Erynd woke chained.
Not by iron.
By people.
Dozens stood in a circle around him—some Unbound, some guards, some ordinary citizens who had come to see if the myth could bleed.
No one touched him.
They didn't need to.
Fear had returned.
And fear always pretended to be justice.
"You judged us," the woman said, voice hoarse. Dark veins traced her eyes where the weight had lingered. "You became what you claimed to destroy."
Erynd sat up slowly.
"I didn't command you," he said. "I didn't punish you. I gave you back what you threw away."
A man spat. "That's worse."
Murmurs spread.
He felt it then—the truth he had avoided.
They were right.
Not morally.
Logically.
Caelis arrived before the verdict could form.
Sword sheathed.
Hands empty.
"Let him go," Caelis said.
"Why?" someone shouted.
"Because if you decide by fear again," Caelis answered, "then Oathfall meant nothing."
Silence followed.
Not agreement.
Exhaustion.
The chains loosened.
Erynd stood.
That night, the Watcher fractured.
Not physically.
Conceptually.
For the first time, it recorded an error it could not resolve.
PARADOX DETECTED
Judgment without authority
Authority without rule
Rule without system
The Watcher did not correct.
It learned.
The Unbound splintered.
Some abandoned the doctrine, broken by the weight they felt.
Others radicalized.
They named Erynd The Hidden Tyrant.
They swore to expose him.
To force the world to choose.
The Devourer grew restless.
You see? it whispered. They crave structure. You are becoming it.
Erynd stared at his reflection in the river.
Black hair. Silver scars. Eyes too tired for his age.
"I won't rule," he said.
Then you will break, the Devourer replied.
Far north, something ancient stirred.
Not a god.
A Principle.
Older than oaths.
Older than freedom.
It did not speak.
It tilted reality toward inevitability.
The Watcher turned its gaze.
And, for the first time—
Felt dread.
Erynd felt it too.
A pressure from the horizon.
A future that refused to branch.
He whispered, "So this is the price."
The world had chosen freedom.
Now it demanded meaning.