The image on the screen didn't change.
A dim room.
A single chair.
A figure tied to it head lowered, barely moving.
Kael didn't speak.
Didn't move.
But something in him shifted.
Tyland noticed immediately.
"You know them," he said.
Kael's jaw tightened slightly, his eyes locked on the screen. For the first time since this began, the calm, controlled version of him cracked.
"That's impossible," Kael muttered.
The voice from the screen returned, quiet and observant.
"Nothing here is impossible."
Elara stepped closer, studying Kael. "Who is it?"
Kael didn't answer right away.
Because saying it made it real.
Finally
"My sister."
Silence hit instantly.
Tyland's eyes narrowed slightly. "You never mentioned a sister."
Kael let out a dry laugh, but there was no humor in it. "Because she wasn't part of this world," he said. "I made sure of that."
The screen flickered slightly, the camera adjusting just enough to show her face more clearly.
Bruised.
Weak.
But alive.
"They found her," Kael said quietly.
The voice responded almost immediately.
"We find everything."
Elara's expression hardened. "So this is what you do," she said. "You take people who aren't involved."
A pause.
Then
"Everyone is involved," the voice replied.
Kael stepped forward now, closer to the screen, his control slipping just enough to show something real.
"Let her go," he said.
The figure on the screen didn't move.
The voice, however, softened slightly.
"Interesting," it said. "You ask… instead of act."
Kael's hands clenched at his sides.
Tyland watched him carefully.
Because now
The roles had shifted.
Kael wasn't the one in control anymore.
He was the one being tested.
"You wanted to prove something," the voice continued. "Now you will."
Another screen lit up beside the first.
A second location.
This time
More familiar.
The remains of one of Tyland's old safehouses.
Destroyed.
Burned.
Elara frowned. "What is this?"
Tyland didn't answer.
Because he understood.
The voice spoke again.
"One choice," it said. "One outcome."
Silence.
Then
"Save her," the voice continued, "or stop what's coming next."
Kael's eyes darkened instantly. "What's coming?"
A pause.
Then
"You'll see."
The meaning was clear.
If Kael chose his sister
Something worse would happen elsewhere.
If he didn't
He lost her.
Elara looked between them. "This is the same thing they did to you," she said to Tyland.
Tyland nodded once.
But this time
He wasn't the one choosing.
Kael was.
Kael stepped back slightly, running a hand over his face as he processed it. For once, he didn't have a plan.
No strategy.
No control.
Just a choice.
"They're forcing you," Elara said quietly.
Kael let out a slow breath.
"I know."
Tyland stepped closer, his voice low.
"If you go after her," he said, "you're playing their game."
Kael looked at him.
"And if I don't?" he asked.
Tyland didn't hesitate.
"You lose her."
Silence.
Heavy.
Unavoidable.
Kael's eyes shifted back to the screen, to his sister, unmoving in the chair.
Everything he had done.
Everything he had become.
And this
Was the cost.
The voice spoke one last time.
"Choose."
The screens flickered.
A countdown appeared.
02:00
Two minutes.
Kael's breathing slowed, his mind racing.
Tyland didn't speak again.
Because this decision
Couldn't be made for him.
Elara watched closely, tension rising with every second that passed.
01:30
Kael closed his eyes for a brief moment.
Then opened them.
Different.
Resolved.
But unreadable.
01:00
Tyland studied him carefully.
Because whatever choice Kael made
Would change everything.
00:30
The room felt like it was closing in.
The seconds ticking louder than anything else.
00:10
Kael stepped forward.
And finally
He spoke.
"I choose "
The screen cut to black.
Before he could finish.
Silence.
Then
A single message appeared.
"Too late."
And in that moment
They all realized something terrifying.
This was never about the choice.
It was about proving
That they would always be too slow.