39. Thayla #2
“Don’t say shit in here, Riven,” Kyzen says.
“You just said—”
“Welcome, Chosen Ones.”
The ancient voice doesn’t echo around us. It echoes within us. I hear it and feel it in my bones.
“That’s…” Amick swallows. “That’s the same voice I heard at the Chancellor’s Choosing.”
We stand still, waiting. For what, I have no idea. Nothing feels threatening. It feels sacred.
“What are we doing here?” I ask, careful to keep my tone curious, not accusatory.
“The realm stands at the beginning of its healing. The damage done was not created in a single moment. It will not be undone in one.”
I nod. That makes sense.
The realm has been wounded for over a thousand years.
“Chosen Ones,” Amick says, glancing around as though searching for someone to speak to. It’s clear the Gods Binding isn’t a someone. “That’s been evident since our birth, no matter how much we tried to deny it, but what exactly have we been chosen for now?”
The light shifts. It doesn’t grow brighter or dimmer, but closer.
“That is not for me to decide,” the Binding answers. “For generations, I revealed a path that would lead the realm toward balance. It was never the only path. It was merely one possibility among countless others.”
“Do you mean our path?” I ask.
“Yes. The Valories sought certainty where only guidance existed. They looked upon one possible future and, believing it superior, shaped decisions until that future became inevitable.”
My stomach knots.
“They curated our choices,” I say.
“Yes, and narrowed them significantly.”
Hearing it again pisses me off just as much as it did at the Stargate.
“The realm does not heal through control. It heals through choices. It has never required obedience. Only willing hearts. By the time the five of you came to be, there wasn’t a true choice. ‘Save the realm or watch it fall’ is not a choice. It is an ultimatum.”
I swallow hard.
“You always intended for us to choose,” I say.
“I intended for your choices to be clear and equal. To save the realm or not is not equal. No other path was presented. Therefore, what choice did you truly have?”
“So what choice do we have now?” Amick asks.
“You stand before me because the realm has reached the end of one age and the beginning of another. What comes next must begin differently. So I offer you what has always been denied. True choice.”
No command follows. No prophecy. No demand. Only stillness.
“You may guide this realm willingly, or you may return to it as you are. There will be no threats of punishment or worry of future failures and successes.”
My men and I share looks.
“Meaning we won’t have any responsibilities or have to worry about consequences that come from today?” Creed asks.
“All beings have personal responsibility and consequences for their actions. But I do not and will not impose any roles, responsibilities, or punishments on you personally if you choose to leave me as you came.”
“You’re…” I stop, shake my head, trying to wrap my mind around this. “Giving us permission to walk away? From everything?”
“I am restoring what was taken from you. Choice of who you want to become.”
None of us speak or move for a heavy moment.
Who we want to become…
That’s a brutal question.
“What does guiding the realm look like?” Amick asks.
Thankfully, one of us can get our mind right.
“The realm does not need rulers. It has already suffered beneath those. It requires those willing to protect its balance. The Valories believed balance could be created through control. The Beginning Gods believed power entitled them to ownership. The realm belongs to those who live within it.
“If you accept, you will become guardians of what has been entrusted to you. You will watch, listen, learn. When the realm flourishes, you will allow it to flourish. When suffering grows because of nature, you will offer aid. When suffering grows because of injustice, you will possess the authority to correct it.”
My brows furrow.
“So…we interfere.”
“You respond.”
Before I can ask the difference, the Binding continues.
“The realm will continue to produce greed, fear, injustice, love, kindness as it always has. I will never ask you to change what another being chooses for themselves. What I will ask is, when systems are built that deny choice, hoard power, diminish lives, and intentionally break balance, you act.”
My thoughts immediately find the Attendants, the Veilatara, the Vedarya, every injustice we’ve wanted to undo.
“But we don’t rule and we don’t decide how people should live,” Kyzen says. Or asks. It’s hard to tell.
“No. You—”
“Guide,” Amick says.
“What happens if we don’t like or don’t agree with what you think is right for the realm?”
“Riven,” all of us say.
He shrugs.
“What? It’s a fair question. We’ve had to worry our whole lives about getting smited. Are we seriously about to agree to this and then live every day terrified of making the wrong choice?”
“You will make a wrong choice. All living things do.”
Strangely, the warmth around us grows even more comforting like it’s pleased he asked.
“The important thing is learning from those wrong choices. Accepting them. Those before you hid their mistakes, covered them, tried to erase consequences. You must learn. Not hide.”
“So technically, we’re allowed to disagree with you?” Riven asks. None of us scold him this time.
“My guidance is not law. I will tell you what the realm needs. I will show you consequences unseen. I will reveal where balance falters. But my voice shall never replace your own.”
A lump rises in my throat.
“Would we hear your voice like we do now?” Amick asks.
“Yes.”
The light brightens, and I tilt my head back.
“The Valories told me when the realm changed, you changed. Are you changing again?”
“I have already. I began shifting the moment you five returned my missing pieces.”
“How?” I ask.
“This conversation, for starters. It once took great power for me to reach out directly. My communication was limited. Much of my guidance was misconstrued or manipulated. Now, the realm no longer requires prophecy or silence. It has begun to find its order.”
A shiver races over my skin as the essence pulses.
“When guidance is needed, you will hear me. You will feel me. You will know what the realm requires. What you do with that knowledge will always remain your choice.”
“What’s your opinion on murder?”
Oh my gods.
My eyes drift shut as Kyzen, Creed, and Amick glare at Riven.
“In what sense?”
Dear Gods Binding, please don’t feed into him.
“As in, it’s my opinion there are still gods with power they don’t deserve, who contributed too much to corruption to still be alive.”
“Then it would be in your power to remove their power. And when the time comes to restore power, you will be able to. As long as the realm stays balanced.”
“Hold on—” A disbelieving laugh bursts out of me as I raise my hands. “What do you mean in our power? You’re giving us the ability to remove and distribute power? Isn’t that toeing the line of the same mistake as last time?”
“It is the same ability wielded by those before you. You will choose what to do with it. No replicas of me will be needed. You will simply call for me. I will answer.”
My hands drag down my face. That is a fuck ton of responsibility and trust.
“Well, works for me.”
My head snaps toward Riven.
“What?”
He shrugs, mismatched eyes drifting over all of us.
“I’m in.”
Silence.
Utter silence.
Kyzen blinks. Creed stares like he’s trying to determine if someone replaced him. Even Amick looks mildly disturbed.
“What?” Riven asks.
“You don’t even like responsibilities,” I say. “We have wanted to right the realm so we could avoid more.”
He rolls his eyes.
“Let’s be real. This is different. Could we actually walk out of here and pretend we didn’t hear any of this?” He doesn’t wait for an answer. “Could we go back, watch everything unfold, and let someone else deal with it after everything we’ve done?”
We gape. Riven sighs.
“No, none of us could. We know what happens when people with power decide they don’t want responsibility. We’ve spent our entire lives fixing the mess everyone else left behind. You think I’m going to spend the next few centuries watching someone else screw up what I—we—just fixed?”
He shakes his head, a humorless laugh escaping.
“Abso-fucking-lutely not. I didn’t fight through this shit show just to have the realm go to hell again before I turn a thousand.”
I chuckle, then my chest squeezes as I smile at him.
My little psycho. Chaotic. Unpredictable. Reckless. Always joking when everyone else is drowning.
But beneath all that, he cares more than he ever admits.
We shift our gazes between each other, weighing his words.
“This is crazy, isn’t it?” I ask, lips tilting up. “We fought so hard to be free of responsibility. Now look at us. Ready to accept the greatest responsibility in the realm.”
“It was never about freeing ourselves,” Creed scoffs. “It was about choosing it. Carrying responsibility with our own souls, our own choices, our own will. Not because someone else controlled pieces of us we never gave them.”
My gaze holds his until he looks at his brothers. I watch all four of them.
“So…” Kyzen says. “Are we all in or not?”
A small chuckle slips through my lips.
“Yeah. We’re all in.”
“Forever and ever, amen,” Riven cheers, opening his arms.
We all shake our heads, but move in for a group hug. For a moment, there is no realm. No war. No responsibility waiting outside this Binding.
Just us.
The warmth around us changes so fast it steals my breath. My smile fades as my men freeze. Their bodies go rigid, gasping and clutching one another. I pull back from Riven’s chest and stare at each of them.
Worry pounds through me as they don’t even blink.
“Guys, what—”
My heart stops. Or beats so fast I can’t keep up.
Every fiber of my soul sings as I…feel it.
I feel them.
I’ve always felt them in pieces. Amick’s need to understand everything. Creed’s anger burning beneath restraint. Riven’s shame behind a joke. Kyzen’s grief and guilt.