CHAPTER 29 – Secrets of Blood and Flame

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Our footsteps echoed through the crimson stone corridors that seemed to breathe. The walls pulsed, glowing faintly like living flesh, and heat began to creep from between the cracks. Elara within me stirred violently, pressing against Seraphine's chest with erratic pulses.

"We've gone too deep," Aldric muttered, his hand clenched tightly around the hilt of his dimly glowing sword. "This circle isn't just a trial. It's an altar."

An altar for blood. An altar for curses.

I nodded, though my chest felt heavy. "This place… it recognizes us. As if we've been here before."

"We have," Elara's voice rang sharper than ever in my mind. "I came here once—with Aldric. But back then… I brought him to be sacrificed."

I froze. My heart stopped.

"What?" I whispered.

"But I didn't do it," Elara continued softly. "I betrayed the pact. My curse began here… on the altar of blood."

Aldric turned sharply. "What is she saying?"

I swallowed hard. "This place… it's where you were meant to be sacrificed. But Elara—I—stopped it."

He stared at me, searching my eyes. "Then why did the curse still take hold?"

I opened my mouth, but another voice answered—loud and reverberating, shaking the air.

"Because love that fails to save becomes the darkest magic of all."

A hooded figure with no visible face appeared before us. Its voice was made of mist and echo.

"Seraphine. Aldric. Elara," it spoke, lifting its hand. "You have arrived at the origin of it all."

We braced ourselves—but it didn't attack.

"Here, you must choose," it continued. "Truth… or repetition."

A pillar rose from the ground, and atop it rested a manuscript of blood, glowing red. The ancient letters danced across its surface.

I stepped closer.

Aldric held my arm. "Be careful."

"I need to know," I whispered. "I have to know everything."

I touched the manuscript—and the world crumbled around me.

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I was thrown into the past.

Back to the same altar… but thousands of years ago.

Elara stood there, draped in deep violet, her hair tied high. Before her stood the Aldric of that time—young, bright-eyed, full of belief. He smiled at her, holding her hands, trusting that their love would shatter the dark magic plaguing the realm.

But Elara… she hid a dagger in her sleeve.

"I'm sorry…" the Elara of the past murmured. "For Valeria… for my blood…"

As the blade rose, Aldric didn't flinch. He looked at her calmly, even as his blood began to fall upon the altar.

But then, Elara screamed. She dropped the dagger and collapsed onto Aldric's falling form, clutching him close. Tears and blood streamed down her face.

"I can't… I can't sacrifice you…"

But it was too late. The magic had claimed them both.

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I jolted back to the present, my body hitting the altar floor. Blood dripped from my nose.

Aldric rushed to me. "What did you see?"

"Everything," I whispered. "Elara… she broke the pact, but not you. She sacrificed herself—not you. But the magic was too strong. One love wasn't enough to undo a blood oath."

Aldric held my gaze, then nodded. "Then we finish it now. Together."

The hooded figure raised its staff. "Then repeat the ritual. But this time… offer what was never given: Sincerity."

A sacrifice would be required. But who?

"Your soul and his," the voice said. "Must unite… or one will vanish."

We stood facing each other. Aldric and I. My breath caught in my throat.

"If we join our souls," I said softly, "one may dissolve. I don't know if I'll still be Seraphine… or if I'll become Elara entirely."

Aldric looked deep into me. "I don't care who you are. I know your heart."

His hand cupped my cheek. "If this is our end… then let it be our choice."

We closed our eyes, and between our hands, golden-red light began to form. Our souls began to merge.

But just then—the altar exploded. Laughter echoed violently, and from the rubble rose a figure that froze my blood.

Astor Valeria.

"I think it's time you knew who's truly orchestrated everything."

Aldric stepped in front of me. "You're supposed to be dead—"

"Obviously not," Astor replied, drawing back his cloak to reveal a beating heart outside his chest, wrapped in arcane wards. "I live because the curse lives. As long as Elara exists… I can never die."

He stepped forward, and all the magic in the chamber bowed to him.

"Elara," he said, staring into me. "Or whoever you are now… your time is up. You want to end this curse? Then you'll have to end me. But if you do… everything bound to you—your soul, your memories, and him—will perish with me."

I looked at Aldric.

He looked back at me.

"Choose," Astor said with a crooked smile. "Love… or freedom."

I grasped Aldric's hand.

And in my heart… I knew the answer.

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I raised my hand, magic beginning to spiral from my chest.

"I choose…" I said, voice trembling.

But before the words could escape—

Astor plunged the blood-dagger into Aldric's heart.

I screamed.

The world collapsed again.

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