Chapter 124 — What Shoyo Sealed
Brook read the words again.
The child of three deaths has returned.
They remained carved into the stone.
No one spoke.
Henry was the first to break.
"I hate that sentence."
Brook looked at him.
Henry pointed at the words.
"I don't know what three deaths means, and I don't particularly want to find out."
Crowley stepped closer to the symbols.
"Don't touch them."
Brook said.
Crowley stopped.
Brook looked at Sera.
She was staring at the words.
"Can you make them disappear?"
Sera shook her head.
"They aren't staying."
Brook frowned.
"What?"
The symbols faded.
One line at a time.
Until the stone was blank.
Henry stared.
"That seems unnecessarily dramatic."
Nobody answered him.
Brook's attention remained below.
The damaged lifeline had returned.
Faint.
Like a candle struggling against the wind.
He closed his eyes.
Death reached outward.
The closer someone was to him, the clearer their lifeline became.
Henry.
Strong.
Uneasy.
Sera.
Her lifeline was bright, though Brook could still feel the weakness left behind by Azael.
Crowley.
Strange.
Heavy.
Brook couldn't explain Crowley's lifeline. It felt like something had been layered over something else.
Then—
below.
The damaged lifeline.
Brook opened his eyes.
"It's still there."
Hades turned.
"The person?"
Brook nodded.
Henry looked at the fracture.
"So we're just going to ignore someone trapped under the city?"
Hades's expression hardened.
"We don't know what is trapped under the city."
Brook looked at him.
"Someone is alive."
"That doesn't mean they're innocent."
Brook stepped toward him.
"Neither am I."
Hades stared at him.
The words landed.
Crowley looked away.
Sera's eyes stayed on Brook.
Henry raised both hands.
"Okay. Let's not make this another king fight."
Brook looked at him.
"I'm not a king."
Henry smiled slightly.
"Yet."
Brook did not smile back.
Henry lowered his hands.
"Wrong time."
Hades ordered a group of guards to bring ropes, lamps and magical equipment.
Brook watched him.
Crowley stood beside him.
"You don't trust him."
Brook said.
Crowley didn't look away from Hades.
"I trust almost nobody."
"That's not an answer."
Crowley looked at him.
"Then no."
Brook nodded.
Fair.
Crowley continued.
"He's hiding information."
"So is Shoyo."
Crowley looked at him.
Brook immediately regretted saying it.
Not because it was untrue.
But because it sounded wrong.
Shoyo wasn't an enemy.
She had never been.
Crowley seemed to understand.
"I'm not saying Shoyo is against us."
Brook looked at him.
"But?"
"But powerful people tend to decide what other people are allowed to know."
Brook looked toward the fracture.
He couldn't argue with that.
Crowley continued.
"Shoyo may have had a reason."
"Rick too."
Crowley raised an eyebrow.
"You think Rick knows?"
Brook thought about the vision.
The man with the sword.
He shook his head.
"I don't know."
Crowley studied him.
"You're not sure."
Brook didn't answer.
Sera stood alone near one of the abandoned buildings.
Brook approached.
She didn't turn.
"You alright?"
"No."
Brook stopped beside her.
The empty street stretched before them.
"Me neither."
Sera laughed quietly.
Then stopped.
"I keep thinking about her."
Brook knew who she meant.
"Shoyo."
Sera nodded.
"She taught me everything."
Brook looked at her.
"You keep saying that."
"Because I mean it."
Her voice was frustrated.
"Magic. Sources. Languages. Spells. Things I didn't even understand until years later."
Brook remained quiet.
Sera looked toward him.
"And now I'm supposed to accept that she knew Word Magic before I was even born."
Brook shook his head.
"We don't know that."
Sera stared.
Brook corrected himself.
"Okay. We basically know that."
Sera almost smiled.
Almost.
Then her expression changed again.
"What if she knew about my Source?"
Brook didn't answer immediately.
"What if she knew what it was before I did?"
Brook looked at her.
"Then she probably had a reason not to tell you."
"Stop saying that."
Brook frowned.
"What?"
"That she had a reason."
Sera turned toward him.
"I know she had a reason."
Her voice became quieter.
"That's what scares me."
Brook understood.
Sera didn't doubt Shoyo loved her.
She doubted what Shoyo had needed to protect her from.
A horn sounded.
Hades turned.
The equipment had arrived.
Ropes.
Lanterns.
Weapons.
Crowley looked toward Brook.
"Well."
Henry joined them.
"Bad idea."
Brook looked at him.
"You don't have to come."
Henry looked offended.
"I didn't say that."
"You said it was a bad idea."
"It is."
Henry looked toward the hole.
"But apparently I make bad decisions."
Brook nodded.
"That's true."
Henry pointed at him.
"You're making this difficult."
Sera walked past them.
Brook grabbed her wrist.
Sera looked down at his hand.
Then up at him.
"No."
Brook frowned.
"You don't know what I'm going to say."
"I know exactly what you're going to say."
Brook held her gaze.
Sera pulled her hand free.
"I'm coming."
"You almost died."
"Brook."
"I'm serious."
"So am I."
Crowley walked past.
"Are you two done?"
They both looked at him.
Crowley continued walking.
"We're descending into an ancient ruin beneath a city built by people who clearly had poor decision-making skills."
Henry followed.
"I agree with him."
Brook sighed.
The descent was slow.
A rope had been secured to a broken foundation.
Brook went first.
Below him—
darkness.
Above him—
the distant light of Remus.
Henry came next.
Then Sera.
Crowley followed.
Hades descended last.
Brook's boots touched stone.
The air was colder beneath the city.
Older.
His lantern illuminated a narrow corridor.
The architecture was unlike anything above.
The stone walls were covered in words.
Thousands.
Sera immediately stopped.
Brook looked back.
"What?"
She stared.
"I don't understand."
Crowley stepped closer.
"What?"
Sera lifted her lantern.
"The writing."
Brook followed her gaze.
"Can you read it?"
She slowly shook her head.
"No."
Henry looked relieved.
"Good."
Sera turned toward him.
"Why is that good?"
"Because every time you can read ancient writing, something terrible happens."
Crowley nodded.
Sera stared at both of them.
"You know that's not how magic works."
Henry looked around.
"Are you sure?"
Sera sighed.
Brook continued forward.
The lifeline was clearer now.
Pain entered his chest.
He stopped.
Crowley noticed.
"Brook?"
Brook raised a hand.
"Quiet."
Everyone stopped.
Brook closed his eyes.
The lifeline was nearby.
Not directly ahead.
Below.
The corridor had another level.
Brook opened his eyes.
"This way."
Hades looked at him.
"You know?"
Brook nodded.
"Someone's alive."
Hades didn't argue.
They continued.
The corridor ended at a staircase.
Stone steps descended into darkness.
Brook went first.
The sound of their footsteps echoed.
Once.
Twice.
Then—
another sound.
Brook stopped.
Henry nearly walked into him.
"What?"
Brook raised a hand.
The sound came again.
A chain.
Dragging.
Crowley looked toward the darkness.
"Vaelor."
Hades shook his head.
"His prison isn't here."
Brook felt the lifeline.
"He's right."
Everyone looked at him.
Brook stared down the staircase.
"This isn't Vaelor."
The chain dragged again.
Sera's hand moved toward her weapon.
Brook noticed.
"You can fight?"
She looked at him.
"Don't start."
Brook looked away.
Henry whispered:
"He's starting."
Sera glared at him.
Then the chain stopped.
Silence.
They reached the bottom.
A door stood before them.
Smaller than the one above.
Brook's lifeline sense pointed beyond it.
Someone was there.
Weak.
Brook placed his hand on the stone.
Crowley moved beside him.
"What are you doing?"
"Feeling."
Brook closed his eyes.
The lifeline pulsed.
Pain.
Fear.
And—
relief.
Brook immediately opened his eyes.
"It knows we're here."
Hades stepped forward.
"Move."
Brook didn't.
Hades's eyes narrowed.
"Brook."
The stone door suddenly opened.
Everyone stepped back.
The smell that came from inside was terrible.
Blood.
Old water.
Decay.
Henry covered his mouth.
"Definitely a bad idea."
Brook raised his lantern.
A figure was sitting against the wall.
Chains covered its body.
Its head hung low.
Brook took a step forward.
The figure moved.
Henry raised his weapon.
Crowley lifted his hand.
Magic formed.
Brook stopped them.
"Wait."
The figure slowly raised its head.
Brook's lantern illuminated the face.
He froze.
Sera gasped.
Hades stepped backward.
Crowley stared.
"No."
The chained figure smiled.
Weakly.
Blood ran down the side of his face.
His eyes were ancient.
Tired.
But alive.
The man looked directly at Brook.
Then at Sera.
Finally—
at Crowley.
Crowley went completely still.
The man's smile disappeared.
His voice was barely audible.
"Crowley."
Crowley's face changed.
Brook turned.
"You know him."
Crowley didn't answer.
The man pulled against his chains.
They rattled.
Sera stepped closer.
Brook stopped her.
The man laughed quietly.
"Still protecting people."
Brook stared.
"Who are you?"
The man's eyes moved toward the ancient words carved into the wall.
Then back to Brook.
He spoke one name.
A name that changed the air in the room.
"Shoyo."
Brook's grip tightened around his weapon.
The man smiled.
"You call her that now."
Brook stepped forward.
"What does that mean?"
The man looked directly at him.
For the first time, there was fear in his eyes.
Not of Brook.
Of the name.
"The First Witch."
Brook went still.
The man lowered his head.
Then whispered:
"She should never have sealed that door."
The lanterns flickered.
Every flame went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Henry swore.
A sound came from the walls.
Wet.
Slow.
Something moved.
Brook immediately felt a second presence.
Then a third.
His eyes widened.
The chained man laughed.
Not happily.
Desperately.
"You're too late."
Brook's voice cut through the darkness.
"For what?"
Something whispered from the walls.
The answer came in a voice that wasn't human.
"For her."
The room shook.
And somewhere deeper beneath Remus—
something began breaking free.
End of Chapter 124