For a long moment, the chamber was deathly silent. The glowing glyphs on the walls pulsed with ancient power, casting eerie shadows across the smooth obsidian floor. The weight of Lucius’s offer—immortality, control over life, death, and time—hung heavy in the air, suffocating.

Alastor stood at the threshold of a choice that spanned lifetimes. He could feel the temptation clawing at him, promising freedom from fear and failure. Kneel and escape the chaos. Kneel and take control. The scarab beneath his sleeve thrummed like a heartbeat, sensing that one way or another, a decision was about to be made.

Lucius waited, his eyes gleaming with centuries of certainty. He didn’t move, didn’t speak—he didn’t need to. The leader of the Pyramid was patient, knowing that every man who stood where Alastor now stood eventually bowed.

But Alastor was not every man.

He clenched his fists, fighting back the tide of doubt, forcing himself to breathe. This was the moment it all came down to. Every death, every betrayal, every shattered memory—all of it had led here. He had clawed his way out of the loop’s grip time and time again, refusing to let it consume him. And now, Lucius stood before him, the puppet master behind it all, offering a seat at the top of the Pyramid—a throne made of chains.

Alastor felt a deep rage boil inside him, the kind of rage that had carried him through lifetimes of suffering. It wasn’t just anger at Lucius. It was anger at himself—at every moment of weakness, every time he had doubted his own resolve, every time the loop had forced him to his knees. But not this time.

Not now.

"No." The word slipped from his mouth like the blade of a dagger.

Lucius’s smile wavered—only slightly, but enough to show that he hadn’t expected the refusal. "You don’t understand what you’re throwing away," Lucius said softly, a note of warning creeping into his voice. "This isn’t defiance—it’s madness. There is no escape from the loop, Alastor. There never has been. You either ascend or you die in obscurity, lost in the cycle forever."

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Alastor took a slow, deliberate step forward, his gaze steady, his heart pounding with grim determination. "You’ve spent lifetimes breaking people—forcing them to kneel. But not me."

Lucius’s dark eyes narrowed, a flicker of irritation breaking through his calm exterior. "The loop has already shaped you," he said, his voice sharp now. "You think this is your choice? You’ve already been chosen. You are exactly where the Pyramid wants you to be. Fighting me is nothing but vanity. A last gasp of defiance before you accept your place."

But Alastor shook his head. "No. I’m not fighting for a throne at the top of the Pyramid. I’m fighting to tear it down."

Lucius’s eyes darkened, and the air in the chamber grew colder. "If you reject the loop, it will devour you," he warned. "Everything you are, everything you’ve built, will be lost. The cycle does not forgive those who defy it." His voice dropped to a whisper, as though revealing a grim truth. "There are fates worse than death, Alastor. And the loop will show you every one of them."

Alastor smiled bitterly, the scarab’s pulse thrumming faster beneath his sleeve. "Good. I’ve died enough times to know what I’m fighting for." His gaze hardened. "I’m fighting for freedom. Not power. Not immortality." He took another step forward, his voice steady with newfound resolve. "I’m not your pawn, Lucius."

The shadows in the chamber seemed to shift, as if the ancient magic within the walls was responding to Alastor’s defiance. The glyphs flickered violently, the power in the room swirling like a storm gathering strength. Lucius stood perfectly still, his smile gone now, replaced by something colder—something dangerous.

"You’re making a mistake," Lucius said quietly, his voice like the edge of a blade. "The loop will break you, Alastor. It breaks everyone. It always has."

Alastor stared him down, his heart pounding with the certainty that this was his moment. He had spent lifetimes being used, manipulated, forced into the game without ever realizing it. But now he saw the truth, and for the first time in centuries of cycles, the choice was his.

"No," Alastor growled, stepping deeper into the shifting shadows, his resolve burning like a beacon in the darkness. "The loop won’t break me."

Lucius’s eyes glinted with fury, but he didn’t move as Alastor disappeared into the shadows. The leader of the Pyramid didn’t need to stop him—not yet. He knew the game wasn’t over. It never was.

But this time, Alastor wasn’t playing by the rules.