The Echo of Chains
"An oath is a shadow cast by firelight,
A bond of words, fragile yet bright.
But when the wind shifts and the embers fade,
Loyalty crumbles, and ghosts remain."
—Verse of the Forgotten Vow
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The silence between Shree Yan and Devendra was heavier than the chains binding the defeated warrior.
A single iron link had cracked.
A promise of freedom.
A test of loyalty.
Devendra's breath came shallow, the weight of his past and the weight of his choices pressing against his chest like a slow, tightening grip. He had sworn himself to the Gautam kingdom, to King Rajendra, believing in duty, in honor.
And yet, where had it led him?
Betrayal.
Imprisonment.
A slow, rotting death beneath stone and shadow.
Shree Yan watched him with the patience of a predator. His red eyes gleamed with something beyond mere victory—something deeper, something colder.
"This is not just about vengeance, is it?" Devendra muttered, his voice low.
Shree Yan's smirk was slow, calculated. "Vengeance is a means. Not the end."
Devendra let out a bitter chuckle. "Then what is the end?"
Shree Yan leaned in, the torchlight flickering against the pale skin of his face. "Eternity."
A shudder ran through Devendra.
This was not the boy he once knew.
This was something else.
Something beyond human.
Something beyond even ambition.
"And if I refuse?" Devendra challenged, forcing himself to meet those crimson eyes.
Shree Yan sighed, as if disappointed. "Then you will rot here. And when this kingdom falls—when Rajendra Gautam takes his last breath—you will be nothing more than a forgotten corpse in the dark."
The words cut deep.
Because Devendra knew they were true.
He was nothing now.
No kingdom. No purpose. No freedom.
Shree Yan extended a hand beyond the bars. "Swear yourself to me, Devendra. Not out of fear. Not out of desperation. But because I am the only path forward."
The cracked chain trembled.
Devendra looked at that outstretched hand.
At the man who had once been a brother-in-arms.
At the monster he had become.
And slowly—
Painfully—
He reached forward.
The iron shattered.