The rebel army had broken.
The remaining Velcras forces scattered like embers before a storm, retreating toward the northern wastelands beyond Vaelthorn's reach. The ritual monolith had been destroyed. The land still pulsed faintly beneath the scorched soil—but the immediate threat was gone.
Yet the battlefield was not silent.
Not quite.
Because one man had not run.
He had walked toward Kael with arms raised, unarmed, blood on his lips and chains on his wrists.
He wore no armor.
Only robes of deep slate gray embroidered with faint silver glyphs—Velcras command script.
He smiled.
And said, in a voice both proud and eerily calm:
"We were waiting for you, Thornborn."
---
Temporary Camp – The War Tent
Kael stared down at the man through narrowed eyes.
Two guards flanked the prisoner, their swords drawn, but he didn't flinch. His posture was relaxed, like a guest at a banquet rather than a traitor caught in open rebellion.
Rin stood behind Kael, flipping through a book of enemy spell patterns. Lyra leaned against the side post, arms crossed, watching the man like a hawk.
Serentha simply stood, one hand never far from her blade.
Kael broke the silence.
"Name."
The prisoner smiled.
"You can call me General Marethis. One of the Four Branches."
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"You surrendered."
"Willingly."
"Why?"
Marethis chuckled. "Because I want to make a trade."
Kael raised an eyebrow. "You're in no position to bargain."
"Oh, but I am," Marethis said smoothly. "Because I know what you are. What you carry. And I know the name of the one sealed in your crypt."
Kael's expression didn't change—but the air did.
Tighter. Heavier.
Rin whispered, "He's bluffing."
But Kael wasn't so sure.
---
The Bargain
Marethis folded his hands.
"I will give you the true history of the Thorn Vault. The identity of the sealed entity. The meaning of the dagger—and the cost of its use."
"In exchange for?"
"My life. And safe passage beyond the western border. I will disappear. You will not see me again."
Lyra scoffed. "You expect us to believe that?"
"No," Marethis admitted. "But Kael will understand that knowledge has a price… and that it's rarely paid in coin."
Kael paced slowly, thinking.
He did want answers. Every use of the dagger tore at something deeper than muscle. It whispered louder each night. And the figure in the Vault—the 'first and final Thorn'—was starting to look less like an ancient prisoner and more like a shadow of himself.
He turned to the guards.
"Leave us."
Serentha raised an eyebrow. "My lord—"
"I said leave us."
They obeyed.
Only Lyra remained.
Kael looked at Marethis.
"Talk."
---
The True Thorn
The general's voice lowered.
"What you call the Thorn Vault… was once a temple. Not to a god. But to a man. A man who wielded a blade like yours."
Kael said nothing.
"The man you've sealed… was the founder of your House. The original Kael Vaelthorn. A man who tried to sever his mortality and become something more."
Lyra's voice was sharp. "A myth."
"No. A seed. He believed pain could purify blood. That sacrifice could transcend soul and root. He created the dagger you now hold—a conduit of bloodline, memory, and magic."
Kael asked quietly, "Why seal him?"
"Because he succeeded," Marethis replied. "But the cost was everything. Sanity. Mercy. Even identity."
"He bloomed," Kael said, the word bitter on his tongue.
Marethis smiled. "Yes. And in doing so, he became the Rootbound King. Half-living. Half-memory. No longer human."
Kael felt the dagger pulse faintly.
Rin stepped forward. "So why are you trying to release him?"
Marethis looked at Kael, not Rin.
"Because your House buried something divine in chains. And divinity never dies—it only waits. Your blood is the key. Every time you use that dagger, you feed the root."
Kael stepped closer.
"So what happens if I keep using it?"
Marethis shrugged.
"You'll become him."
---
The Decision
The silence was oppressive.
Lyra's voice finally broke through.
"Kael… we can't let him go."
Kael stared at Marethis, then back at her.
"…He's telling the truth."
Her eyes widened. "What?"
"Not all of it. But enough."
Kael turned back to the general.
"Your knowledge is too valuable to discard. But your freedom is too dangerous."
He turned to Serentha, who re-entered.
"Imprison him. Deep cell, guarded at all hours. No visitors."
Marethis chuckled as he was taken.
"You're already choosing. One petal at a time. The bloom will happen. Whether you embrace it or not."
Kael watched him go.
And said nothing.
---
Later That Night – A Conversation in the Dark
Kael stood at the edge of the forest, staring at the stars.
Lyra joined him again, wordless.
After a long moment, she asked softly, "What if he's right?"
Kael didn't answer immediately.
Then—
"Then I'll walk the line… and cut it before it roots."
She didn't like that answer.
But she said nothing more.
Instead, she stood beside him.
As the stars above shimmered, uncaring of thrones, bloodlines, or the bloom that stirred beneath the soil.
---
End of Chapter 65