Chapter 53: The First Lie
hidden truths revealed, Lyra's true purpose begins to surface, and a race against possession begins
---
The air inside the inn felt colder the moment Oran stepped across the threshold.
Not from weather.
From memory.
From truth.
From the weight of what he was about to say.
Kael stared at the man who raised Lyra the one he thought long buried under the roots.
Alive. Scarred. But… not whole.
Maerin didn't speak. She just slid her hand slowly toward the hilt of her bone blade.
She didn't trust him.
Not anymore.
---
Oran's voice was hoarse when he finally said it.
"She wasn't supposed to open that door."
"Not without me."
Kael's jaw clenched. "What door?"
Oran looked at him.
Not like a mentor.
Not like an old man.
Like a soldier.
"The first pact wasn't to bind the curse."
"It was to bury something we didn't understand."
"Something we called a name. But it wasn't one."
"It was a question."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "What question?"
Oran stepped into the light.
His skin was burned in places like roots had tried to carve words into his flesh.
"It asked: Who speaks me?"
"And the moment someone answered… it became real."
---
In the forest…
Lyra stood in front of a tree that bled.
Not sap.
Ink.
It dripped down bark like the last breath of forgotten stories.
The voice inside her was humming again.
Sometimes it called itself Rem.
Sometimes it didn't use a name at all.
"They fed me lies to silence me," it said.
"But truth is patient. And now it has your tongue."
Lyra touched the tree.
And every forgotten secret in the town shuddered awake.
---
Back at the inn...
Maerin slammed her fist on the table. "So what is she now, Oran? Possessed?"
"Not possessed," he said.
"She's becoming something new."
"The vessel always absorbs some of what it carries. But this time… she remembered too well."
Kael's voice was a growl. "How do we stop it?"
Oran turned toward him.
"You don't stop it."
"You choose who she becomes."
---
Kael took a step back.
"What the hell does that mean?"
"You mean she'll turn into that thing and we just get to decide if she's still human or not?"
Oran nodded.
"You're the only anchor she has left. And if you don't hold tight, Kael…"
"She won't become a monster."
"She'll become a god."
---
Meanwhile...
Lyra was no longer alone.
A figure stepped from the shadows near the bleeding tree.
A girl.
No older than ten.
In a white dress soaked in ash.
The First Lyra.
"You're the one who took my place," the girl said.
"But you remember more than I ever did."
"That's dangerous."
Lyra's voice trembled. "What am I becoming?"
The girl's eyes were empty.
"The town called it a curse.
The roots called it a name.
But the truth calls it home."
"You're becoming the voice that cannot lie."
Kael and Oran arrive at the tree just as Lyra begins to speak ancient words aloud words she shouldn't even know.
The sky trembles.
The tree splits.
And Kael hears her whisper:
"I remember what you buried.
And I remember why."