The alchemy wing stood quiet at midnight, cloaked in stillness broken only by the guttering of lanternlight. Shadows crawled across the tiled walls like the memory of fire.
Cael leaned against a desk lined with shattered vials, his system interface pulsing with faint golden rings.
[Fate Disturbance Simulation Active – False Scroll Signature Planted]
He stared into the darkness, not blinking. "Come then."
The moment passed in silence.
Then a flicker.
A shadow peeled from the far wall—slender, fast, noiseless.
The assassin returned.
Cael's heartbeat didn't change. This time, he was ready.
Glass shattered behind him as she lunged—dagger-first, no hesitation.
But Cael had already moved. He activated the first glyph—triggered a pressure seal beneath the floorboard. A blast of repelling force knocked her back a step, just enough.
The second trap was already ticking: a time-delayed burst of alchemical smoke brewed from a corrupted nightroot vial.
He dove to the left, rolled, and hurled an arc-glass vial. It struck the ceiling—magnesium flare—light filled the room.
She hissed and stumbled, cloak burning at the edge. Her movements had slowed. Thread-weaving mid-fight took energy, coordination, clarity.
Cael exploited the window. He activated the chain seal—a rune etched in forbidden shapes wrapped around her wrist. The chain shot forward like a serpent and locked around her arm, then her leg, then both.
She struggled violently, shadows writhing at her feet.
But she was caught.
Breathing hard, Cael stepped forward.
That's when he saw her face clearly.
"...You," he said.
The thread-seer girl from the library.
She glared at him through strands of her tangled hair, her voice emerging low and ragged for the first time.
"You don't understand what you've done."
[System Ping – Subject Thread Detected: ??? (Unnamed Entity)]
The system's interface sparked with unstable flickers as it tried to process the girl's thread.
Cael stared, chest heaving, blood dripping from a cut above his brow.
Thread Analysis: ACTIVE – CORRUPTED – FUNCTIONAL
It was a thread like no other—splintered, refracted, twisting with broken fates. Like a cracked mirror barely holding its reflection.
"System," Cael whispered, eyes fixed on her. "What is she?"
[Error: Insufficient Data]
He stepped closer. The chains bound her arms and legs, glowing faintly with rune-light. She didn't struggle—she just watched him. Eyes calm. Ancient. Alien.
"What are you?" he asked. "And how do you have this power?"
"Kaelith," he said, almost like invoking a name he hadn't known he knew. "Answer me."
She tilted her head.
Then, with a breath like silk torn from cloth:
"You think you're the only one playing god?"
The words struck like ice.
"I'm not your enemy," he said.
Kaelith's expression darkened. "You rewrote fate. I watched you unmake a future with your bare hands. You don't know what you've done."
"Then tell me," Cael demanded.
"I won't," she spat. "You'll twist it. Just like they did."
He believed her. Which made her even more dangerous.
[System Option Available]
[Rewrite: Loyalty Thread – Bind to Cael Ardyn]Cost: Irreversible loss of psychological anchor: Fear
Cael's breath caught.
If he released her, she'd come back. Kill him. Silence him.
But if he rewrote her—he'd lose something vital.
Fear.
"Fear kept me cautious. Kept me alive. Kept me human."
He stared at her. At the defiance, the fury, the shattered memories behind her eyes.
"But maybe… with her bound, I can find out who's behind this. The divine hand that puppets us both."
"I'm sorry," Cael said.
Kaelith's eyes widened. "What are you—?"
He reached out—and grasped her thread.
Pain lanced through his spine. Fate pushed back, violently, like trying to hold lightning in bare hands.
Kaelith screamed—her body convulsed. The thread twisted and flared, thrashing in the weave.
Cael poured his will into it.
"Bind," he whispered. "To me."
The system flared:
[Rewriting Fate Thread…][Override Accepted][Subject: Kaelith – Loyalty Protocol Engaged]
Her thread snapped—then shimmered silver-white, spooling inward toward Cael's.
Their threads linked.
Cael collapsed to his knees, gasping, drenched in sweat.
But not from fear.
His hands trembled—but not from instinct. Not anymore.
[System Notification – Psychological Anchor Lost: Fear]You will never feel terror again. Caution will degrade over time.
The chains released her.
She rose from the floor with eerie grace, silver-white thread still pulsing faintly around her wrists like ethereal shackles.
Her eyes glittered—not with hostility, but adoration so sharp it could slice through bone.
She took a step forward and touched Cael's chest with trembling fingers."Darling," she whispered, almost reverently.
Cael didn't flinch. Couldn't.He'd lost fear an hour ago.
Kaelith leaned closer, the smile on her lips tender and terrifying."I thought I was alone in this cursed weave… but now I see you. We were meant to entwine. I feel it in every thread."
"Kaelith—"
She wrapped her arms lightly around his neck, forehead touching his."I'll protect you now. From the gods. From fate. From anyone who tries to pull your strings."
He stared at her—this killer reborn not as an enemy but a warped reflection of himself.
And when he looked away, his reflection stared back at him from a shattered vial.Hollow.Calm.
"Fear kept me alive. Now… I'll just have to be smarter."
Cael stepped back, his tone clinical. "What are you, Kaelith? What system do you have? How can you touch fate like I can?"
Her gaze turned distant. Her grip loosened.
"I don't know," she admitted. "I had memories once. But I gave them up. Burned them as offerings to keep control of my system."
A cold silence followed.
[System Notification – Loyalty Rewrite Partial: External Anchor Detected]Subject: Kaelith still tethered to Unknown Fate Hierarch.
Cael's breath caught."She's not free."
Even bound by loyalty to him… someone else still held her leash.
A divine presence. A higher Fate Enforcer. Watching.
Waiting.
Cael's fingers curled into fists.
"So she's a pawn… and the hand that moves her still lingers above."
He glanced at her again. She smiled when she saw him looking.
"Don't worry, darling," she said, lacing her fingers through his."I'm yours. I'll kill the whole pantheon if that's what it takes."
The system's interface pulsed softly.
A new prompt appeared—etched in gold-threaded glyphs.
[New Thread Path Unlocked: BREAK THE FATEBIND CHAIN]Reward: Immunity from Divine Recall
Cael stared at it, expression unreadable.
"I have to learn more about my power"