Sera's POV
The light from the exploding mirrors fades, and I'm still standing. Still breathing.
Still bonded to Kaine.
I look down at my chest where the golden thread connects us. It's brighter than before, pulsing with energy. Stronger.
"What happened?" I gasp. "The timer ran out. Did we fail?"
Kaine stares at the space where his younger self stood, but the figure is gone now. The mirrors are dark. "I don't know."
The Trial Realm trembles. The ground cracks beneath our feet.
"That doesn't sound good," I say.
"Run!"
We sprint across the mirror hall as it collapses around us. Massive sheets of glass fall from above. Kaine pulls me left, then right, dodging the deadly rain. One shard slices my cheek. I feel Kaine's wince through the bond—my pain is his pain now.
Ahead, a doorway of light appears. We dive through it just as the entire hall implodes behind us.
We land hard on cold stone. I roll, gasping for air, my heart pounding so hard it hurts.
When I look up, we're back in the Veil Court. The crystal castle. Safe.
Thorne rushes over, her face pale. "You made it! I've been watching the timer. You survived all six hours!"
"Six hours?" Kaine sits up slowly. "It felt like twenty minutes."
"Time moves differently in Trial Realms." Thorne helps me to my feet. "You passed. Both trials. The Celestial Order has to honor their word now."
Relief floods through me so intense I almost collapse. "We're not going to die?"
"Not today." Thorne smiles. "Though you both look terrible. When's the last time either of you ate?"
I try to remember. The auction was yesterday morning. I haven't eaten since... "Two days ago?"
"Right. Food first. Explanations later." Thorne starts leading us down a crystal corridor. "The Celestials already left. They witnessed your survival and recorded it as official. The bond is now recognized as lawful."
We're alive. We're safe. The bond is legal.
So why does Kaine look so troubled?
Through our connection, I feel his confusion. His guilt. Something about the choice in the mirror hall is bothering him.
Thorne takes us to a dining room—smaller than I expected, more comfortable. She brings food: bread, cheese, fruit, things I recognize. Human food.
"You keep mortal food here?" I ask, surprised.
"I visit Earth sometimes. I like pizza." Thorne shrugs. "Don't tell the other immortals. They think it's beneath us."
Despite everything, I almost laugh. This ancient powerful being likes pizza.
I eat slowly, my hands shaking with exhaustion. Kaine barely touches his food. He keeps staring at me with an expression I can't read.
"Okay," Thorne says after we've eaten. "Someone want to tell me what happened in there? The bond looks different now."
"The second trial," Kaine says quietly. "It showed me two futures. One where I keep Sera and watch her age and die. Another where I break the bond and set her free to live a full human life."
My chest tightens. "You were going to break it? Without asking me?"
"I was trying to save you—"
"From what? From you?" I stand up, anger flooding through me. "I'm so tired of people making decisions for me! My family did it my whole life. And now you?"
"That's not—" Kaine starts, but I cut him off.
"I thought you were different. I thought when you said I mattered to you, you meant it. But you were ready to rip our bond apart just like that?"
"Because you deserve better!" Kaine stands too, his voice rising. "Better than watching me enforce cosmic law. Better than being hunted by every realm. Better than dying young because you're tied to my cursed existence!"
"That's my choice to make! Not yours!"
We're both shouting now, the bond crackling with emotion between us.
"I've lived three thousand years," Kaine says, his voice breaking. "I've watched everyone I ever cared about grow old and die. I can't—I won't—put you through a short painful life just because I'm too selfish to let you go."
The anger drains out of me. Through the bond, I feel his real fear. Not of death or danger.
Fear of loving me and losing me.
"Kaine," I say softly. "How long do Realm Walkers live?"
He blinks, caught off guard by the question. "What?"
"You're so worried about me aging and dying. But you said Realm Walkers were almost extinct. That means they existed for a long time, right? How long did they live?"
Kaine looks at Thorne. She's pulling up information on her light-tablet, her expression growing surprised.
"According to records," Thorne says slowly, "Realm Walkers typically lived between five hundred and eight hundred years. Their power sustained them far beyond normal mortal lifespans."
The room goes silent.
"Five hundred years," I repeat. "That's not exactly a short human life."
"That's..." Kaine sits back down heavily. "I didn't know."
"You were going to break our bond to save me from something that isn't even true." I cross my arms. "Did the Trial Realm know that? Was it testing whether you'd trust the bond or trust your fear?"
Kaine's face goes pale. "The timer ran out before you could finish speaking. Before you could tell me what you wanted. And the realm screamed in rage."
"Because we failed," Thorne says, understanding dawning. "Not the survival part. The choice part. You were supposed to choose together, as equals. But Kaine tried to choose for Sera."
"But we're still alive," I point out. "The bond is still intact. We passed the Trial."
"Because the bond itself made the choice," Thorne explains, staring at her tablet. "Look. The bond's color changed during the Trial. It went from gold to... this is impossible."
She shows us the screen. The image of our bond glows with multiple colors now—gold, silver, and streaks of pure white.
"What does that mean?" I ask.
"White is the color of eternal bonds," Thorne whispers. "Bonds that transcend death itself. They're legend. Myth. They don't actually exist."
Kaine and I look at each other.
"But ours does," I say.
"Apparently." Thorne looks shaken. "You two didn't just create a soul bond. You created something the cosmos hasn't seen in millennia. A true eternal bond."
"So when I tried to break it..." Kaine starts.
"The bond refused," Thorne finishes. "It chose for both of you. It chose to exist. To stay. To be eternal."
My head spins. "So we're stuck together? Forever?"
"Not stuck," Thorne corrects gently. "Connected. There's a difference."
I sink into a chair, trying to process this. Twenty-four hours ago, I was crying in a basement over my sister stealing my presentation. Now I'm eternally bonded to an ancient immortal, have magic powers, and apparently will live for centuries.
My life is insane.
Through the bond, I feel Kaine's emotions—relief, wonder, fear, and something else. Something warm and growing that he doesn't have a name for yet.
"I'm sorry," he says quietly. "For trying to choose for you."
"Don't do it again."
"I won't."
We sit in silence for a moment, the weight of forever settling between us.
Then Thorne's tablet beeps urgently. Her face goes white.
"What?" Kaine asks. "What is it?"
"We have a problem. A big one." She turns the screen toward us. "Dorian didn't just stay in the Shadowlands. While you were in the Trial Realm, he escaped. And he took something with him."
"What did he take?" I ask.
Thorne pulls up an image. It's a book—ancient, covered in chains, radiating dark power.
"The Codex of Unmaking," she says grimly. "It's a book of forbidden spells. One of them can forcibly extract Realm Walker power and transfer it to someone else."
My blood runs cold. "He's coming for me."
"Not just you." Thorne pulls up another image. This one shows my apartment building on Earth. In the window of my unit, I can see a figure.
My best friend Lyric, tied to a chair.
And standing behind her, smiling at the camera, is Dorian.
Words appear on the screen: "TRADE. THE REALM WALKER FOR THE FRIEND. MIDNIGHT. COME ALONE OR SHE DIES."
I'm on my feet before I realize I'm moving. "We have to save her!"
"It's a trap," Kaine says.
"I don't care! She's my best friend. The only person who ever—" My voice breaks. "I'm not letting her die because of me."
Kaine stands slowly. Through the bond, I feel his resignation. He knows I'm going.
"Then we go together," he says. "And we're ready for whatever Dorian has planned."
Thorne closes her tablet. "Midnight is four hours away. We need a plan."
"We need a miracle," Kaine corrects.
I look at both of them, feeling the eternal bond pulse in my chest. Feeling my Realm Walker power humming under my skin. Feeling, for the first time in my life, like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.
"Then let's make one," I say.
We have four hours to save my best friend from an ancient evil immortal who wants to steal my power and destroy the world.
Four hours to prove that love and friendship are stronger than cosmic law.
Four hours to show Dorian that kidnapping my friend was the biggest mistake of his very long life.