Chapter 132 — What She Carries
Nobody spoke after the message ended.
The black dust remained on the ground.
Sera stared at it.
Brook watched her.
He wanted to ask if she was alright.
The question felt useless.
Of course she wasn't.
Someone had just told her that the magic she had spent her life learning, controlling, and understanding might not truly belong to her.
Or worse—
that she had never understood herself at all.
Shoyo stood several steps away.
Sera finally looked at her.
"What am I?"
The question was quiet.
That made it worse.
Shoyo opened her mouth.
Then stopped.
Brook saw Sera's expression change.
Not anger yet.
Disappointment.
"You still can't tell me."
Shoyo stepped forward.
"I can."
Sera waited.
Shoyo looked around the underground city.
At Hades.
At Crowley.
At Rick.
Then back at Sera.
"But not here."
Sera laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"Of course."
"Sera."
"No."
Her voice sharpened.
Brook looked toward her.
Sera continued.
"I'm tired of that."
Shoyo became quiet.
"I'm tired of being told later."
Sera pointed toward the black dust.
"I'm tired of people looking at me like they know something about me that I don't."
Nobody interrupted.
Sera looked directly at Shoyo.
"Either tell me now or stop pretending you're protecting me."
That landed.
Even Henry stopped moving.
Shoyo's face changed.
Brook had known her as long as he could remember.
Shoyo always seemed prepared.
Always seemed like she knew what to do.
Now—
she looked tired.
Not weak.
Not frightened.
Just tired.
"Alright."
She said.
Brook looked at her.
Shoyo turned toward Sera.
"I will tell you."
Sera's anger faded slightly.
"But first," Shoyo continued, "we leave this place."
Brook frowned.
"Why?"
Hades answered.
"Because you are no longer safe beneath my city."
Brook turned.
Hades was staring toward the darkness where Silvet had disappeared.
Brook looked back at Shoyo.
"Because of him?"
"No."
Shoyo said.
Her eyes moved toward the black dust.
"Because Elias knows where we are."
Crowley folded his arms.
"He knew before we arrived."
Shoyo nodded.
"Yes."
Brook thought about it.
Elias.
Silvet.
The ancient city.
Sera.
Too many people were moving around information Xcution didn't have.
He was getting tired of it.
Hades looked toward his guards.
"Seal the lower city."
One of them stepped forward.
"Your Majesty—"
"Now."
The guard lowered his head.
The others moved.
Brook watched them leave.
Then looked toward Hades.
"What's the plan?"
Hades studied him.
"You leave Remus."
Brook frowned.
"That's your plan?"
"Yes."
Henry muttered:
"Straightforward."
Hades ignored him.
Brook stepped forward.
"We came here looking for answers."
"And you found them."
"No."
Brook's voice hardened.
"We found more questions."
Hades's expression remained unchanged.
"That is often what happens when people survive long enough."
Crowley almost smiled.
Brook didn't.
"We're not leaving yet."
Hades looked at him.
For a moment, Brook expected an argument.
Instead, Hades simply said:
"Then stay."
Brook frowned.
Hades continued.
"And when the people hunting you come for Sera, do not expect Remus to become your battlefield."
Sera looked down.
Brook saw it.
That one hurt her.
Hades noticed.
His voice softened slightly.
"That is not an insult."
Sera looked at him.
Hades continued.
"I have people to protect."
Sera nodded.
"I know."
Brook looked at her.
Hades turned away.
"You have until morning."
Then he left.
They returned to the upper city in silence.
The corridors beneath Remus slowly disappeared behind them.
Brook was relieved.
He didn't like being underground.
Too much darkness.
Too much history buried beneath stone.
When they finally emerged into the city, daylight had already begun fading.
People moved through the streets.
Merchants were closing stalls.
Children ran through the open areas.
Guards changed positions along the walls.
Remus was alive.
Normal.
At least from the outside.
Brook wondered how many of them knew what existed beneath their feet.
Probably not many.
Henry looked around.
"Feels strange."
Brook glanced at him.
"What?"
Henry nodded toward the people.
"They have no idea."
Brook followed his eyes.
"Neither did we."
Henry looked at him.
Brook continued.
"That's the problem."
They returned to the building Hades had given them.
Nobody went inside immediately.
Sera remained outside.
Sitting on the steps.
Brook stood nearby.
Crowley was leaning against a wall.
Rick cleaned his sword.
Henry disappeared inside.
Probably looking for food.
Brook couldn't blame him.
Shoyo stood at the edge of the street.
Watching the people.
Brook waited.
Eventually, he said:
"You're going to tell her?"
Shoyo didn't look at him.
"Yes."
Brook nodded.
"Everything?"
That made her pause.
Brook watched her.
"Don't do that."
Shoyo looked toward him.
"Do what?"
"Start deciding what we can handle."
Her expression tightened.
Brook stepped closer.
"You raised me."
Shoyo remained silent.
"You taught Sera."
Brook continued.
"And for years, you protected us."
Shoyo's eyes moved toward him.
Brook nodded.
"I know."
Something softened in her face.
"But this isn't protecting us anymore."
Shoyo looked toward Sera.
Brook followed her gaze.
"She's going to find out eventually."
Brook said.
"And the longer you wait, the more it looks like you were hiding it because you were ashamed."
Shoyo looked at him.
Brook stopped.
He hadn't expected that to affect her.
But it did.
She looked away.
"Perhaps I was."
Brook didn't respond.
Shoyo continued.
"There are things I've done that I am ashamed of."
Brook waited.
She looked toward the sky.
"Being the First Witch does not mean I made every correct decision."
Brook thought about that.
Then nodded.
"Good."
Shoyo looked at him.
"Good?"
"Means you're human."
Shoyo laughed quietly.
Brook smiled.
For a moment.
Then it disappeared.
Shoyo looked toward Sera again.
"I'll tell her tonight."
Brook nodded.
"Good."
Sera heard them approaching.
She didn't look up.
Shoyo sat beside her.
Brook remained standing.
Crowley watched from across the street.
Rick continued cleaning his sword.
Nobody tried to listen.
But everybody was listening.
Shoyo spoke first.
"Your magic has a source."
Sera stared forward.
"I heard Elias."
"Then let me finish."
Sera looked at her.
Shoyo continued.
"Every type of magic in this world has an origin."
Brook frowned.
Shoyo glanced toward him.
"Even the magic people think they created."
Sera listened.
"Fire magic was not invented by the first person who controlled fire."
Shoyo said.
"That person discovered how to reach something that already existed."
Sera's eyes narrowed.
"And Word Magic?"
Shoyo looked at her.
"Older."
Sera waited.
Shoyo took a breath.
"Much older."
The street became quiet.
Shoyo continued.
"Before magic became something people studied…"
Her eyes moved toward the ground.
"…there were Sources."
Brook frowned.
"What are Sources?"
Shoyo looked at him.
"Origins."
Crowley pushed himself away from the wall.
He was listening now.
Shoyo continued.
"Not people."
Sera watched her.
"Not objects."
Rick stopped cleaning his sword.
Shoyo's voice lowered.
"Something deeper."
Brook felt uncomfortable.
He couldn't explain why.
Sera spoke.
"And one of them is inside me?"
Shoyo looked directly at her.
"Not exactly."
Sera's expression hardened.
"Then stop speaking around it."
Shoyo nodded.
"Your magic is connected to one."
Silence.
Sera stared.
Shoyo continued.
"That connection existed before you were born."
Brook looked at Sera.
She hadn't moved.
"How?"
Sera asked.
Shoyo's face changed.
This was the part.
Brook knew it.
Shoyo had reached the thing she didn't want to say.
"You were chosen."
Sera laughed bitterly.
"By who?"
Shoyo didn't answer.
Sera stood.
Brook immediately straightened.
"By who?"
Sera repeated.
Shoyo looked at her.
"I don't know."
Sera stared.
Brook believed Shoyo.
That was the worst part.
She wasn't hiding everything.
Some of it—
she genuinely didn't understand.
Shoyo continued.
"Word Magic appeared around you before you understood how to speak the Words."
Sera's expression changed.
Brook remembered.
The first time Sera had done something impossible.
They hadn't understood it.
Neither had she.
"You called it instinct."
Shoyo said.
Sera's eyes lowered.
"I was afraid."
Shoyo nodded.
"So was I."
Sera looked at her.
That surprised everyone.
Shoyo continued.
"I had never seen it before."
Crowley stepped closer.
"Not in all your years?"
Shoyo shook her head.
"No."
Sera looked toward her hands.
"Then why teach me?"
Shoyo smiled sadly.
"Because you were still my student."
The answer silenced Sera.
Shoyo continued.
"I didn't know what you would become."
Brook frowned.
"What do you mean, become?"
Shoyo looked at him.
"I mean exactly that."
Brook didn't like the answer.
Sera's voice became quieter.
"Am I changing?"
Nobody answered immediately.
That was answer enough.
Sera looked at Brook.
Then Shoyo.
Then Crowley.
"What am I becoming?"
Shoyo finally said:
"I don't know."
Sera looked away.
Anger returned.
Brook saw it.
Shoyo stood.
"But Elias believes he does."
Everyone looked toward her.
Shoyo's face hardened.
"And that's why he wants you."
Crowley moved closer.
"So what does he think she is?"
Shoyo looked at him.
"A door."
Brook frowned.
"What?"
Sera looked confused.
Crowley wasn't.
His face changed.
Brook noticed.
Crowley slowly turned toward Shoyo.
"No."
Shoyo looked at him.
"That's what Elias believes."
Crowley stepped back.
"No."
Brook looked at him.
"What?"
Crowley rubbed his face.
Brook had never seen him look so disturbed.
"The chamber."
Crowley said.
Shoyo watched him.
"The door beneath Remus."
Brook understood.
Crowley continued.
"Elias believes Sera can open something."
Sera looked at him.
"What?"
Crowley stared at her.
"Because your magic doesn't simply command things."
He swallowed.
"It gives meaning to Words."
Shoyo became still.
Crowley continued.
"What if that's what the old Sources were?"
Nobody spoke.
Brook felt something cold move through him.
Crowley looked toward Sera.
"What if Word Magic isn't just magic?"
Sera stared at him.
"What else would it be?"
Crowley's voice lowered.
"A language."
Silence.
Brook frowned.
Crowley continued.
"A language that existed before people learned how to use it."
Shoyo looked toward the ground.
Henry chose that moment to walk outside carrying food.
He stopped.
Looked at everyone.
Then at Brook.
"What did I miss?"
Nobody answered.
Henry slowly backed toward the door.
"Nope."
Brook almost laughed.
Almost.
A scream came from across the street.
Everyone turned.
The people of Remus stopped moving.
A woman had fallen.
At first, Brook thought she was injured.
Then the woman's body moved.
Wrong.
Her arm bent backward.
The crowd screamed.
Henry immediately dropped what he was holding.
"What the hell?"
Brook ran forward.
The woman was shaking violently.
A man tried to grab her.
Brook shouted:
"Don't touch her!"
Too late.
The woman's body suddenly stopped.
Everything became still.
The man crouched beside her.
"Ma'am?"
Brook slowed.
Something was wrong.
The woman opened her eyes.
They were black.
Not completely.
Something moved beneath them.
Like liquid.
Brook's hand went to his weapon.
The woman smiled.
Henry whispered:
"Oh, no."
The woman's mouth opened.
A dark substance spilled onto the ground.
Not blood.
Thick.
Wet.
Moving.
Brook took a step backward.
The substance crawled across the stone.
The man beside the woman screamed.
It reached his hand.
He tried to pull away.
The substance climbed his arm.
Brook drew his weapon.
"Move!"
Rick ran forward.
Brook swung.
The dark mass split apart.
For a moment, Brook thought he had killed it.
Then both pieces moved.
Henry swore.
Crowley stepped forward.
"Back!"
The creature rose.
Not fully.
It had no real shape.
Only dark liquid pulling itself together.
The crowd began running.
Brook grabbed Sera.
"Stay behind me."
Sera looked at the creature.
"No."
Brook frowned.
"Sera—"
She stepped forward.
Brook grabbed her arm.
"Sera."
She looked at him.
Then spoke.
"Stop."
Brook's body froze.
His fingers loosened.
Sera immediately looked shocked.
Brook stared at her.
She had used a Word.
Not intentionally.
Sera looked at her own hand.
"What did I—"
The creature moved.
Brook snapped back.
Rick stepped in front of them.
The dark mass struck him.
Rick blocked it with his sword.
The substance touched the blade.
Then began climbing it.
Rick dropped the sword.
Brook swung again.
This time—
the creature moved around his weapon.
It hit his chest.
Brook stumbled backward.
The substance touched his skin.
Then stopped.
Brook looked down.
The dark liquid pulled away from him.
Crowley noticed.
The creature moved toward him.
It struck Crowley's arm.
The same thing happened.
The creature recoiled.
Crowley stared.
"Interesting."
Brook looked at him.
"Now?"
The creature suddenly changed direction.
Henry.
Brook shouted:
"Henry!"
Henry turned.
Too late.
The dark mass launched itself forward.
Henry raised his arms.
The substance hit him.
His scream cut through the street.
Brook ran.
Henry fell.
The black liquid covered his chest.
His neck.
His face.
Brook reached him.
Crowley grabbed his arm.
"Don't touch him!"
Brook looked at him.
"Get off me!"
"Brook!"
Henry stopped screaming.
Brook froze.
The substance was gone.
Henry lay motionless.
The entire street was silent.
Brook slowly walked forward.
"Henry."
No answer.
Brook crouched.
Henry's eyes opened.
Brook exhaled.
Then Henry smiled.
Brook became still.
It wasn't Henry's smile.
Henry whispered:
"He's going to be very happy."
Brook stared.
"Who?"
Henry's head slowly turned toward him.
The blackness briefly moved beneath his skin.
"Elias."
Brook's face hardened.
Henry screamed again.
This time—
it was Henry.
End of Chapter 132