Chapter 49 - 50: The Dead Don’t Betray You Twice

Chapter 49: Chapter 50: The Dead Don’t Betray You Twice [POV: Kai Veylor] The war chamber no longer whispered. It screamed. Stone walls that once hummed with warm runes now howled with every lie ever fed to him. Faces flickered in the sconces—Seris, smiling with blood on her hands. Rhys, vanishing into memory. Astra, forever dancing at the edge of loyalty and lunacy. And Liora. Her betrayal was the freshest wound. Her kiss, the last lie that burned. Kai stood alone before the altar, its cracked marble surface pulsing with blood-red light. The prophecy scroll trembled in his hand like it feared him. Maybe it should. "You knew," he whispered to himself. "From the beginning." His voice echoed, twisted by magic, distorted by memory. His name glowed on the prophecy in a language older than the empire. Not silver. Not gold. Crimson. Condemned. A faint sound broke through the quiet—a tongue click, playful and dangerous. "Still breaking things you can’t fix, I see." Astra Volara. Draped in her usual chaos. She strolled forward, slicing an apple with her dagger like it was a ritual. "Want the good news or the worse news?" "I’m not in the mood for games." "That’s adorable," she said, biting into the apple. "But you don’t get to pick the tone anymore. Not when your own destiny just called you a catalyst." Kai turned toward her slowly. "You knew this whole time?" Astra shrugged. "I knew something. But you don’t stab a prophecy until it bites you first." He gritted his teeth. "Who forged this? Who twisted it?" Astra spun the apple core and flicked it into the brazier. It burst into green flames. "Everyone," she said. "Seris. Yuri. Rhys, before he ’died.’ Even Liora. You were the knife we all agreed to hold... until it started bleeding back." Kai turned from her, descending to the chamber’s lowest level. Below the altar, beneath runes buried under a millennium of lies, the original prophecy waited. He touched the core stone. Fire leapt from his palm. The altar split open with a groan like a dying god. Another scroll. Dusty, unmarked. Untouched by holy ink. He read it aloud, softly. "Kai Veylor: The Betrayer. The Uncrowned King. The Final Door." His heart stilled. A quake shivered up from the vault. Even Astra stiffened. "That wasn’t you," she said, voice low. "No," Kai replied, eyes narrowing. "That came from her." [POV: Yuri Volari] Yuri burned the first letter. Then the second. The third, she buried under snow like a secret grave. Each note bore a seal from a different faction. Different blood, same message: Kill Kai. Before he remembers. Before he becomes. She had trained for this. Orders above emotion. Duty over desire. But ever since Kai had looked at her—not as a weapon, not as a spy—but as someone capable of making her own choice... the voices in her head had gone quiet. And that silence was louder than any command. She stood outside his chamber. No armor. No blade. Just shadows clinging to her cloak like nervous children. Then she stepped through the wall. Kai was halfway up the stairs, scroll in one hand, a fire in the other. He didn’t look surprised to see her. "Yuri." "Don’t say my name like it still means something." Kai stopped. His fire dimmed. She tossed a metal shard onto the floor between them. It spun, ringing out like a judgment bell. "A Ninth Veil execution sigil," Kai said softly. "Seris had it in her boot. I took it before she realized I was watching." "And you brought it to me?" "I don’t play messenger," Yuri said. "I play executioner. And today, I’m not sure who I’m here to kill." They stood in silence, their past unspooling between them like a battlefield littered with memories. Finally, Kai said, "There’s a scroll below the altar. The real one. The prophecy everyone’s afraid of." "And what does it say?" "That I’m not the hero. Not even the chosen one. I’m the Final Door. The thing they all want open... or destroyed." Yuri’s expression didn’t change. But something in her eyes shattered. "All this time..." "They planned to use me," Kai said. "Just long enough to justify the next war. I was the symbol. The sacrifice." "No," Yuri said. "You’re more dangerous than a symbol." She sat down on the cold stone step. "You’re unpredictable. That’s why they fear you. You think too much. You trust too deeply. You forgive too easily." Kai lowered himself beside her. "I don’t forgive anymore," he said. "That’s what scares me the most." He turned his head. Slowly. "Are you afraid of me, Yuri?" "No," she said. "I’m afraid I believe in you." He reached for her hand. She didn’t pull away. "We make a deal," she said. "You and me. No prophecies. No pacts. Just survival. We burn everything down and walk out through the smoke." "And if we’re the villains?" "Then we win like villains." The shadows tightened around their joined hands. An old magic stirred. Not holy. Not cursed. Just honest. A pact sealed not in light, but in will. [Elsewhere – Astra Volara] Astra stood atop the spire of the Watchtower of Spines. She felt it the moment it happened. Not a tremor in the earth—something deeper. A choice. A crack in the wheel. Someone—two someones—had broken the cycle. She smiled and pulled her cloak tighter. "Kai," she whispered, eyes glittering with firelight, "you’ve finally stopped pretending to be a martyr." She drew her blade. It screamed in response. "You make war with Yuri Volari at your side?" She laughed. "Fine." "I’ll make sure you both die together." Then she vanished into smoke. ⚔️ Another oath. Another betrayal. Another war begins. ???? Add this book to your library to watch Kai rewrite fate itself. ???? Comment your theories—will Astra strike next, or will Yuri finally choose a side? ???? Vote with Power Stones to unleash Chapter 51: "The First to Die Again" — Bonus POV: Astra’s Hunt. Let’s rewrite the prophecy. Let’s make this world burn.???? Don’t miss it