded slowly.
"You'll talk to Theo," Madison went on. "Tell him what you want. His teammates won't remember anything about you, but you need to be creative on how will you get to be here..."
"I can't rewrite memories," Astrae said.
"You don't have to," Madison replied. "I'll handle that." Then her gaze sharpened slightly. "Theo can't know about me. Or that I was here, understood?"
Astrae bowed her head. "Understood."
Madison exhaled softly, faint annoyance surfacing. "I can't erase the signal this place sent when you were unsealed. Doing that would mean adjusting everything connected to it. Including beings who are very comfortable where they are."
Astrae bit her lip. "So what do we do about it? Is there a way to - "
Madison answered without hesitation, "Your wings."
Astrae froze.
Then understanding settled in.
She stood and summoned her wings. They unfolded from her back, pale and radiant even now. Without turning around, she bowed her head.
"I'm ready," she said. "Cut it off. For my liege."
Madison stepped forward.
She grasped the wings with her two hands and pulled.
There was no struggle.
The wings came away as if they had never been anchored, light bursting forth as pain finally tore a cry from Astrae's throat. Her body arched, fingers digging into stone as agony raced through her.
Madison contained the light effortlessly from escaping. It folded inward, compressed into her grasp. Nothing escaped.
The wings collapsed into a single feather in her hand.
Madison then immediately placed her palm against Astrae's bleeding back. The wound vanished as if there's never been there in the first place.
"Half your strength is sealed with them," Madison said.
Astrae turned slowly. The pain was already gone, erased so cleanly it felt unreal. She stared at the feather.
"I'll get them back just as soon as I can," Astrae said quietly.
Madison nodded.
She placed the feather where the seal had broken.
"This is what they'll find when they inspect," she said.
She looked back at Astrae. "You'll explain it to Theo as well."
"I will."
Madison glanced at the fallen bodies. "When he regresses, they'll wake up remembering everything prior to your release, they will not know you exist as you are now."
Astrae frowned. "You already changed their timeline?"
Madison looked at her.
"I didn't need to," she said a matter of factly as she turned around, "I willed it."
Astrae hesitated.
She watched Madison for a long moment, weighing something in silence. The chamber around them was quiet now, too quiet for a place that had just survived divine violence. The hovering lights held steady. The symbols etched into the walls still glowed faintly, their presence heavy and unmistakable.
Finally, Astrae spoke.
"There's something I don't understand," she said carefully. "Even if I follow him, even if I agree to this… how am I supposed to leave?"
Madison did not turn.
"This place," Astrae continued, gesturing weakly around them, "is still a containment. A layered prison. Whatever you want to call it. I was unsealed, yes, but the structure itself is intact. I can feel it. The bindings are still there."
Madison stopped walking.
She turned just enough to look at Astrae over her shoulder.
"You're right," she said. "It is."
Astrae exhaled, relief and tension mixing. "Then how—"
Madison reached up and plucked a single strand of her hair.
The movement was casual. Almost careless.
The strand slipped free between her fingers, pale against her skin for only a moment before it darkened. The color drained from it rapidly, turning deep black, glossy, thickening as if it had weight.
It hit the floor and spread.
Not slowly.
The shadow flowed outward like spilled ink, multiplying as it moved, branching into long, thin tendrils that lashed across the floor and walls with sharp, snapping precision. They moved too fast to follow properly, striking every surface at once.
The chamber shuddered.
A thin line appeared along one wall.
Then another.
Hairline fractures raced outward, slicing through glowing symbols as if they were drawn on glass. Wherever the shadow passed, the inscriptions faltered, flickered, then split cleanly apart.
Astrae stared.
The cracks spread upward, across the ceiling, along the slanted walls of the structure. The geometry of the place strained, lines bending, angles warping as the bindings that had held it together for centuries began to fail.
It felt less like something breaking and more like something being told it no longer mattered.
With a dull, echoing sound, the last layer gave way.
The symbols dissolved.
Not shattered. Not destroyed.
They simply stopped existing.
The oppressive pressure vanished, replaced by open air that felt startlingly light. The structure around them was no longer a prison. It was just a hollowed space beneath the world, stripped of authority and purpose.
The shadow recoiled.
The black mass thinned, drawing itself back into a single strand that curled briefly around Madison's ankle before vanishing entirely.
Madison brushed her fingers together, as if cleaning off dust.
"It's unlocked," she said. "Completely."
Astrae swallowed.
"You… you just—"
Madison turned fully now, her expression calm, eyes steady. "You've asked a lot," she said. "More than you're entitled to."
Astrae lowered her gaze. "I know," she said quietly. "I'm not pretending otherwise."
She hesitated, then looked up again. "But I also know you didn't do this for me."
Madison did not react.
"You did it because of him," Astrae continued. "My liege. You're not forcing things even though you could. You're keeping this quiet. Contained." Her voice tightened. "What I don't understand is why you won't just tell me what happened. Where he is. What became of everyone."
For the first time, Madison's expression changed.
Not much.
But it was there.
A faint crease formed between her brows. Her lips pressed together, the smallest hint of irritation breaking through the calm.
"That's enough," Madison said.
The temperature of the air dropped.
Astrae stiffened instantly.
"You don't get to question me," Madison continued, her voice still soft, but stripped of warmth. "Not my choices. Not my reasons."
Astrae opened her mouth, then stopped herself.
Madison took a step closer.
"You are not in a position to demand answers," she said. "And you never will be."
Her gaze sharpened. "The next time you even think about questioning me like that will be the last time you get the chance."
The meaning was clear.
Astrae bowed her head immediately. "Understood."
Madison held her gaze for another second, then turned away.
"Follow Theo," she said again, final. "That's all you need to focus on."
Astrae straightened slowly, eyes lingering on the now-broken structure around them. The prison that had defined her existence for so long was gone, erased with frightening ease.
She exhaled.
Then, quietly, she said, "I will."
Madison nodded once.
And with that, the matter was closed.
"Everything's been corrected," Madison declared softly rather than said.
She turned away, peeled open space itself, and stepped through. The opening closed behind her without sound.
Astrae was left alone.
Waiting.
And for the first time since awakening, she did not resist it.