Chapter 23

There was once an Origin who could not bear her own power. She knew what it would become, what it would demand. So she made a choice. She broke herself. Sealed her strength inside another soul. A quieter soul. A waiting soul. The power would return when the next Origin rose. And with it, she would return too. Not to share the gift. But to reclaim it. To become whole.

To become more.

The text stopped abruptly, the rest of the page remained blank.

Eve’s voice was hoarse. “Okay. I’m going to pretend I didn’t just read the backstory of a magical parasite.”

I stared down at the page. “She didn’t want to be the Origin. So she hid her power.”

“In someone else,” Eve said. “Like, maybe… the next Origin? You?”

A chill traced my spine.

“They’re all connected,” I whispered. “I just don’t know how.”

Eve knelt beside me, quiet for once

The book pulsed once beneath my hand, the book grew heavier the more I read.