Sybil and Dominic stepped into a spacious, sparsely furnished chamber, its quiet simplicity echoing against stone walls.
Sybil stopped before a man with sun-kissed skin and short dark-brown hair. His features were gentle, softened by a faint smile, though a white cloth blindfold covered his eyes.
"Master," Sybil said, bowing. "I have returned."
The man before her was Talis—the Great Seer of Heaven and Earth—the one who had raised her since childhood, the only father figure she had ever known.
"My lord," Dominic followed, bowing in turn.
"I am relieved to see both of you return safely," Talis said. His smile faded, his brow knitting together. "But your soul remains incomplete. Did you not find a way to cure your congenital incomplete soul in Trabert?"
"I did," Sybil replied. "But I chose not to use it."
Talis stilled.
"Why?"
Sybil recounted everything that had happened in Trabert: the Demon Seal Sect, and the deserted island. She spoke without embellishment, until the tale reached its end.
Talis listened in silence, then exhaled slowly.
"Have you truly thought this through, Sybil?"
"I have," she said. "She has a new life now. People who love her. A place where she belongs. I do not wish to take that away from her."
Charlotte's face surfaced in her mind.
The girl who carried the fragment of soul that should have been hers.
So alive. So whole.
Far more complete than Sybil herself.
"I can no longer remain silent," Talis said at last. "It is time I told you the truth."
Sybil frowned.
"The truth?"
She studied his face, though his eyes were hidden behind the cloth. She knew him well enough to sense the gravity in his expression. Talis was not blind; his eyes possessed power far beyond ordinary limits. The blindfold he wore suppressed nearly eighty percent of that power, removed only when necessary.
"If you fail to restore your soul before your eighteenth birthday," Talis said, "you will die. And your soul will shatter beyond recovery."
"So that is how it ends," Sybil murmured.
She fell silent for a moment. Her face remained composed, yet something sorrowful flickered in her eyes.
I had suspected as much, she thought. But I did not expect it to be so soon. Nor that my soul would completely disperse.
Perhaps this, too, is fate.
She did not fear death. Nor did she cling to life.
As for her soul scattering, returning to nature seemed… acceptable.
"Will you not reconsider?" Talis asked. "The soul fragment."
"I will not," Sybil answered without hesitation.
"You truly are stubborn," he sighed.
"Miss Sybil," Dominic interjected, unable to hold back any longer. "That soul fragment may have gained a new life, but it was always meant to be yours. Her life cannot outweigh yours. You should not die for her. She is unworthy."
Dominic was always courteous toward Sybil, but when he believed she was wrong, he never softened his words. He had protected her like an older brother all her life.
"I have decided," Sybil said. "Please respect my choice."
Dominic opened his mouth to argue further, but Talis raised a hand.
"That is enough," Talis said. "Sybil has made her decision."
The door creaked open.
"I cannot accept such a decision."
A firm, resonant voice cut through the room. Long strides carried Alastair inside, stopping beside Sybil.
"My name is Alastair," he said, placing a hand over his chest as he bowed to Talis. "Forgive my intrusion, but I could not remain silent."
"The pleasure is mine," Talis replied with a mild smile. "Sybil has spoken of you."
He showed no surprise at Alastair's sudden appearance.
"I heard everything," Alastair said. "How much time does she have left?"
"Two days," Talis answered.
Alastair froze.
For a moment, he stare. Then he turned toward the door.
"I have something to do," he said. "Excuse me."
"Wait," Sybil called. "Where are you going?"
"To bring that girl here."
"I do not want her," Sybil said.
"I will not watch you disappear again," Alastair snapped, anger flaring in his voice.
"She and I are not the same person," Sybil replied. "You have no right to impose your will upon me."
"I will not stand by while your soul shatters."
For the first time, irritation surfaced in Sybil's eyes.
She was not accustomed to emotions. Born with an incomplete soul, she lacked the capacity for desire, anger, or attachment as others did. Even with death looming two days away, she remained composed.
And yet—
Since meeting Charlotte, something had changed.
Anger. Resistance.
Was this what it felt like?
"If you bring her here, I will still refuse," Sybil said. "I would rather die."
For a fleeting moment, she wondered what it might feel like to be whole. To feel.
But she would not destroy an innocent life to find out.
"Why?" Alastair demanded. "Why die for her, when she is nothing more than your soul fragment?"
"I do not owe you an explanation."
"Then I will force you," he said, turning away.
"Alastair—"
"Let him go," Talis said. "You cannot stop him."
Sybil hesitated, then fell silent as Alastair disappeared through the doorway.
"Sit," Talis said gently.
She obeyed, lowering herself onto the cushion across from him.
"Why are you so unwilling to reclaim her?" he asked. "You will cease to exist."
"If she were still only a soul fragment without form, without thoughts or a life of her own, I would not hesitate," Sybil replied. "But I was too late. She is whole now. I cannot do it."
"She was always part of you."
"Perhaps," Sybil said. "But now she does not need me. She is free. I am the one who would steal her life for my own. And I refuse."
"You do not wish to live?"
"A life built upon another's death is not one I desire."
Talis was silent.
Sybil lowered her gaze, her thoughts settling into quiet resolve.
If someone must die, she thought,
it should not be Charlotte.
It should be me.