Chapter 49 — Protocol : The Rooms of Chosen Prey

Silence settled as the doors closed behind them.

Their assigned chambers were elegant — marble floors, enchanted lanterns, soft velvet bedding — the kind of luxury nobles boasted about. A palace meant to honor heroes.

Yet the air felt wrong.

Too quiet.

Too controlled.

Too much like a gilded cage.

Riven stood near the tall window, arms crossed, eyes tracing the guards stationed just beyond the courtyard — armored, motionless, watching the room as though expecting monsters to emerge from it.

Lucy gently set Eli down on the bed, smoothing her hair. “You’re safe,” she whispered. “At least for now.”

Eli nodded faintly, clutching the pillow. Her gaze drifted toward her glowing wrist where faint runes still pulsed beneath the skin.

Julius whistled low, tapping the wall. “Soundproofed. Reinforced. Definitely monitored.”

“Of course it is,” Taylor muttered. “They’re scared of us.”

“They should be,” Isabel said softly, staring at the beast sigil on her hand — still sparking with Eldorian runes. “We don’t even know what we are anymore.”

Kira sat on the floor, cross-legged, examining her sword — no longer pure digital construct. The blade shimmered with arcane threads and binary lines intertwined. “We adapted to this world,” she murmured. “Or we’re being adapted.”

Riven turned from the window. “No. Our Codes copied this world’s magic. Eli triggered the stabilizing effect.”

Eli blinked up at him. “D-did I do something bad?”

Lucy wrapped her arms around her. “No. You helped everyone. You always do.”

Riven’s jaw tightened. “They summoned us. They think we’re their weapon. But the Codes… they don’t belong to this world. Whatever power we gained, it’s not theirs to control.”

A faint hum filled the air — the dull magical surveillance rune embedded in the ceiling.

Taylor looked up at it. “They’re listening.”

Julius gave a half-smirk. “Then let them hear.”

Riven stepped forward, voice low and calm, but firm enough to crack steel.

“We don’t belong to their war. Our fight is still Earth.”

The room fell silent.

Lucy looked at him, troubled. “Riven… Earth is dying. If we return too soon, we might bring breaches with us.”

“We don’t leave Eli here,” Riven replied instantly. “And we don’t serve kings.”

Kira tapped her sword on the floor. “Then we learn. We adapt. We get strong enough to choose. Not strong enough to be guided.”

A soft knock echoed — delicate, polite, yet carrying the authority of someone used to obedience.

Knock. Knock.

“Heroes?” came a gentle voice from behind the door. “Dinner will be brought soon. The King requests your presence for a private audience after.”

Everyone exchanged a look.

Lucy brushed Eli’s hair. “They’re not wasting time.”

Julius smirked. “They want to see what kind of leash fits best.”

Riven didn’t smile.

“We play along,” he said. “For now.”

His hand brushed the Code mark on his arm — now humming like a caged storm.

“But the first chance we get… we stop being summoned heroes.”

Kira rose, eyes sharp. “And become what we really are.”

Taylor cracked his knuckles. “Executioners.”

Eli’s voice was barely a whisper, but it echoed louder than any roar:

“No more running… right?”

Riven turned to her — and for the first time since arriving, he smiled. Small, tired… but real.

“No more running.”