<h4>Chapter 1254: Chapter 1254</h4>


    Together, they came out of the river, soaked and shivering. Zoey wrapped her arms around Susan the moment they reached the shore, while Lucy pressed a nket against her back.


    They huddled together until the sun had risen higher.


    Then Susan whispered, "They’re going toe for me soon. If I don’t fight, I’ll be one of them. If I do fight... I don’t know what happens."


    Jude looked at Sophie. "Can the Offering Bowl be used in reverse?"


    Sophie shook her head. "No writing says anything about reversal. Just consumption. Surrender."


    Emma crossed her arms. "Then we don’t give it what it wants. We break it."


    Zoey stood. "It’s time. We’ve waited long enough."


    They made their way back to the shrine before sunset. The forest felt heavier now, the wind colder. Shadows lingered too long in the corners of their eyes.


    When they reached the tunnel, the shimmer in the arch was gone again.


    But this time, someone stood beside it.


    Rose.


    Her back to them, her hair loose, her hands sped in front of her.


    Jude stepped forward. "Rose."


    She turned slowly.


    And she wasn’t alone.


    La stood beside her.


    Grace on her other side.


    Then Ste.


    And behind them - Natalie.


    All five of them.


    Smiling.


    "We’ve missed you," Rose said softly.


    Jude raised his axe. "Step aside."


    "You don’t have to fight," Grace added, her voice honey-sweet. "You just have to listen."


    "Please," La said. "It’s beautiful. You’ll see."


    Emma and Zoey nked Jude, Sophie behind them. Susan stood just a few paces back, shaking.


    "Come home, Jude," Rose whispered. "We’ll be whole again."


    Lucy reached for Jude’s hand. "Don’t listen."


    He squeezed it back.


    Rose stepped aside.


    The arch shimmered once more.


    "Choose," she said.


    And then she smiled wider.


    Jude’s grip on his axe tightened until his knuckles turned white, his heart pounding so hard he thought the sound might give them away. The shimmer in the arch was like a heartbeat of its own now, pulsing gently, invitingly, like the glow of something ancient and patient, waiting for him to make the mistake it needed. Rose’s eyes stayed fixed on him, that soft, haunting smile never faltering, and the others - La, Grace, Ste, Natalie - stood like statues, their expressions so serene it twisted his stomach. There was no hate in their faces. No anger. Just that terrible, all-knowing calm that promised he’d give in eventually.


    He took a breath, slow and deep. "We’re not ready to choose," he said, voice steady even though every muscle in his body wanted to run, to grab the others and disappear into the woods.


    Rose tilted her head. "You already have, love. Every step you take away from us is a choice. Every heartbeat that trembles with fear instead of joy. The ind feels it. It feels you. And it waits."


    Sophie stepped up beside Jude, close enough that their shoulders brushed. Her hand found his free one and squeezed, grounding him. "You said the ind wants devotion. But it can’t take it. We have to give it willingly. That means it can’t make us."


    Rose’s smile softened further, if that was possible. "It doesn’t make you. It opens your eyes. And once you see... you want to give it everything. That’s what you don’t understand yet. You’re still blind, Sophie. And it hurts to watch."


    Zoey drew her knife and stood on Jude’s other side. "Then look away, because we’re not yours to watch anymore."


    La’s voice was gentle, like music. "Why fight so hard when you could be happy? This doesn’t have to hurt, Zoey. None of this has to hurt."


    Susan stepped forward then, trembling, tears running freely down her face. "Please stop. Please. I can’t - I can’t hear you anymore. I can’t hear my own thoughts. You’re too loud. All of you. Just stop."


    Natalie reached out a hand. "Let us help. We remember what it’s like to be lost. We can bring you peace."


    "No!" Lucy shouted, pulling Susan back, wrapping her arms around her protectively. "You don’t get to have her. You don’t get to take another one of us!"


    Jude took a step toward the arch. "You want us? You want me? Then let them go. Let Susan go."


    Rose didn’t move. "This isn’t about bargains, Jude. This isn’t about deals or threats. It’s about belonging. You belong with us. We’ll wait as long as it takes for you to see it."


    "Then you’ll be waiting a long time," Jude said, his voice steel.


    The smile didn’t fade. Rose simply nodded once. "We’ll see."


    Without another word, they turned. All five of them, in perfect unison, stepping back into the trees as if the forest itself swallowed them. The shimmer in the arch faded to nothing. The clearing was empty again, save for Jude, Sophie, Zoey, Emma, Lucy, and Susan - shaking, gasping, holding on to one another like the ground might give way beneath them.


    For a long moment, no one spoke. The only sound was the wind through the trees and the distant rush of water somewhere deeper in the forest.


    Sophie was the first to break the silence. "We go. Now. Before they change their minds."


    Jude nodded, but his eyes stayed fixed on the ce where Rose had stood. "They’re not going to stop. We’re running out of time."


    Zoey sheathed her knife. "Then let’s stop running."


    They entered the arch, down into the tunnels, the walls of stone and root seeming to close in tighter with every step. The markings they’d seen before glowed faintly now, as if the tunnel itself had begun to breathe with anticipation. The air was colder, and the scent of damp earth and something older, deeper, filled their lungs.


    At the shrine, the Offering Bowl shimmered more brightly than before. The liquid inside rippled like a living thing, reflecting their faces with strange distortions. The symbols on the walls pulsed in time with the shimmer, as if urging them closer.


    Jude stared down into the bowl. "If we can’t reverse it... can we seal it?"