"You don't know how deep your well is?" I practically shouted at her.
"It doesn't have one end!" Lyra's voice was surprisingly cheerful for someone about to plunge into an unknown destination, echoed behind us.
The skeletal enforcers, glowing with raw, unholy Contract magic, were already clawing close through, their bone-white faces twisted into fanatical snarls.
Their glowing eyes fixed on me, as if glinting for that 50,000 gold bounty. My scars burned with a desperate heat.
This is even worse. "What do you mean by not one end?!" I shrieked, but Kaelen already grabbed my hand pulling me close.
He didn't even wait for my consent. He just jumped in.
We tumbled into the darkness, Kaelen's heavy armor clanking against mine. Lyra, surprisingly agile, dropped in right after us, her laughter still echoing.
The air became cold, damp, and smelled strongly of stagnant water and old stone. I braced for impact, expecting a bone-jarring splash.
Instead, it was as if the water sucked us in. The well water didn't just break our fall. It whirled around us.
It was like being caught in a giant, magical washing machine, a dizzying and disorienting vortex that spun us around and around.
The cold water slapped at my face, pulling us under. I could feel Kaelen's heavy body beside me, tumbling through the dark water.
That constant, annoying hum of the bond between us, felt like a lifeline making the disorienting spin feel even more intense.
It was like our souls were tangled in the same chaotic current.
Then it was like the water was spitting us back up. The spinning stopped as suddenly as it began. We were shot out, not into another well, but into a narrow, rocky tunnel. The water here was surprisingly shallow, swirled just around our knees.
The tunnel was dark, damp, and smelled faintly of moss and ancient earth. It was less a well, and more a subterranean water slide that ended in… well, here. Somewhere.
Kaelen coughed, sputtering and spitting out water. He looked more disheveled than usual, his dark hair plastered to his forehead with water dripping from his jaw.
He was completely soaked, his armor gleaming dully in the faint light filtering from… somewhere. He looked like a very grumpy, very wet, very dangerous drowned rat.
"Are you… okay?" I asked in a breathless voice, pushing wet hair out of my eyes. I felt like I'd just been through a rock tumbler.
He just glared at me, his eyes still faintly red at the edges, and coughed again. "I'm… fine. You?"
"Peachy," I retorted, shivering slightly. The cold was seeping into my bones. "Just soaking wet and covered in whatever lives in wells. This is officially the worst escape route ever."
Lyra, however, was already whirling further down the tunnel, her voice echoing back.
"Come on, slowpokes! Don't just stand there making puddles! They'll be on our tails!" She didn't wait for us as she just splashing away into the darkness.
"Lyra!" I called out, but she was already gone. So typical. Leave us to deal with the aftermath.
Kaelen, pushing himself to his feet, looked around the cramped, dark space. "Where does this lead?" he muttered, his voice still rough from the water.
"No idea," I admitted, shivering again. "Probably to another horrible surprise. My life's just a series of those lately." Though not burning my scars felt strangely heavy, a dull ache of lingering exhaustion.
The mana transfer from before had left me drained, and the surprise fight in the farmhouse hadn't helped. I was running on just fumes and pure stubbornness.
We trudged forward, the water splashing around our ankles. The air was damp and smelled like wet soil and our own mutual exhaustion.
The bond now felt less like a lifeline and more like a shared burden. It was amplifying every ache, every shiver. It was like our souls were complaining in unison.
Just as I was contemplating the sheer misery of our current situation, the golden text flared again, shining in the damp air before us, completely ignoring the fact that we were soaked and miserable.
____
[System Quest Initiated.]
[Objective: Establish deeper emotional connection with Bond Partner.]
[Task: Kiss partner to unlock Bond Level 15.]
[Reward: "Synchronized Dodge Rolls." (It's Like Fireworks, But Deadlier!).]
[Penalty: Uncontiguous Hiccups.]
____
My jaw dropped. I stared at the words. Then at Kaelen. Then back at the words.
"You've got to be kidding me," I deadpanned, my voice flat with utter disbelief. "A kiss? Now? After all that?"
Kaelen, who had also seen the glowing text, froze mid-step. His eyes, already narrowed, practically disappeared into slits. His grim face, contorted into a mask of pure, unadulterated revulsion.
"A kiss?" he growled, the word sounding like he'd just tasted something truly vile. "Absolutely not. I'd rather French-kiss a cactus."
"My thoughts exactly, Prince Charming," I retorted, crossing my arms over my chest, even though we were still wading through ankle-deep water.
"And for the record, your breath probably smells like despair and well slime right now, so the feeling's mutual."
He actually recoiled slightly, a flicker of genuine offense in his eyes. "My breath is impeccable! It's your breath that smells like ozone and… and burnt marshmallows!"
"Oh, that's just my magic, thank you very much!" I shot back, feeling a fresh surge of irritation.
"And at least my magic doesn't turn me into a raging shadow beast every time I have a bad day!"
"And at least my magic doesn't backfire and leave me screaming in a cave!" he countered, his voice rising, his eyes flashing with renewed anger. The faint red glow returned to his eyes.
"That was your fault for distracting me with your stupid curse!"
"My curse?! You're the one who caused this bond in the first place, Chainbreaker!"
The argument escalated quickly, our voices echoing in the cold tunnel, the tension between us was now very high.
The System waa apparently enjoying the show and remained silent, its golden text still hovering, mocking us.
"Look," I finally snapped, throwing my hands up in exasperation, splashing water.
"I am not kissing you. Not now, not ever. I'd rather deal with whatever 'Uncontiguous Hiccups' are. They sound annoying, but probably less traumatizing than a forced kiss with you."
"My curse agrees," Kaelen spat out in a tight voice. His shadow, which had been subdued, began to pulse faintly around him.
"Any forced intimacy… it will destabilize me. And the penalty… you know what happens when we defy it."
He gestured vaguely, his gaze dark, hinting at the agonizing 'Echoes of the Past' we'd just endured. The memory of my mother's execution, of his stepmother's cruelty, still lingered like a phantom limb.
"So what? You want me to just… pucker up?" I scoffed, feeling a wave of anger. My scars throbbed. I hated being forced. I hated being controlled. I hated this damn System.
"I'll break this stupid System before I kiss you, Kaelen! I'm a Chainbreaker! I break chains! All of them!"
His eyes narrowed further. "You break this System, Zahara, and you could unleash chaos the likes of which this world has never seen. You don't understand its true purpose. You don't understand what it contains."
His voice was low, serious, like a warning. He wasn't just talking about his curse. He was talking about something bigger. Something dangerous.
Just as the argument reached its peak, a sudden, dramatic flourish of wind whipped through the tunnel, carrying the scent of expensive perfume and something metallic.
Two figures dropped from an opening in the ceiling above us, landing with synchronized, purely theatrical poses.
They were perfectly dry and their clothes were immaculate.
One was a man, sleek and impossibly handsome, with an arrogant smirk plastered on his face. This was Veyon.
The other was a warrior woman, with a deadpan look and long, dark hair that seemed to ripple with a life of its own. Sari.
Kaelen's half-brother and his… bonded partner.
With an exaggerated pout Veyon, the smug princeling, looked us over, soaked and miserable. He scoffed.
"Aww, the Chainbreaker and the Lost Prince!" he cooed, his voice dripping with mock sympathy.
"Still struggling with Level 15? How utterly tragic. We did it at Level 5. Twice."
He winked at Sari, who, in turn, gave a perfectly timed, effortless hair flip, sending a cascade of dark hair over her shoulder. It was so ridiculously dramatic, it almost made me want to applaud.
"Bond Perk: Perfect Hair Flip," Sari announced, her voice flat, devoid of emotion, as if reading from a script. "Wind machines not included."
Veyon laughed, the sound was bright and condescending. "Your bond's pathetic, brother. A mere trifle. Ours is… perfect. So much more efficient. Perhaps we can make this… educational for you two struggling lovebirds."
He snapped his fingers, a sharp, crisp sound that echoed in the tunnel.
From the shadows behind him, ten Temple attack-dogs materialized. Not actual dogs, but hulking, snarling constructs of pure Contract magic, their eyes glowing with malevolent intent, their teeth like sharpened obsidian.
They were bigger, faster, and far more terrifying than any normal hound.
My heart just sank.
Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, the universe decided to send in the magical guard dogs. And Kaelen and I were still arguing about kissing.