Chapter V

After Zoelle and Elijah retreat, Erebus tells Briana that she must not reveal key truths to the twins or any demon they encounter. He explains that the attack was meant to show what happens if Briana accidentally exposes her root. Briana notices that Erebus avoids naming her power in front of the twins, and Erebus confirms he is hiding her origin, former title, Legendborn identity, and connection to Arthur Pendragon because demons would kill Arthur’s Scion without hesitation.

Erebus broadens the warning by describing goruchel demons as far more dangerous than the lesser demons Briana has fought. To them, killing Arthur’s Scion would be a sacred prize that could help demons consume the human plane without challenge. Briana realizes that joining Erebus may have delayed danger but has not removed the path toward her death or the destruction of the Legendborn.

Erebus then studies Briana’s failing control and says the problem is new, worsening since the museum. Without warning, Erebus uses the bloodmark to alter its spellcraft. The mark will still alert Erebus to mortal danger and defend against anyone consuming Briana’s root, but now Erebus can sense Briana’s root level at any distance.

Erebus warns that Briana’s uncontrolled emotion and root are flooding the area strongly enough to lure demons, and his anger brings forth his Shadow King presence. He challenges Briana by naming past trials she survived and demands to know what unsettles her now. When Erebus invokes Briana’s mother, Briana’s root leaks; when he mentions Selwyn as a child prodigy, Briana’s power surges again, revealing how grief, guilt, and fear loosen her control.

For the next lesson, Erebus orders Briana to forge a construct. Briana first makes a Legendborn aether sword, but Erebus rejects it because her root should be more flexible and should help her stop him rather than stab him. Briana struggles to shape the root, and Erebus pushes her to define not what she wants to possess, but what she wants to become.

Thinking of Vera, her ancestors, and the inherited cycle of death, confusion, and lost knowledge, Briana declares that she must become something her ancestors could not: untouchable. Under Erebus’s pressure, Briana expands the vow, saying she will become unstoppable and impervious so that her power and pain belong to her. When Erebus asks what Briana is willing to do, Briana silently answers anything, and Erebus says he understands what must be done before the world turns black.