The chains around the woman pulsed softly, as though breathing. They were not made of metal alone—but of memory, time, and sorrow.
Kael's hand trembled on the hilt of his dagger.
"Who are you?" he asked.
The woman tilted her head. Her eyes shimmered like a still lake under moonlight.
"I am the Oracle. The one who warned the first throne, and was punished for the truth I spoke."
Nareus took a step back, whispering, "I've read of her. She was locked away before the Age of Iron. They said she foresaw the collapse of the gods."
Elira's voice was wary. "Why does she know you?"
Kael stepped forward. "Answer me. Why were you waiting for me?"
The Oracle's voice softened. "Because you are the end... and the beginning. Because in every age where the throne awakens, there is a bearer. A blade. A curse."
Selene moved closer to Kael. "Don't listen too easily. Prophets speak in loops. They always have a reason."
The Oracle's chains stirred.
"I offer no prophecy—only truth. You are not the first to walk with the Mark. But you are the first to choose."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "Choose what?"
The Oracle looked at the empty throne.
"To wear it. Or break it."
A silence settled over them. Heavy. Final.
"The throne is not power—it is memory," she continued. "It stores the lives of all who ruled. All their sins. Their victories. Their deaths. To sit upon it is to become them. All of them."
Kael's breath caught.
"You mean... I would lose myself?"
"No," she whispered. "You would become everyone else. Including... the one who built it."
Elira whispered, "That's why the curse exists. To prepare a soul strong enough to carry it."
The Oracle's eyes bore into Kael's.
"And now you must choose. But the throne will not wait forever."
"If I free you," Kael asked, "what happens?"
She smiled sadly.
"Then the truth walks with you. And the old gods may begin to tremble again."
Kael drew his dagger.
The edge shimmered—hung between decision and doubt.
And then, with one clean motion—he cut the chains.
The chamber trembled.
Somewhere, far away, the Throne of Blackened Bones stirred awake.
---
End of Chapter 27
The Oracle walks free, and with her, the truth Kael was never meant to hear. The throne is not a seat—it is a prison. And Kael must now decide whether to sit upon it… or destroy it.