Ezra ducked.
A blade whistled through the air where his throat had been a second ago—thin, curved, sharp enough that just the passing wind burned his skin.
No hesitation. No warning.
Whoever this woman was, she wasn't here to talk.
Ezra rolled backward , his body moving before his mind even caught up. His muscles ached, but the moment his feet hit the ground, he sprang forward.
His dagger was already in his hand—he didn't remember drawing it, but he didn't question it.
His other self let out a low whistle from the corner. "She's fast."
No kidding.
The woman didn't follow up immediately. She stood still, watching him, the curved blade in her grip glinting in the dim light.
Testing. Measuring.
Ezra exhaled sharply. "You always try to murder people when they wake up from a coma, or am I just special?"
The woman's hood tilted. "If you were ordinary , you'd already be dead."
Oh, great. One of those types.
Ezra flexed his fingers around his dagger. "And if I don't want to play your little game?"
The air shifted.
The pressure that had been merely suffocating before suddenly pressed down like a crushing weight.
Ezra's breath hitched.
Not magic. Not strength.
Authority.
The same kind of weight that came from something old. Something established.
The woman took a slow step forward. "Then you fail."
Ezra didn't move.
She took another step. "And failures…"
A third step.
"Are erased."
The chains inside him reacted.
Ezra felt it before he even decided to move—his instincts screamed, and his hand shot up.
A chain manifested from nowhere, twisting into existence, forming a barrier between them.
The woman's blade struck the chain.
A sharp clang echoed through the room.
For the first time, she hesitated.
Ezra didn't.
He moved.
His dagger lashed out, aiming for the gap in her stance—but before it could land, the blade vanished.
Ezra's eyes widened.
No, not vanished. Reversed.
The chain that had blocked her? It was gone.
Like it had never existed.
And in that moment of confusion—
She struck.
Pain blossomed across Ezra's ribs as her fist slammed into his side. His body twisted, his breath knocked from his lungs as he staggered back.
"Hah." His other self let out a laugh. "She's fun."
Ezra gritted his teeth.
This wasn't just a test.
This was something else.
His fingers brushed against his ribs—he wasn't bleeding, but the hit had been real.
His eyes snapped back to the woman.
She hadn't moved from her spot. Her blade wasn't drawn.
As if that entire exchange had been… meaningless.
A chill ran down Ezra's spine.
She could undo things.
Not just destroy.
Erase.
His fingers curled around his dagger. "Yeah. Okay. Definitely a problem."
The woman raised her blade again.
Ezra exhaled.
Fine.
If this was a test, then he'd just have to pass it.
Ezra's ribs ached. His breath was uneven.
But his mind was clear.
The woman's blade hadn't cut him.
She hadn't needed to.
She could erase things—not just wounds, not just chains, but concepts themselves.
That was the real danger.
Ezra exhaled, rolling his shoulders. His other self watched from the sidelines, golden eyes glinting.
"Think fast, warden. She's not done."
No kidding.
The woman moved.
Not in a rush—no wasted motion. No unnecessary aggression.
She stepped forward the way a clock ticks. Precise. Inevitable.
Ezra shifted his stance. If she could erase things, then how did he fight back?
The answer hit him as soon as she swung.
"I already did this."
The blade came down.
Ezra dodged—not away, but through.
For a split second, he wasn't there.
Not vanished. Not erased.
Unwritten.
The blade passed through where he should have been , but the Ezra that had stood there had never existed in the first place.
He was already to her side.
And then he struck.
His dagger flashed, the chains inside him reacting— twisting into the blade itself.
This time, when the woman tried to erase his attack—
It didn't disappear.
It resisted.
The chain held.
The woman stepped back.
For the first time, her head tilted.
A brief, quiet moment.
Ezra took a breath. "Guess you can't erase what's already gone, huh?"
His other self laughed.
"Oh, now this is getting interesting."
The woman said nothing.
But she lowered her blade.
The test was over.
And Ezra had passed.
Ezra kept his dagger raised. His pulse was still pounding in his ears, his body tensed for the next attack.
But it didn't come.
The woman lowered her blade, the eerie pressure that had filled the room slowly fading.
Ezra didn't relax. Not yet.
His other self smirked from the sidelines. "Well, look at that. You didn't die. I'm almost disappointed."
Ezra exhaled through his nose. "Shut up."
The woman stepped back, her hood shifting slightly. "You understand now."
Ezra's grip on his dagger tightened. "Understand what, exactly?"
"You cannot erase what has already been forgotten. "
Ezra stiffened.
The weight of her words settled in his chest.
Forgotten.
That was what had saved him—what had saved his attack.
He hadn't dodged. He hadn't resisted.
He had simply ceased to be, just for a moment.
Like something left out of the story.
The woman sheathed her blade. "You carry a burden that does not belong to you. Yet it obeys you. That makes you… unique."
Ezra's eyes narrowed. "And that means what, exactly?"
The woman paused.
Then she bowed her head.
Ezra blinked.
…What?
She knelt on one knee, her hood casting a shadow over her face.
"The Throne was never empty," she murmured.
Ezra's stomach twisted. That phrase again.
She lifted her head slightly. "And the one who left it behind… has returned."
Ezra stared at her.
His breath felt too loud.
His other self grinned. "Ohhh, now this is fun."
Ezra wanted to hit him.
Instead, he exhaled sharply and looked back at the woman. "And what, exactly, do you expect me to do with that information?"
The woman rose to her feet. "Prepare."
"For what?"
A pause.
Then she turned toward the monastery entrance. "The first chain has broken. The second will follow soon."
Ezra's fingers twitched.
He wasn't stupid. He could feel it— the shifting weight of something moving beneath reality.
Something was changing.
Something had already begun.
And whether he liked it or not—
He was at the center of it.