Eris's lungs burned though he wasn't breathing.
The chains of the vision tightened, dragging him down into a black abyss where faces he knew—friends, enemies, strangers—screamed his name.
He struggled, but every pull made the chains sink deeper into his flesh.
Then, in the midst of the pain, a faint light shone above him. Not the Heart of Mars… but something smaller, steadier. A memory.
It was the night Mara had patched his arm after a reckless fight.
She'd laughed at him, then whispered, "Don't carry it all alone, Eris. Let us share the weight."
The vision flickered. The chains trembled.
Eris clenched his fists, blood running down his arms where the metal dug in. "I don't want to rule. I don't want to consume. I just want them—" He gasped, forcing the words out— "to live."
The abyss cracked open like glass shattering.
The chains broke, scattering into dust. The battlefield, the corpses, the blood—gone.
He stood once more in the starry void, and before him appeared a woman draped in endless veils of shadow and light. Her face was hidden, but her presence was vast, ancient, and undeniable.
The Veiled One.
"You have spoken your truth," she said, voice echoing like ten thousand whispers. "You have chosen shield over sword, burden over crown. For this, I grant you not power—but clarity."
She touched his forehead.
A flood of visions surged into him:
The Heart of Mars beating like a sun beneath the planet's crust.
Asmodeus rising, his form cloaked in flame and bone.
The One Being stirring far beyond the veil of reality, its gaze vast enough to drown stars.
Eris cried out, collapsing under the weight of it. When he looked up, the Veiled One was already fading, her form dissolving into mist.
"Clarity is the sharpest weapon. Do not forget."
The void vanished.
---
His body arched violently in the pool. With a gasp, Eris burst from the glowing waters, coughing, eyes blazing like twin embers. Mara rushed to his side, but Selene caught her arm.
"Look," Selene whispered.
The glow of the pool had dimmed, its light now pulsing faintly beneath Eris's skin. His voice was raw when he finally spoke:
"She showed me… everything. The Heart, Asmodeus, even beyond."
Jonas leaned in, eyes wide. "And? What does it mean?"
Eris's jaw clenched. His gaze went to the statue of the Veiled One, whose veil now hung still, silent.
"It means," he said, his voice grim, "our time is shorter than we thought."
The cavern was silent, but the shadows seemed to listen.