Even Death Grew Tired of Killing Me-Chapter 45 - 40

[3rd POV : Astrae ]

Astrae did not sense danger.

That was the problem.

The palace corridor was quiet in the ordinary way Solcarth preferred. Thick stone swallowed sound. Old enchantments softened footsteps, blurred presence, discouraged lingering. Nothing screamed warning. Nothing resisted her passage. To her senses, it felt like every other route she had already tested and dismissed as harmless.

She walked calmly, hands folded in front of her, posture relaxed, the image of a young assistant moving with purpose but without authority. The act came easily now. Too easily.

Her confidence had grown with every successful intrusion.

She could still feel her wings.

Not physically, not as they once were, but as a steady pull deep inside her chest, a direction rather than a shape. The sensation had sharpened over the last few days. It no longer wandered. It no longer faded. It pointed clearly and insistently toward the deeper structures beneath the palace.

Toward Caedryn’s domain.

Astrae slowed near a branching corridor, as two palace aides passed her, voices low, discussing supply routes and ceremonial schedules. They did not spare her a glance. When they were gone, she turned and took the narrower path.

The air changed.

Not colder or heavier. Muted.

Her steps sounded duller, like the stone no longer wished to echo her presence. Astrae’s brow creased slightly. That was unusual, but not alarming. Mortals who dealt with dangerous things often learned how to make spaces forget.

She reached the end of the corridor and stopped.

An unmarked door stood there. The only door. And this was were she supposed to go as per instructed.

No guards.

No sigils.

No visible wards.

Astrae frowned.

She reached out with her senses, carefully, cautiously. Nothing flared or resisted. The space beyond the door felt neutral. But she could not feel any of Theo’s presence inside.

Her fingers closed around the handle.

The moment she turned it, the pull of her wings vanished.

Astrae froze.

Not weakened but disconnected.

The phantom sensation that had guided her for days simply ceased, like a limb going numb all at once. Her breath caught before she could stop it.

She stepped inside.

The door closed behind her with a sound so soft it barely existed.

The room was circular, wide, and bare in a deliberate way. Stone walls etched with shallow grooves that did not glow, hum, or move. No decorative excess. No divine symbolism. Only function.

At the center stood a low stone platform.

Upon it rested three objects.

A dull silver circlet, uneven and imperfect, its metal slightly wrong to her senses.

A cracked black stone disc that dragged at the air around it, making power feel thick and resistant.

And an incomplete anchor of dark metal, heavy with intent, unfinished yet unmistakable in purpose.

Astrae felt it then.

The weight, extra gravity if one could explain.

Her divinity did not vanish. It did not collapse.

It sank.

Her power became heavy, sluggish, costly to move, like trying to lift a mountain with bare hands.

Her lips pressed together.

"Not... again." she said quietly.

The words echoed, swallowed quickly by the room.

Footsteps sounded behind her.

Caedryn emerged from a side passage she had not noticed, his expression composed, his pace unhurried. He did not radiate triumph. He did not look relieved.

He looked satisfied.

"You noticed the moment it took effect," he said. "Good. That tells me this worked exactly as intended."

Astrae turned slowly to face him.

"You built a god cage," she said. "Crude. But clever."

Caedryn smiled faintly. "Not a cage. A weight room."

She tried to summon power.

It answered sluggishly, like wading through deep water.

Her jaw tightened.

"You don’t know what you’ve caught," Astrae said, her voice controlled.

"No," Caedryn agreed calmly. "But I know enough to not let you walk out."

He gestured, almost lazily.

The grooves along the walls activated all at once.

Not light but pressure.

The Harmonization Circlet lifted from the platform, moving as if guided by invisible hands. Astrae reacted instantly, reaching out to deflect it.

Her power responded late.

The circlet snapped closed around her head.

The world tilted.

Her knees buckled as her connection to divinity misaligned sharply, like a frequency forced out of tune. She gasped, not from pain, but from the sudden wrongness of existing inside her own body.

The cracked disc dissolved into vapor.

The air thickened.

Every attempt to draw power now felt like dragging it through mud.

The incomplete anchor embedded itself into the platform, and the space around Astrae locked.

She staggered, then fell to one knee.

Still alive.

Still conscious.

But trapped.

Caedryn watched her carefully, eyes sharp, cataloguing every reaction.

"Sealed gods leave traces," he said. "You didn’t erase yours well enough."

Astrae laughed softly, breath uneven. "You think this will hold me."

"I think it will slow you," Caedryn replied. "Long enough."

She looked up at him, anger flickering behind her eyes.

"For what," she demanded. "Interrogation? Study?"

"Maybe," Caedryn said. "But it’s more for moving you. I prepared a special place, so long ago, for someone like you. Atleast now, it could function what it was built for."

Her smile vanished.

Before she could respond, the room shifted again.

Not collapsing. Sliding.

Space folded inward, layers peeling away as hidden mechanisms activated. The walls darkened, the ceiling lowered, and the platform beneath Astrae began to sink.

Astrae tried to stand.

Her legs shook.

The anchor’s influence pressed her down.

The chamber descended smoothly, silently, far below the palace foundations.

"You’re not keeping me here," Astrae said, voice strained.

"No," Caedryn said. "That would be foolish."

The platform slowed.

Stopped.

The air changed again.

They were outside.

The stone around them was different now. Older. Rougher. This was not Solcarth’s palace.

This was somewhere else entirely.

"My estate," Caedryn said quietly. "Far enough that no one hears you struggle. Shielded enough that no one feels you."

Astrae lifted her head slowly, fury burning through the weight pinning her down.

"You think you’ve won," she said.

Caedryn met her gaze without flinching.

"I think," he replied, "that for the first time in a very long while, a god has nowhere to go."

The restraints tightened.

And Astrae understood, too late, that this time she had not merely been watched.

She had been caught, again. And this time by just mere mortals without any assistance from any gods. And it grates really deep on her pride.

~~~

[1st POV: Theo]

We were already outside the government building when it really sank in.

Glass, steel, clean lines, and controlled silence behind us. The doors slid shut with a soft sound that felt heavier than it should have. Kyren walked ahead of me, hands folded behind his head, a grin fixed on his face like he’d just been released from school instead of temporary custody.

I walked beside him, quiet.

I didn’t know what I was supposed to feel.

This kid was my responsibility now. Not emotionally. Not symbolically. Officially. Legally. The word guardian pressed down on my thoughts until my head started to throb. I didn’t have anyone else to pass him to. I couldn’t leave him behind. And I couldn’t pretend this was temporary.

A long breath slipped out of me without warning.

Kyren tilted his head slightly. "You don’t have to worry so much."

I shot him a look. "That’s easy for you to say."

"I won’t be a burden," he added casually. "I can help."

I let out a tired sound somewhere between a scoff and a sigh. "You’re still a kid. Even if your stats are ridiculous, it’s not like you can actually do much with them."

Kyren’s grin widened, like I’d just said something funny.

"Come on," he said. "Follow me."

I frowned. "Follow you where..."

He was already moving.

Not running.

Flowing.

Kyren slipped into the crowd like he belonged there, his body cutting through gaps that barely existed. One step landed on the edge of a vendor’s cart, the next on a railing, then he was vaulting clean over a stack of crates without slowing down.

"Kyren - wait!"

He didn’t.

I cursed under my breath and took off after him.

The street exploded into motion around me. People shouted. Someone swore. I dodged a shoulder at the last second and barely avoided slamming into a delivery cart. Kyren was already several bodies ahead, light blond hair flashing between movement like a marker I was struggling to keep in sight.

If this had happened before Aetherfall, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. I wouldn’t have even been able to track him visually.

But my legs pushed harder than I expected. My balance corrected itself mid-step. I jumped, landed, pivoted, and didn’t stumble.

Still, it wasn’t enough.

Kyren moved like gravity was optional.

He leapt onto a low wall, ran three steps along it, then vaulted onto the roof of a shop without breaking rhythm. I followed, teeth clenched, hands scraping stone as I hauled myself up, boots barely catching the edge.

He didn’t slow down, didn’t even look back.

My heartbeat thundered in my ears as I ran across uneven rooftops, my vision struggling to track his movement as he jumped again, then again, weaving across the city like it was a playground.

If my stats hadn’t improved.

If I hadn’t spent time surviving Aetherfall.

If my body hadn’t adapted even a little.

I would have lost him already.

Kyren bounded forward, light, fast, untouchable.

And I chased him, breath steady but burning, instincts screaming that this kid wasn’t just reckless.

He was showing me something.

Whether I liked it or not.