The silence stretched long and terrible after Elias spoke.
Our grandfather. The Soul. The architect of every secret, every tear, every moment of agony we had endured. Alive. Watching. Guiding our every step like a puppeteer pulling strings he had tied decades ago.
"He is cruel," I whispered, my voice trembling in the damp dark. "To make us suffer so. To watch us break apart and build each other back up… just to see if we could."
"He is desperate," Elias corrected quietly. "He built an empire that rotted from the inside. He saw that what he created would eventually consume everything — including the ones he loved. So he decided to destroy it. But he knew he could not do it himself. He was too deeply stained. So he forged you."
He looked at Kaelen — his brother, found at last — with eyes
