Chapter 8 +15 Bonus Chapter 8 In Aetherium, life was chill. No body, no limits-just me, finally free. Time didn't matter here. No pain, no lies. Just calm. But lately, something gross kept tugging at me from the mortal world. It stank of obsession and fake guilt, like a greasy snake trying to wrap around my soul and wreck everything. I wanted to slice it away like dead weight. Then The High One showed up. "That pull's from a dark ritual. An Aster descendant's offering their life and soul to you- trying to drag you back in with chains made of shadow." I didn't say a word. So Julian had actually gone this far. When I got back to the Aster estate, the place was wrecked. Weeds choked the old gardens, and where the Heartwood once stood, a grim altar took its place. Julian was on his knees. Isabella lay on the slab-eyes gone, barely breathing. Julian looked wrecked, face flushed, eyes wild. The second he saw me, he lit up like a madman. He stumbled forward, smacked straight into an invisible wall. "Sera! You came back! I knew it! I knew you heard me! I'm sorry, okay? I messed up! Just-please, give me one more chance. I'll spend my whole life making it right. I love you. I always have." I felt nothing looking at him. "Love?" My voice was ice. "Was it love when you raised an axe to the Heartwood? "When you let me writhe on the floor while you drank wine with her? "When you drained my ichor and spat your worst at me-was that love?" Every word hit like a knife, slicing through whatever hope he had left. "No!" He shook his head, face a mess of tears and snot. "I was stupid-jealous-I didn't want you to die, I just-" "Save it." I cut him off. "I kept my vow. I protected your family for two centuries. "You destroyed it with your own hands. "We're done. Debt's paid." "No! This isn't over!" He let out this cracked laugh, jabbing at his chest, then at Isabella on the altar. "I gave up my soul-her life-for this ritual! As long as it's active, we're tied by blood! You can't leave me again!" He screamed, and black smoke exploded from him, thick and greasy, shooting straight at me. 1/2 Chopta I just stared-pity in my eyes, like watching a bug thrash in a web. "That so? Then let's finish it." I didn't flinch. Just raised my hand and called the sky. A blast of moonlight ripped through the clouds, wrapping me in a glowing pillar. The filthy mist hissed on contact, burning away like ice under a blowtorch. "No! This can't be!" Julian froze, eyes wide. His so-called dark power looked like a joke in that light. I pointed at him, voice sharp and final. "In the name of The High One-ruler of Aetherium, I cleanse your sins-and cut the last tie between us." A beam shot from my fingertip-not at him, but straight into the altar. It shattered. The ritual snapped, turning on its master. "No!" Julian's scream ripped through the night as the black smoke slammed back into him. The darkness ate him alive-flesh, bone, soul-until all that was left was dust blowing in the wind. Isabella let out a weak moan. Her body was already done. When the ritual broke, so did she. She was gone. I didn't even look back. No more Aster family. No more knight I once loved-the one who shattered me. Finally, I was free. *** +15 Bonus My form broke into light, drifting back to Aetherium. Silence fell. Behind me, the last scraps of the Aster bloodline crumbled too. Henrietta-once proud, untouchable-withered fast after watching her heir turn to dust and her family's guardian vanish. Justice finally came knocking.