Chapter 18: The Child in the Well

The thing wearing Lian's face climbed from the Birthwell, its fingers leaving **blackened burns** where they touched the stone. It tilted its head, studying them with eyes that were not eyes—just **voids** where something infinitely older peered out.

*"You look tired, big brother,"* it said in Lian's voice. *"All those lives spent running from me."*

The real Lian stumbled back, her dagger raised. **"Don't listen—"**

Kai's shadow **moved**.

Not to protect him.

To **kill** him.

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**The Shadow's Betrayal**

It fought like Kai had in his **third life**—all precision and cruelty, every strike aimed to maim rather than kill.

*"You remember now,"* it hissed as Kai barely dodged a **meridian-severing palm strike**. *"You helped* build *the cage. You* chose *this."*

Kai's crystallized arm **blazed with golden cracks** as he blocked. **"I was wrong."**

The Sin-child laughed—a sound like **breaking glass**.

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**The Cage Revealed**

The palace **collapsed inward**, walls dissolving to reveal the **true prison**:

A **web of living starlight**, each thread the **still-beating heart** of a sacrificed god. At its center, the Birthwell pulsed like a wound.

The Sin-child pressed Lian's stolen hand to Kai's chest. **"You're already half-mine. Why not come home?"**

Lian's dagger found its throat.

**"Because I'll unmake you first,"** she snarled.

The blade **sank in**.

No blood. Only **darkness pouring out**.

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