CHAPTER TEN- The stakes are high 2
The moment the angels vanished with their parents, leaving behind only feathers dissolving like ash in sunlight, Eyron felt the weight of a nation settle onto his shoulders. The villagers scattered, terrified. The sky still trembled faintly, as if the heavens themselves were watching.
But Eyron did not move until his siblings reached him.
Arian was the first to step forward, tall, silent, eyes sharp with the kind of anger only the eldest can feel when the world threatens his family. Sera stood behind him, her breath shaking. Lily clung to her, while the twins Lisha and Liam stared at the sky like they wanted to tear it apart.
Eyron finally turned to them.
"We need to talk," he said quietly.
They followed him back to the abandoned storehouse—walls scarred, roof cracked, air heavy with dust. It felt like the perfect place to plan treason against Heaven.
Eyron stood in front of them, shoulders straight, hands clasped behind his back. He looked nothing like a child—more like a strategist who aged ten years in an hour.
Arian crossed his arms. "Explain. All of it."
Eyron nodded once. "You deserve to know why I agreed to their terms."
Sera swallowed hard. "You agreed too fast. You didn't even hesitate."
"I didn't have the luxury," Eyron replied, voice steady. "Heaven came with one purpose: to erase our bloodline. They gave us the illusion of choice, but they already decided the punishment. Eternity."
Lily winced.
Eyron continued, pacing slowly. "If I argued, they would have claimed defiance. If we fought, Heaven would have declared us a threat. If I begged, they would have taken us all."
He looked up at them, eyes dark and determined.
"I chose the only path where any of us survived."
Silence folded over the room like a heavy cloth.
Liam finally muttered, "But six years? That's still long."
"It's not six years," Eyron said. "It's a countdown."
Lisha narrowed her eyes. "Countdown to what?"
"To rebuilding Valtheris. To restoring our power. To taking back what Heaven stole." He turned to all of them. "I made a deal to buy time. Nothing more."
Arian's eyes softened, but only slightly.
Eyron continued. "They think we're broken. They think removing Father and Mother will make us kneel." His voice grew colder, sharper. "But they just made their greatest mistake. They forced us into a corner where there is only one direction left to go."
"Forward," Sera whispered.
"Forward," Eyron confirmed. "And upward."
He walked to the window, staring at the empty sky. "Over the next six years, we train. We build alliances. We study Heaven's laws until we know them better than the angels who enforce them. We understand the weaknesses of divine bureaucracy. Heaven follows rules—strict, inflexible. That is their vulnerability."
Arian raised a brow. "And you want to exploit Heaven's own laws against them?"
"Yes." Eyron turned to face them fully. "When the time comes, we won't fight Heaven with swords. We will fight them with something far more dangerous."
Lisha leaned in. "Your mind."
Eyron nodded. "Exactly."
He took a breath. "My next plan begins immediately. The angels think we're grieving, scared, uncertain. That gives us cover. We search for the remnants of the old Valtheris loyalists. We find the manuscripts Father hid. We strengthen the border villages and erase any trace of our bloodline's weaknesses. And when Heaven returns for the final judgment—"
He paused, eyes blazing.
"—we negotiate again. On our conditions."
Liam grinned like a wolf. "You're insane."
"Probably," Eyron said. "But I'm right."
Lily tugged his sleeve gently. "What if… what if your plan fails?"
Eyron knelt beside her and spoke softly. "If it fails, Lily, then Heaven ends us. All of us. The Arknight line disappears forever." He stood again. "That is why we cannot fail."
The room thickened with tension, breath, heartbeat.
Then Arian stepped forward.
He looked at Eyron—not as a younger brother, but as someone who had just taken a crown forged from fire.
"Eyron," he said quietly. "You may not have our strength. You may not have our speed. But you have something none of us can match."
Eyron blinked. "What's that?"
Arian placed a hand on his shoulder, voice unwavering—words spoken like an oath carved into stone.
"To my brother… if the whole world is against you, then it's us against the world. I'm with you."
Sera moved beside him, her voice trembling but firm. "I'll follow your lead. Just tell me what you need."
Lisha smirked and cracked her knuckles. "And if Heaven dares come again, I'll be the first to strike."
Liam nodded. "Give the command. We'll tear down anything in your way."
Lily hugged him. "You're not alone, Eyron."
For a moment, Eyron closed his eyes. The pressure. The fear. The responsibility. And the overwhelming, terrifying love he felt for them.
When he opened his eyes, something new burned inside them.
Resolve.
"Good," he said softly. "Because from this moment on… we walk a path Heaven can't predict."
A sudden thump echoed—a distant tremor in the sky, like a heartbeat from the heavens themselves, as if the True Being was listening.
"Now let's all rest, for tomorrow morning we head out to the city of Valeria."
Eyron's lips curved into a slow, dangerous smile.
"Now the real challenge," he whispered to himself. "Begins now."