Chapter 9 – The First Ordainment (2)

Mei Lin was the first.

The white glow enveloped her like a serene veil. She arched her back, exhaling a quiet breath — as if finally letting go of everything she once was. For a moment, she was no longer the same.

Something ancient had unbound itself within her, as if all she had been was being gently unraveled.

A seal of curved, symmetrical shapes emerged over her chest, spinning slowly, pulsing in rhythm with her breath.

Dorian came next.

The black fragment struck him like a violent whisper.

His body vanished for a split second, swallowed by shadows. When he reappeared, his eyes were wet. He was trembling, smiling, crying all at once. A dark mark bloomed beneath his left eye.

"The truth…" he murmured, more to himself than to anyone else, "it's too dark to forget…"

Rurik received the blue ember.

His skin gleamed like freshly forged metal. He dropped to his knees — not in pain, but in reverence.

The symbol that formed on his back resembled an ancestral rune, fused to his very being. He said nothing. But in that silence… there was pride.

Lena was struck by the purple spiral.

She staggered back, eyes wide, a scream caught in her throat — but she didn't resist.

When the seal formed, stretching from her side to her ribs, she simply closed her eyes. And murmured something. Words she didn't recognize. But that seemed to know exactly who she was.

Nyra burst into red flames for an instant.

The fire danced across her body without burning her. It dissolved into her, as if it had always belonged to her soul.

She laughed — a low, husky, dangerous laugh.

"Finally…" like someone reunited with an old enemy who was also a part of her. The mark burned on her right hand, a living tattoo made of flickering flame.

Beatriz raised her arms instinctively, trying to shield herself. But the green breath wrapped around her gently. She slowly lowered her fists, eyes wide in disbelief.

She didn't understand — she simply felt. The mark settled at the center of her waist, like a core breathing with her, as if the very air had chosen her.

Edward received the rosy glow like an unexpected punch — soft, but intense. He fell, landing softly in midair, eyes wide, cheeks flushed.

"That was… that was nice?" he said, with a nervous laugh. "Did anyone else feel that?"

The mark traced itself from shoulder to shoulder, just beneath his neck — a tribal collar made of light.

Kael was taken by the deep blue wave.

His body showed no reaction outwardly — but his eyes… his eyes said everything. They shone so brightly they looked like galaxies. A calm, unwavering symbol emerged from his shoulder down to his left forearm, as if it had always been there.

He didn't smile, didn't speak loudly. He only murmured: "Now I understand…"

Bastian was the second to last.

The silver bolt pierced through him like a lance.

He clenched his fists, his face contorted for a moment — not in pain, but from sheer, compressed power.

When he opened his eyes, they burned. His smile spread, but there was something in it… It wasn't pain. Nor ecstasy.

Just a sharp brilliance. And a smile — restrained, impossible to read.

✦ ✦ ✦

Ezra waited for the last.

The golden light danced in the air.

It moved toward him — slow, deliberate, as if carried by destiny itself. Warm as the sun. Perfect. He clenched his fists, his heart pounding. His eyes locked on that promise — of everything he'd ever searched for.

And then, he closed his eyes.

Waiting.

Accepting.

But he didn't see… that the light stopped.

That something stood in its way.

The spark hesitated. Swirled in place. Tried to go on… but couldn't. As if something — or someone — had pulled it from its path.

Ezra frowned.

The air turned thin, heavy as lead.

A familiar shadow fell over him, and slowly, he opened his eyes.

The light was gone.

Nothing had touched him.

The feeling that surrounded him now… was absence.

Silence.

And then — he saw him.

A tall figure, standing firm.

Arms relaxed.

A wide smile on his face.

"Ezra…" The voice was deep, resonating like distant thunder muffled by fog.

But it was familiar.

Too familiar.

"You really are my little golden goose."

Ezra blinked.

His body froze.

The world tilted.

His mind scrambled to understand…

But his heart already knew.

He raised his eyes slowly, almost afraid to confirm it.

It was Bastian.

And Bastian… Was glowing.

Both his fists wrapped in living light.

A silver bolt spiraling down his right arm.

A golden current burning along the left.

Ezra stepped back — and though there was no ground, it felt like it was collapsing beneath his feet. That light… That light was meant for him. And now… it was gone.

His chest tightened.

His throat dried.

The words came out low, broken, trembling: "Bastian… why?"

The smile remained.

Ambiguous.

Unreadable.

"Because sometimes, Ezra…" He stepped forward, and his shadow swallowed Ezra's. "…I can't do anything but follow the Laws."

His eyes gleamed.

Not with guilt.

Not with pity.

But with conviction.

"And the First Law…" A pause. A whisper, like a sentence passed down by fate: "…is the Law of the Strongest."