The chamber shook again—harder this time.
A crack split across one of the runes like lightning frozen in stone. Dust rained down, and somewhere above them, something gave way.
Lyra swore under her breath. "The outer ring just collapsed."
Ghost-Ethan hovered in front of Ethan, arms crossed, jaw tight. "Okay. Official update. Time's up."
Ethan's chest felt too tight to breathe. "So the Binding… what is it?"
Selene didn't hesitate. "A ritual that forces a fractured soul to rejoin itself."
"That sounds… good?" Ethan said weakly.
"It is violent," Selene replied. "Painful. And incomplete in many cases." She glanced at Ghost-Ethan. "Sometimes the echo is destroyed. Sometimes the core is."
Ghost-Ethan snorted. "Translation: one of us might get deleted."
Ethan's stomach dropped. "You're talking like you're disposable."
The ghost met his eyes. For once, there was no grin. No joke.
"I'm literally the part of you that refuses to die," he said quietly. "If someone's built to take the hit… it's me."
"No," Ethan said immediately. "I didn't survive all this just to erase you."
Selene watched them closely. "Understand this, Ethan Harper. If you do nothing, the Cinder Wraith will take you both. Slowly."
Another roar tore through the stone. The light in the chamber dimmed further.
Lyra stepped forward. "Guildmaster… there's another option, isn't there?"
Selene's eyes narrowed. "There is. But it is forbidden."
Ghost-Ethan perked up slightly. "Ooooh. Forbidden usually means cool."
"It means unstable," Selene corrected. "A partial Binding."
Ethan looked between them. "Partial… how?"
Selene spoke carefully. "You bind the echo to yourself, not as a whole soul—but as a tether. Power flows both ways. Awareness. Strength. Pain."
Ghost-Ethan blinked. "Wait… like co-pilots?"
"Like a wound that refuses to close," Selene said flatly.
Lyra frowned. "He's a boy from another world. He's not trained for this."
"And yet he is already fractured," Selene replied. "The question is not can he survive it. It is whether he chooses to try."
Ethan swallowed.
Every instinct screamed run. Hide. Wake up. Go back to Earth. To school. To being normal.
But normal had already died in gym class.
He looked at Ghost-Ethan—at the version of himself that had laughed in the face of death, warned him, protected him.
"…If we do this," Ethan said slowly, "you don't disappear?"
Ghost-Ethan smiled faintly. "Oh, I'll still be here. Just… louder in your head."
"That's already a problem."
"Hey!"
Another impact. The ceiling cracked.
Selene raised her voice. "Decide. Now."
Ethan took a shaky breath.
"I'm done running," he said. "I choose the partial Binding."
Lyra's eyes widened. "Ethan—"
Ghost-Ethan nodded once. "Good choice."
Selene stepped to the center of the chamber and slammed her staff into the ground. Runes ignited across the floor, forming a circle around Ethan and his ghost.
"Stand still," she commanded. "Both of you."
Ghost-Ethan drifted closer, aligning himself with Ethan like a reflection that didn't quite match.
Selene began to chant.
The air thickened. Pressure crushed inward. Ethan screamed as white-hot pain tore through his chest—like his soul was being stitched with fire.
Ghost-Ethan screamed too.
Their voices overlapped.
Merged.
Memories slammed together—fear, anger, hope, defiance—everything Ethan had buried surged to the surface.
Don't let go, the ghost's voice echoed inside him.
I'm right here.
The chamber exploded with light.
Outside, the Cinder Wraith shrieked—not in triumph, but in fury.
The runes flared one final time—
—and then went dark.
Ethan collapsed to his knees, gasping.
The pain faded, leaving behind something new.
He could still see Ghost-Ethan.
But now… he could feel him.
Inside.
Ghost-Ethan's voice echoed in his mind, calmer, sharper.
"Well," he said, "that's gonna take some getting used to."
Selene exhaled slowly.
"It is done," she said. "You are no longer simply a Lost Soul."
Lyra helped Ethan to his feet. "Then what is he?"
Selene looked at Ethan with a mix of awe and concern.
"A Bound Fracture," she answered.
"And the Cinder Wraith will not stop hunting him."
Above them, the walls cracked again.
Because something had changed.
And the Wraith had felt it.