Chapter 2764: Story 2765: The Golden Eyes Within

“Ronan!”

Lyra grabbed his face between her hands, forcing him to look at her.

“Look at me. Not him. Me!”

For a heartbeat, Ronan’s eyes remained golden. Then a second pair opened beneath them, glowing through his skin like lanterns buried inside his skull.

The Firstborn smiled.

“She cannot reach you now.”

He extended his hand, and the golden mark over Ronan’s heart split into five branching lines. Each stretched toward one of his brothers.

Elias screamed as black energy tore from his chest. Aren dropped to one knee, silver chains bursting from his arms without command. Darian’s violet flames spiraled upward, forming a crown above his head.

The Firstborn inhaled.

Three golden fragments emerged from the brothers, floating toward him.

“Stop!” Cael shouted.

He hurled himself between the fragments and the Firstborn, slashing his palm across an ancient symbol carved into the floor.

Violet light erupted.

The fragments stopped.

Cael collapsed, blood pouring from his hand.

“I remember this seal,” he gasped. “It was created before the crowns. It can separate the pieces, but only if someone willingly carries the pain.”

The Firstborn’s expression darkened.

“You should have remained forgotten, Cael.”

He flicked his fingers.

Cael’s body lifted from the ground, his bones cracking beneath invisible pressure.

Kael charged, wielding a broken length of stone as a weapon. The Firstborn struck him aside without looking.

Lyra seized Ronan’s sword from the floor and drove its point into the glowing mark beneath his collarbone.

The blade passed through him without drawing blood.

Instead, a deafening roar exploded from Ronan’s chest.

The golden eyes vanished.

Ronan collapsed into Lyra’s arms, gasping as though he had surfaced from a deep grave.

“What did you do?” he whispered.

“Something reckless,” she replied, struggling to hold him upright. “You can thank me later.”

But the Firstborn was no longer smiling.

“You foolish girl. That sword carries the Mother’s memory.”

The blade began to vibrate.

A woman’s voice rose from its red symbol.

“Ronan, my son.”

Their mother’s voice.

Ronan seized the sword.

“Mother? Where are you?”

“Not where you think.”

The corridor walls dissolved, revealing an endless sea of golden light. Within it stood their mother, chained to a colossal door. Behind her, something pounded against the other side.

Each impact sent cracks across the golden surface.

“I sealed the Firstborn away,” she said, “but I could not destroy him. So I divided his power among you and hid his final memory inside Ronan.”

The Firstborn roared.

“You stole my life!”

“I saved your brothers from yours!”

The door shuddered.

Their mother looked directly at Ronan.

“The golden eyes are not his power. They are his memories. If you remember everything, you will become him.”

Ronan stared at the sword.

“And if I refuse?”

The mother’s expression crumpled.

“Then the door opens, and the thing he was imprisoned to protect will escape.”

Behind her, a gigantic golden eye opened in the darkness.

The Firstborn fell to his knees.

For the first time, terror filled his face.

“No,” he whispered. “It cannot be awake.”

The eye turned toward Ronan.

And a voice older than creation spoke through every living heart.

“I HAVE FOUND MY FIRST SON.”