Royal Reboot: Level up, Your Majesty!

Chapter 58: The Price of Power (6)

The Price of Power 

6 fin.

“Maybe one day, when the rain finally falls, you’ll see things with a different perspective,” Archmage Gidion Swan had said.

Drip.

A raindrop struck the ground. Eydis stood still as the soft patter of rain pulled her mind backward—back to that moment, that conversation, and the unreadable look in Gidion’s eyes. Was it happiness? Sadness? Hope? She hadn’t understood it then.

She still wasn’t sure she understood it now.

“Why a raven?” she had asked. “Most would choose a dragon, something grander, to embody greed.”

Gidion had smiled thoughtfully as they walked side by side toward the library. “Some would claim there’s no hidden purpose,” he said, extending his hand. From the ruby in his ring, violet mist seeped forth, swirling and solidifying into the shape of an onyx raven. Its sharp, intelligent eyes seemed to pierce her.

The creature flapped its wings once, then perched on his shoulder, its talons gripping his robe as if it belonged there. Gidion smiled as he regarded the bird. “I suppose I’ve always had a fondness for bird-watching.”

Eydis snorted, folding her arms as she studied the raven. “They’re cunning. Wise. Not traits I’d usually associate with a Sin as singularly selfish as… want.”

“Selfish…” he murmured under his breath. The raven cocked its head, as if mimicking his contemplation. “Want isn’t just selfish. Greed waits. Greed schemes. My familiar is clever… perhaps too clever at times.”

Eydis locked eyes with the raven’s stare. “Must be tricky to command a Sin like that.”

“It is… fascinating in its own way. But yes, exhausting,” the archmage admitted, his voice lowering as the raven dissolved back into mist.

“Now, Your Highness,” he turned slightly. “If Greed had been yours to command, what form would you have chosen?”

She arched an eyebrow. “Answering questions with questions now?"

His chuckle was warm, almost apologetic. “Call it flattery, if you like. I’m borrowing your technique.”

Eydis rolled her eyes but played along. “I’ve given it some thought. Though I suspect Envy wouldn’t be too happy with my answer.”

That caught his attention. He turned his head slightly. “Oh? And what would that be?”

“An ouroboros,” she answered softly.

Gidion stopped in his tracks, and Eydis nearly walked into him. For an instant, his calm mask faltered.

“What is it?” she asked, frowning at his reaction. “Did I say something wrong?”

He blinked and regained his composure. When he spoke, his tone was gentler, almost uncertain. “Not at all. Ouroboros… it’s just unexpected.”

“And?” she prompted.

A sad glint touched his eyes. “It seems, Your Highness,” he murmured as if sharing a secret, “I have precious little left to teach you.”

Heat rose to her cheeks, to her annoyance. She quickly steered the conversation back. “Enough evasions. Why a raven?”

But before he could answer, a furious chorus of voices shattered the memory and yanked Eydis back to the present.

“We are no Raven!”

The storm roared around her. Lightning split the sky as Eydis stood within a weakening sigil, chin held high, while Greed thrashed against the circle’s crumbling bounds. Rain hammered the earth, threatening to wash the glowing lines away.

“How adorable,” they continued, “you still think you’re in control. But we can taste it. Fear. You’re hesitating.”

The sigil’s light flickered, dimming.

“You’re right, Raven,” Eydis said, her voice steady, though the blood still dripped from her abdomen. “I cannot contain you.”

Greed’s eyes narrowed in confusion at her unexpected admission. Still, its arrogance hardly wavered. “Are you playing your foolish mortal games again? This will end badly for you.”

“Badly? You might be right again, Raven,” Eydis replied. “I’m not exactly looking forward to having your rotten essence slither into my mind. But I don’t have a choice, do I?”

She never had a choice. Not the first time. Not now.

But this time… this time would be different.

“Rotten essence?” Greed roared. “Watch your tongue, mortal. Bind us now, and feel us devour you! Body and soul!”

Eydis tapped her chin, pretending to consider his threat. “Devour, devour… Yes, yes. But you know what I’ve been thinking, Raven? Perhaps I’ve been too generous with your name.”

Greed hissed. “How dare a speck of dust like you would—“

Eydis cut in. “I’m now leaning toward… rodent. Small. Conniving. Filthy. Yes, that fits rather well, don’t you think?”

Greed’s rage erupted, their dual voices booming. “Our name is—”

“GREED,” The name rang out, Eydis and Greed speaking in unison.

The ground quaked beneath her feet as the sigil ignited into a searing green blaze.

“What’s… this?” Greed’s voices cracked, their gaze darting downward. The chains surged with renewed energy, sinking deeper into Greed’s essence. 

Eydis’s slow grin returned. “You weren’t the only one playing game, Raven.” She let the word hang. “Greed.”

“This is not bindi—” Greed’s words cut off with a scream as the chains tightened further, something within the corpse tearing under the strain.

“Oh, it sure is. You’ve underestimated the creativity of mortals,” she taunted. “Did you think I tricked you into completing the circle just for my amusement?”

Greed’s two voices overlapped unevenly now, each word fracturing as their unity crumbled. “We… created… our… trap.”

“Correct,” Eydis whispered, her eyes darkening. “Curious, isn’t it, Raven?”

“Curious?” 

“I’ve always wondered… do ravens mate for life? Or do they turn on each other when the resources run dry?” she asked. “Perhaps you’ll answer that for me.”

“You… You’re binding us—” they choked out.

“To each other,” Eydis finished coldly. “You are nothing without hunger, Raven. And now, you’ll turn that hunger inward. Because in the end, isn’t it greed that devours itself?”

Greed’s scream split the air, a wail of pure agony, the sound of a beast caught in a trap with no escape. Their wings fluttered weakly, and the marks of the sigil spread across their form, branding them, burning them from the inside out.

“You’re trying to kill one of us?” Greed gasped. “How foolish, we can’t be kill, we are—“

“Eternal? Yeah, yeah. You’ve said that before. But killing you?” Eydis echoed with a bitter laugh. “That would be mercy. And maybe…” 

There should never be mercy.

The sigil pulsed violently, pouring emerald light into the binding

The essence of her familiar—no, familiars—was trapped now, locked in an endless cycle of insatiable hunger, each half of the Sin desperate to devour the other. In that eternal struggle, something new might eventually emerge, something that understood want in a way no single being ever could.

Something that should never be allowed to exist.

Eydis raised her arms as one of the chains binding Greed snapped free and whipped toward her. She caught it with both hands, bracing herself as a flood of Greed’s malice surged through the links and into her. It wasn’t just power. It was want, endless want, clawing and tearing at her from the inside out.

“One cage is enough,” she growled through gritted teeth. She twisted her hand, and the chain responded, vibrating with energy. “Cerberus!”

At her call, the air beside her shimmered. A swirl of violet mist coiled protectively around her arm as Cerberus materialised. Warm violet light washed over Eydis, and gradually the raging flow of Greed’s essence began to ease. She let out a breath she hadn’t realised she was holding. The energy was contained now, cycling through the chain in a controlled loop, like water flowing through a pipe.

Like… plumbing. Eydis chuckled softly. Touché. “Seems we’re all learning to adapt,” she said.

Greed’s anguished cries filled the storm. “What manner of torment is this? You vile, wretched creature!”

“Don’t we all love winning?” Eydis replied. “You will win. And you will lose. Over and over. Forever. Isn’t it fitting?” 

She closed her eyes briefly, shutting out the screeches that tore from Greed’s throat. She could feel them now: Greed’s fragmented essence. Two minds locked together, each eternally vying to consume the other. If she had tried to bind them as separate entities, it would have been a death sentence for her.

Instead, she forced them into a single shared existence. A punishment so cruel, it became its own unbreakable sentence.

An eternal, inescapable paradox.

The sigil flared one final time beneath Greed, then fell dark. It was done.

They were hers now. Greed, forever starving and forever devouring itself, a perfect ouroboros, a cycle without end. And yet she would still call them Raven, just because she could.

Just because…

Rain lashed against her, soaking through tattered clothes, plastering her hair to her face. At last her strength gave out and she crumpled to the ground, her eyes fluttering shut. Thunder clapped in the distance, and the droplets traced down her face, blending with the blood and dirt.

Exhaustion took over, her mind slipping between clarity and darkness. In that haze, a familiar, gentle voice rose from memory. It was Gidion, answering the question she’d once asked.

“Ravens… aren’t they beautiful, intelligent creatures?” he had said. “One of the few animals that mate for life. Their love is eternal.”

“Eternal?” she remembered scoffing. “I find that hard to believe. Did you ever really believe it?”

“I’d like to hope,” he had replied. “And maybe, one day, you’ll see it too. A love that can survive any test.”

“But isn’t there only one Greed? One Raven?” she’d challenged. “I still don’t understand the point.”

Gidion’s playful ease had faded then. He’d lowered his gaze, the smile slipping away. “I hadn’t expected this, Your Highness… that one day you’d ask all the right questions. That one day we would…” 

He stopped himself, swallowing whatever words remained. “It seems I wasn’t wrong about you, after all.”

She recalled narrowing her eyes in frustration. “For once, could you please just give me a straight answer?”

“Straightforward?” He had chuckled softly. “Now, what was the word… utterly boring, Your Highness?”

She had glared.

But his teasing grin had quickly vanished into an unusually solemn expression. “Your Highness, I’m sure you’ll know what to do when the time comes.”

When the time comes…

Eydis’s eyes snapped open to the present, her heart pounding as the rain continued to fall. What did you mean by that? she thought. Know what to do… when?

Ravens. A pair, mated for life. Eternally bound… eternally trapped.

Had this all been meant to happen? The creation of another Greed, two halves bound as one, was this what he’d intended all along? Had he always known she’d have to bind it this way?

The sounds of soft footsteps against damp grass jolted her alert. Ignoring the hot stab of pain in her abdomen, Eydis forced herself upright. Her breath caught in her throat as her eyes found a figure emerging through the curtain of rain.

It couldn’t be…

Eyes like blood. 

Like rubies.  

Like roses in full bloom.

Like Astra’s.

The rain streaked down her face. Her lavender dress clung to her form, darkened by the storm, yet she seemed unbothered, untouched by the cold or the weight of the rain.

In her hands she gripped twin blades that gleamed like diamond. Hard. Droplets of water rolled along the blades and gathered at their tips.

Drip.