The explosion hit like a thunderclap.
The force ripped through the Fatekeeper's stance, forcing them to raise a hand in defense.
Jude didn't waste the opening. He lunged.
Steel met resistance an unseen force halting his blade inches from its target. The Fatekeeper remained motionless, golden mask gleaming under the flickering light of the dying hourglass behind them.
"You cannot strike what does not exist," they intoned.
Kazimir let out a low whistle. "Oh, that's new. But let's test a theory."
With a flick of his wrist, another card shot toward the Fatekeeper. This time, it curved midair, aiming for the shattered hourglass.
The Fatekeeper's head tilted slightly. The card vanished before impact.
Kazimir clicked his tongue. "Yeah, saw that coming."
Jude barely had time to register the Fatekeeper raising a hand before the weight of fate slammed down again.
The air distorted, an invisible force dragging Elara forward. Her body convulsed as her mark flared to life once more.
Jude's eyes widened. It wasn't over.
He dove toward her, grabbing her wrist. "No, stay with me."
Her fingers tightened around his. "I—" She choked back a scream as something tried to pull her soul from her body.
The Fatekeeper's voice was cold and absolute. "She is still bound. You delayed the inevitable, but she will be erased."
Kazimir moved first. In a blur of motion, he hurled another card at the Fatekeeper's mask. It flickered midair and vanished—a direct attack erased from existence.
The Fatekeeper turned their head slightly toward Kazimir. "Your abilities are futile."
"Yeah, well, I like testing limits." Kazimir smirked, but Jude saw his fingers twitch. He was calculating.
Jude turned back to Elara. She was still breathing—but barely. The mark wasn't pulling her toward death anymore, but fate was still trying to claim her.
He gritted his teeth. No more playing defense.
Jude lunged.
His blade sliced through the air, aiming for the Fatekeeper's head. The moment his sword reached them, it stopped mid-swing—frozen in place.
The Fatekeeper's voice didn't waver. "You cannot strike what does not exist."
Jude's sword trembled, stuck in the air as if trapped in invisible chains.
But Jude wasn't aiming to kill.
He shifted his grip—and instead of pulling away, he pushed forward.
The force resisting his blade buckled for just a fraction of a second. And in that moment—
Kazimir flicked another card.
This one didn't vanish.
It shot past the Fatekeeper and struck the restored hourglass behind them. The fragile artifact shattered again this time for good.
The chamber trembled. The floating golden pages burst into flames. The Fatekeeper staggered for the first time.
Jude didn't hesitate. He grabbed Elara and pulled her to her feet. "Time to go."
Kazimir was already moving. "Couldn't agree more."
The Fatekeeper lifted a hand to stop them—
But something was wrong.
The air around them fractured, as if fate itself was breaking apart. The masked figure let out a sharp breath, their once-commanding presence flickering.
"The system… is unraveling…" Their voice held something new, an emotion Jude never thought he'd hear from them.
Fear.
Jude didn't wait to see what happened next. He ran.
By the time they burst into the night air, the city's bells were ringing. The Fatebound Order knew.
Jude glanced at Elara. She was still standing. Still breathing.
Still alive.
But he could feel it. They had broken something fundamental. Fate wouldn't just let this go.
Kazimir grinned, breathing hard. "Well. That went well."
Jude exhaled. "We just declared war on fate itself."
Elara looked at him, something unreadable in her gaze. "…Then we'd better make sure we win."
The city burned with golden light behind them. The world had just changed.
And there was no going back.
Bells tolled like funeral chimes, their echoes stretching through the streets. Somewhere deep in the capital, the Fatebound Order was already moving.
Jude didn't need to see them to know. He could feel it, the unnatural shift in the air, the invisible weight pressing down on them. Fate had been rewritten. And the world wasn't going to ignore it.
Upon reaching a nearby spot, Kazimir leaned against a wall, his arms crossed as Elara stared at him with wide, searching eyes. The silence hung between them for a moment, thick with the weight of what had just happened. Elara's Fate Brand was still there, but its glow was dimmer now, like it had lost its hold on her life.
"How did he do it?" Elara asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "How did Jude stop my death?"
Kazimir raised an eyebrow, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "You really want to know? Alright, then. Brace yourself." He pushed off the wall, stepping closer to where Elara sat, still reeling from the shock.
"He didn't just break fate," Kazimir explained, his tone casual, as if he were discussing a simple magic trick. "What Jude did was mess with the very fabric of destiny itself. You see, fate has these laws—rules that everyone follows, even you. But when your name was written in the Book of the Unwritten, it meant something was... off." He paused, making sure she was following.
Elara nodded slowly, though her confusion was still clear.
"The book," Kazimir continued, "records the names of people who defy fate. When your name appeared in there, it meant you had already broken free yet, fate didn't accept that. It saw you as an anomaly, and that's why it was trying to erase you. The more it tried to force your death, the worse it got."
"So, what did Jude do?" Elara pressed, her hands clutching the fabric of her clothes in uncertainty.
Jude gave her a knowing glance. "I tore a page from the Book of the Unwritten."
Elara blinked. "A page?"
"A page," Kazimir repeated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "The Book of the Unwritten is tied directly to the laws of fate. By ripping a page from it, Jude broke the system's logic. That page… it doesn't follow fate's rules. It's a rejection of those rules. He pressed it against your Fate Brand—your life and death line. And boom, it worked. The page became a wedge between you and fate. It interfered."
Elara's breath caught in her throat. "So, you're saying it's over?"
Kazimir shrugged nonchalantly. "Not quite. Your Fate Brand didn't disappear—it's still there. But its control over you? Gone. Fate couldn't reconcile what Jude did. You're alive, but you're not 'fated' to die anymore. It's like a paradox now. The system is... unstable. It doesn't know what to do with you. So, for now, you're free."
Elara glanced at Jude, who had been silently watching their exchange. His eyes were unreadable, but there was a faint, satisfied look on his face. As if he knew, deep down, that he had just changed everything.
"Why didn't you just let me die?" Elara whispered, her voice shaking. "Why take that risk for me?"
Kazimir chuckled darkly. "Because, kid, if we didn't, you'd just be another pawn for fate to move around. And Jude? He doesn't like following anyone else's script."
Jude exhaled sharply, glancing at Elara. Her fate was gone. The brand that once marked her death had vanished, leaving only smooth skin where it had been. But he wasn't celebrating. He felt wrong like something inside him had cracked. His legs were unsteady, his breathing uneven. Fate wasn't meant to be broken so easily, and he had felt the backlash of forcing reality to change.
Elara caught the way he swayed. "Jude."
"I'm fine." He wasn't. His body was screaming, his vision tilting at the edges. But they couldn't stop here. Not with the city hunting them.
Elara studied him for a moment but didn't push. Instead, she turned her attention to the skyline. "We need to move I think."
Kazimir rolled his eyes. "No time to bask in our glorious victory?"
Jude shot him a look. "If we don't leave the capital now, they're going to bury us in it."
Kazimir sighed, slipping a card between his fingers. "Fine, fine. I have an escape route. But you're going to love it."
Jude didn't have the energy to argue.
Kazimir led them through the winding alleys of the lower district, keeping to the shadows. The city was alive with movement—Fatebound knights patrolling the streets, citizens whispering behind closed doors. They had set something irreversible in motion, and the weight of it settled on Jude's shoulders.
Kazimir's "escape route" turned out to be a smuggler's passage beneath the old docks—a half-flooded tunnel that smelled of rot and seawater.
Jude didn't complain. As long as it got them out.
They moved quickly, boots splashing through ankle-deep water. The tunnel stretched on endlessly, torchlight flickering against the damp stone.
Kazimir hummed to himself. "You know, I don't think we fully appreciate what we just did."
Jude shot him a tired look. "Enlighten me."
Kazimir flipped a coin in the air. "We didn't just save Elara. We proved fate can be changed. That means the entire system they've built? The Fatebound Order? The brands? It's all a lie."
Jude had already thought of that. He just wasn't sure what to do with the information yet.
Elara, however, spoke up. "If people found out…"
"They'd want their own fates rewritten," Kazimir finished. "Chaos. Revolution. The Order would fall apart."
Jude exhaled. "That's why they're going to come after us with everything they have."
Kazimir grinned. "Wouldn't want it any other way."
Jude didn't share his enthusiasm.
They reached the tunnel's end—a rusted metal grate blocking the exit to the riverbanks. Kazimir slipped a card into the lock, and with a faint click, the gate swung open.
Fresh air. Open sky. Freedom.
But the moment Jude stepped out, his body locked up.
The backlash hit like a hammer to the skull.
He staggered, the world tilting violently. Pain shot through his head, white-hot and unbearable. His breath came in short gasps as his vision blurred.
Elara caught his arm. "Jude?"
He gritted his teeth. "I… I'm fine."
Kazimir arched an eyebrow. "Yeah, that's convincing."
Jude forced himself to stand. He wasn't about to show weakness—not now.
Elara frowned, but she didn't push. "Let's keep moving."
They left the city behind, disappearing into the darkened countryside. The Wild Card's knew The Fatebound Order would come. They would hunt them down.