Chapter 2683: Story 2684: The Lock

“Open me.”

The whisper entered Kael’s heart.

He dropped.

White fire burst from his chest while black veins spread across his neck.

Azael grabbed his shoulder.

“Fight it!”

Kael pushed him away.

“I am trying!”

Lena’s voice screamed inside his mind.

“Kael!”

He closed his eyes.

“I hear you.”

“You must not open the heart.”

“Then tell me how to save you.”

Silence answered.

Then Lena whispered,

“You cannot.”

Kael’s eyes opened.

“No.”

The darkness behind him laughed.

“She understands.”

Kael turned toward the entity.

“You want the door opened.”

“I want what is behind it released.”

“And Lena?”

“She will cease being necessary.”

Azael stepped forward.

“Then you will destroy her.”

The entity looked at him.

“She was never meant to live outside the lock.”

Azael raised his sword.

“Then I will break the lock.”

The entity smiled.

“Try.”

Azael charged.

His blade struck the darkness.

Everything became white.

Then Azael flew across the chamber and crashed against the wall.

“AZAEL!”

Kael moved toward him.

His brother stood, blood running from his mouth.

“I am fine.”

The heart inside Kael pulsed.

A shockwave erupted.

The white chamber transformed.

Walls vanished.

Endless darkness surrounded them.

Millions of memories floated through the void.

Kael saw himself as Elarion.

Then Azrael.

Then the warrior he had become.

Each version stood separately.

Lives.

One soul.

Suddenly, Lena appeared between them.

She wore silver armor and held a blade.

Kael froze.

“Lena?”

She looked at him sadly.

“I have been here since the beginning.”

Kael stepped closer.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you would have tried to save me.”

“I still will.”

Lena shook her head.

“That is why I chose you.”

Darkness closed around her.

Kael reached for her hand.

Their fingers touched.

A wave of memories entered him.

He saw the First Soul before it was divided.

He saw eight children surrounding a white heart.

He saw the ninth shadow standing outside the circle.

Then he saw something worse.

The shadow was not attacking them.

It was protecting them.

Kael pulled away.

“No...”

Lena looked at him.

“Now you understand.”

The entity appeared behind her.

“The First Soul was not created to imprison me.”

Kael froze.

“What was it created for?”

The entity pointed toward the white heart.

“To hide me.”

The truth struck harder than any weapon.

“You were inside us.”

“Not inside you.”

The entity smiled.

“Inside what you became.”

The heart suddenly split open.

A colossal eye appeared within it.

Lena screamed.

Kael seized her hand.

“I will not let go!”

The eye opened wider.

A voice thundered through every memory.

“Then become whole.”

Kael’s three selves stepped toward him.

Elarion.

Azrael.

Kael.

Their bodies dissolved into white fire.

Azael watched.

“Kael!”

The flames swallowed him.

The First Soul began rebuilding itself.

But somewhere beyond the darkness, another presence awakened.

It spoke with Lena’s voice.

“Brother...”

Kael opened his eyes.

They were no longer silver.

They were white.

The entity stepped backward slowly.