Elara's POV
"Three days to prepare."
I stare at Nessa's unconscious body, at the words still fading from her skin. Vex's message burns in my mind. I'm coming for you.
"We can't win," I whisper. "She's too powerful. She destroyed you with barely any effort—"
"That was before." Caspian grips my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. "Before I knew what you are. What we are together."
"What am I? You keep saying Life Weaver like I should know what that means!"
"Come with me." He pulls me toward a bookshelf in the corner. "I need to show you something."
He grabs a thick, ancient book and slams it on the table. Dust explodes into the air. The pages are yellow and brittle, covered in faded drawings and text I can barely read.
"Life Weavers," he says, flipping through pages frantically. "An ancient bloodline. Extinct for three centuries. They were the only people who could control the boundary between life and death without going mad."
He stops on a page showing a drawing of a woman with golden light radiating from her hands. Beneath her, dead plants bloom back to life. Above her, sick people heal instantly.
"They could heal anything. Reverse death itself if they caught it early enough. But they could also kill with a touch if they chose." He looks at me intensely. "They were the perfect balance. Life and death in one person."
"But I can't kill with a touch—"
"Because you've never tried." He flips to another page showing a man and woman standing together, their hands joined, silver and gold light spiraling between them. "Life Weavers and Death Keepers were always meant to work in pairs. Two halves of the same coin. Together, they could reshape reality itself."
My heart pounds. "That's us."
"That's us." He closes the book. "Which is why Vex is terrified. She's powerful, but she's corrupted. Unstable. We're balanced. Natural. Everything she can never be."
"Then why did she challenge us? Why give us three days to prepare?"
His expression darkens. "Because she's not just preparing to fight us. She's preparing something worse." He moves to another shelf, pulling down maps and scrolls. "Vex isn't working alone. She can't be. Her level of power requires sacrifices. Blood rituals. Probably hundreds of deaths."
Ice floods my veins. "You think she's been killing people all along?"
"I know she has." He spreads a map across the table. Red marks dot various locations. "I've been tracking mysterious deaths across the kingdom for years. Villages where everyone died overnight. Travelers who vanished. Patients at the Sanctum who died from 'unknown causes.'" His finger traces the pattern. "They all connect to her."
I stare at the map in horror. "She's been building power for years."
"Decades, probably." He looks at me grimly. "And now she's ready to make her final move. Whatever she's planning, it requires eliminating us first. We're the only ones who can stop her."
"But we don't even know what she's planning!"
"Then we have three days to find out." He straightens. "And we use that time to unlock your full potential. If you're truly a Life Weaver, you have abilities you don't even know about yet."
"Like what?"
"Like reversing death. Healing from a distance. Seeing life forces." He pauses. "And if my theory is correct—killing with a thought."
I step back. "I'm not a killer."
"You might have to be." His voice is gentle but firm. "Vex won't stop. She'll keep murdering innocents until she gets what she wants. The only way to save them is to end her permanently."
The weight of his words crushes down on me. I became a healer to save lives, not take them.
But how many people will die if I don't stop Vex?
"Teach me," I say quietly. "Teach me everything."
Relief flashes across his face. "It won't be easy. Life Weaver training is intense. Painful. You'll have to break through mental barriers you've built your entire life."
"I can handle it."
"Even if it means confronting your own capacity for violence? For death?"
I think about Nessa dying. About the forty-three villagers Vex murdered. About everyone else who'll die if we fail.
"Yes," I say firmly. "Even then."
He nods slowly. "Then we start now. First lesson—sensing life forces."
He takes my hand, his skin warm against mine. "Close your eyes. Focus on the bond between us. Feel my heartbeat. My breath. The magic flowing through my veins."
I do as he says. At first, I feel nothing. But then, slowly, I become aware of something—a rhythm beneath my own heartbeat. Caspian's pulse, steady and strong.
"Good," he murmurs. "Now expand outward. Feel Nessa. Feel the plants in this room. Feel everything that lives."
I push my awareness out like ripples in water. And suddenly, I can sense them—tiny sparks of life all around me. Nessa's weak but present. The plants glowing gently. Even insects in the walls.
"I can feel them," I breathe.
"Now look deeper. See the threads connecting them. Life magic flows between all living things. You can sense those connections."
I focus harder. And there—thin golden threads linking everything together like a vast web. Each thread pulses with energy.
"Amazing," I whisper.
"Now the hard part." His voice turns serious. "Find the darkest thread. The one that feels wrong."
I search through the web of life. Most threads are golden and healthy. But then I find it—a black thread, pulsing with sick energy. It's wrapped around one of the brightest sparks.
"That's Nessa's curse," Caspian says. "Can you see how it's draining her? Feeding off her life force?"
"Yes." Anger rises in me. "It's killing her slowly."
"Then cut it."
"What?"
"Use your life magic. Cut the thread."
"But won't that hurt her?"
"It'll hurt the curse." His grip tightens on my hand. "Trust yourself. Trust your power."
I focus on the black thread. Imagine golden scissors made of pure life energy. And then—I cut.
The thread snaps.
Nessa gasps, her back arching. The black veins on her skin fade significantly. Her breathing eases.
"I did it!" I open my eyes in amazement.
But Caspian's face is pale. "Elara, that wasn't just the curse you cut."
"What do you mean?"
He points to the window. Outside, the plants we passed on the way in—they're withering. Dying.
"When you cut the curse thread, you drew power from the nearest life source to fuel the attack." His voice is tight with concern. "You killed those plants to save your sister."
Horror floods through me. "I didn't mean to—"
"I know. But that's how Life Weaver magic works. Everything has a cost. To give life, you must take it from somewhere else. To heal, something must die." He meets my eyes. "That's why the bloodline went extinct. Most Life Weavers couldn't handle the moral weight. They went mad from guilt."
I stare at my hands like they're weapons. "I killed them."
"You saved Nessa. That was the right choice." He takes my hands gently. "But you need to learn control. How to choose what you draw from. How to minimize the cost."
"And if I can't?"
"Then when we face Vex, you might kill everyone around us trying to stop her." His expression is deadly serious. "Including me."
The implications hit me like a physical blow.
"We have three days," he continues. "Three days to teach you control. To master your power. To become strong enough to face a Void Weaver." He squeezes my hands. "Can you do it?"
I look at Nessa, breathing easier now. At the dead plants outside. At Caspian watching me with trust and worry mixed together.
"I have to."
"Then we train until you collapse. Until your power becomes instinct instead of effort." He releases my hands and moves toward the door. "Get some rest. In three hours, your real training begins."
"Where are you going?"
"To bury the villagers Vex murdered." His voice is heavy with grief. "They deserve proper rites. And I need to ask their spirits if they saw anything that might help us."
He leaves before I can respond.
I'm alone with Nessa and my terrifying new knowledge.
I'm not just a healer anymore.
I'm a Life Weaver. Someone who can save or kill with equal ease.
Someone who might be the only hope of stopping Vex.
I sink into a chair, exhausted and overwhelmed.
That's when I notice the book Caspian was reading—still open on the table. I pull it closer, studying the page.
It shows two Life Weavers and two Death Keepers standing in a circle. Beneath them, text in ancient script.
I can barely read it, but I make out a few words: "...ultimate power... reshape death itself... forbidden ritual... total destruction..."
My blood runs cold.
I flip through more pages frantically. Find another passage: "When Life and Death unite fully, they can unmake creation. This is why the bloodlines were separated. Why Life Weavers were hunted to extinction. Why Death Keepers were cursed to solitude."
And at the bottom of the page, one final warning written in red ink that looks disturbingly like blood:
"If a Life Weaver and Death Keeper ever bond completely—mind, body, and soul—they become something neither life nor death can control. They become gods. Or monsters. There is no difference."
My hands shake as I close the book.
Caspian and I are already bonded mentally through the ritual.
What happens if we bond further?
What happens if we fall in love?
Before I can process this, the fortress door crashes open.
I jump up, ready to fight.
But it's not Vex.
It's Kieran, bleeding and gasping.
"They're coming," he pants. "Vex didn't give you three days. She lied." He collapses to his knees. "Her army is two hours away. And they brought something worse than death magic."
"What could be worse?"
He looks at me with pure terror.
"They brought the other Life Weaver."
The world stops.
"What? I thought they were extinct—"
"So did everyone else." Blood drips from his mouth. "But Vex found one. Captured him. Corrupted him. Turned him into her weapon." His voice breaks. "And he's coming here to kill you and take your power for himself."
I stare at Kieran in horror.
Another Life Weaver exists.
And he's on Vex's side.