It took only a second for all of us to realize the truth.
The owners had returned.
We had to leave now.
With Natasha.
And with Herb D... the Herb of Death.
There was no way we were leaving Natasha behind. No matter the cost, we had to save her.
I rushed toward her, determined to tear Herb D from her arm. But the moment I drew close, a violent surge of energy exploded through my body.
Agh!
A powerful shock hurled me backward.
I froze.
Green lines suddenly shimmered across the stone floor, spreading in every direction like glowing veins beneath the earth, everywhere except the small patch where I stood.
"What...?"
Heart pounding, I cautiously stretched one foot toward one of the glowing lines.
The instant my boot brushed it, another brutal jolt shot through me.
I jerked back, clamping a hand over my mouth to smother the scream threatening to escape. The last thing I wanted was to alert the temple's owners.
"Silver... don't move."
Zoah's voice was low, but it carried unmistakable fear.
"What is this?" I whispered.
"Why is it surrounding me?"
Silence.
"Zoah..."
My voice trembled.
"Say something."
Slowly, I turned to look at him.
I immediately wished I hadn't.
The expression on his face shattered whatever hope I had left.
Fear.
Panic.
And something even worse...
The unbearable look of someone who had already accepted they had failed to save the person they promised to protect.
Cold dread settled inside me.
Whatever this trap was...
It wasn't survivable.
"Zoah, if you won't tell her..."
Natasha swallowed hard, tears already gathering in her eyes.
"...I will."
She looked straight at me.
"When I touched the carnivorous plant, I woke it up. But that wasn't all."
Her voice cracked.
"I activated something else... a death trap."
She glanced at the glowing lines surrounding me.
"The laser barrier came alive."
A tear rolled down her cheek.
"This... this is all my fault."
"I should have listened to you."
Everything suddenly became clear.
Natasha and I argued almost every day.
We challenged each other.
Shouted at each other.
Competed over the same man.
Got jealous whenever he stood too close to one of us.
But beneath all the bickering...
We had become far more than teammates.
We were sisters.
And neither of us could bear losing the other.
"It's not your fault."
A deep metallic groan echoed through the underground chamber.
The trapdoor above us creaked open.
Someone was coming.
The owners.
They were descending.
My heart skipped.
There wasn't any time left.
I turned sharply toward Zoah.
"Take Natasha and leave."
"I'm not leaving without you!" Natasha cried.
"She's right," Zoah said immediately. "We're not abandoning you. If we stay together, maybe we'll..."
"Violet needs the cure!" I snapped, keeping my voice low enough that the approaching shamans wouldn't hear.
"Violet can wait!" Zoah shot back.
"You can't."
His voice broke.
"I failed you."
"I was supposed to protect you."
"Maybe... maybe none of this would've happened if I hadn't brought you here."
The guilt in his eyes hurt far more than the electric barrier surrounding me.
"No, Zoah."
I forced myself to smile.
"This was never your fault."
"If I were given another life..."
"If I were reborn and returned to the day we first met..."
"I would still make the same choice."
"I would still ask to join this mission."
"I would follow you again."
"Without a single regret."
Natasha's face drained of color.
"Reborn?"
Her voice shook.
"You only get reborn after you die..."
Fresh tears streamed down her face.
"Silver..."
"You aren't planning to die... are you?"
Seeing her cry shattered something inside me.
My chest ached.
Every instinct begged me to cry with her.
To admit how terrified I truly was.
But I couldn't.
If I broke now...
They would never leave.
Natasha wiped her tears with trembling hands.
"Fine."
Her voice quivered into a weak laugh.
"Then I'll be reborn with you."
"And this time..."
"I'll stop you from joining this mission after we found Herb C."
"...Or better yet..."
"I'll finally listen when you tell me not to trust something just because it's beautiful."
She looked around the ancient chamber.
"I should've known."
"It was all too easy."
"Getting information from our prisoner without torture."
"Finding this temple."
"Reaching the Herb of Death."
"It was all too perfect."
"The signs were everywhere."
"The danger was always staring us in the face."
"Why didn't we see it?"
She was right.
The signs had always been there.
The suffocating silence of the temple.
The endless echoes of our footsteps.
The strange symbols carved into the ancient walls.
The grotesque figures etched into the stone.
Now...
They no longer looked like carvings.
They looked alive.
Watching us.
Mocking us.
Waiting.
As though they had known from the very beginning that this temple was never meant to let all of us leave alive.
I remembered Natasha's warning before we entered the underground passage.
"The last person through this tunnel is doomed to a fate worse than death."
How I wished she had been wrong.
Deep down...
I had sensed it from the moment we entered this cursed place.
This mission had never felt right.
Our captive had known it.
We had all been walking willingly into a grave.
And all this time...
We had never been alone.
The symbols.
The statues.
The temple itself.
They had been watching us.
Waiting.
That explained my necklace.
The necklace I had worn since birth.
The one that had never once left my neck.
It had glowed relentlessly from the moment we entered this place.
It wasn't warning me about the temple.
It was warning me about my fate.
It wanted me to leave.
To run.
To survive.
But I ignored it.
Just as Natasha ignored her instincts.
Just as all of us ignored every warning placed before us.
Life is governed by choices.
Some choices shape us.
Some choices save us.
And others...
Destroy us.
I had made mine.
If my death meant my teammates lived...
Then it was a price I was willing to pay.
A small sacrifice...
For the people I loved.
"It's all my fault," Zoah whispered, his voice breaking. "I led you to this horrible fate."
He lowered his head, unable to meet my eyes.
"I'm a monster."
No.
He wasn't.
A monster doesn't drown in guilt after making a terrible mistake.
A monster doesn't choose to die beside a fragile human because he failed to protect her.
A monster doesn't carry regret so heavy that it threatens to crush his soul.
No...
Zoah was not a monster.
And I refused to let him believe he was.
I drew a shaky breath, fighting the tears threatening to betray me.
"It isn't your fault!" I shouted.
Not because I was angry...
But because raising my voice was the only way to stop it from breaking.
The tears were already burning behind my eyes, waiting for permission to fall.
I couldn't let them.
Not now.
The temple's owners were getting closer with every passing second.
If I couldn't convince them to leave now...
None of us would survive.
"But it will become your fault..." I said softly, my voice barely above a whisper, "...if you stay here and refuse to save yourself... and Natasha."
"I told you," Zoah replied, his voice as cold as steel, "I'm not leaving without you."
Something in his tone made my heart sink.
The carefree Zoah I had grown to know was gone.
In his place stood the man I had first met.
Cold.
Unyielding.
Resolute.
He had already made his decision.
"Then tell me," I challenged, forcing myself to stay calm.
"How do you plan to protect me when you can't even protect yourself?"
Silence.
"How do you plan to protect anyone?"
"What about Violet?"
The mention of her name made his jaw tighten.
"Her life is in your hands."
"Imagine how much hope she's holding onto...
believing you'll return with Herb D."
"Believing you'll save her."
I swallowed hard.
"Do you really think Lucifer will forgive you if you abandon her now?"
"I said Violet can wait!"
His furious roar shook the chamber.
I didn't blame him.
Not even a little.
I understood.
I understood the guilt tearing him apart.
I understood the desperation in his voice.
More than anything...
I wanted to reach out and hold him.
To tell him everything would somehow be alright.
To tell him this was only a nightmare.
But I couldn't.
The glowing barrier imprisoned me where I stood.
Unable to move.
Unable to comfort the people I cared about.
I turned toward Natasha.
"Then what about her?"
Only then did I realize the carnivorous plant had loosened its grip.
Natasha had finally freed herself.
I looked back at Zoah.
"You couldn't save me."
"Will you fail to save her too?"
For a moment...
Hope flickered inside me.
Maybe...
Just maybe...
He would finally leave.
"I'm not going anywhere."
Natasha's voice cut through the silence.
"I don't want to be saved."
She slowly lowered herself onto the cold stone floor.
Resignation filled her eyes.
She had already accepted her fate.
"Zoah..." I pleaded.
"Take Herb D..."
"And leave."
"You have to let one life go...
so two others can live."
The words had barely left my mouth when the heavy stone door echoed through the tunnel.
My heart lurched.
They were here.
By my estimate...
Less than twenty seconds remained before the temple's owners reached us.
I slowly closed my eyes.
Defeat washed over me.
Why...
Why hadn't either of them left while they still had the chance?
The footsteps grew louder.
Closer.
Closer.
Each one echoed like the countdown to my execution.
My heartbeat matched their rhythm.
One...
Two...
Three...
Then...
Silence.
The footsteps stopped.
My eyes slowly opened.
Ten pairs of eyes stared directly at me.
Ancient.
Cold.
Merciless.
I instinctively searched the chamber.
Zoah...
Gone.
Natasha...
Gone.
A faint smile almost touched my lips.
They had escaped.
At the very last moment...
They had listened.
I should have been relieved.
I should have been happy.
Instead...
Fear settled deep inside my chest.
For the first time in my life...
I was truly alone.
There was no one left to protect me.
No one coming to rescue me.
As I stood surrounded by the temple's owners, one undeniable truth settled over my heart.
My fate had already been decided.
I wasn't escaping this temple.
I was going to die.