[BL] I Didn't Sign Up For This Chapter 31: In Which I Learn I Was Supposed to Die

The infernal archive was not what I expected.

I’d been imagining sothing out of a horror movie. Dark tunnels, flickering torches, maybe so skulls for ambiance.

Instead, it looked like a very exclusive, very illegal library.

We’d taken an elevator down from the parking garage of Valek Tower. Not the regular elevator, a hidden one behind a maintenance panel that Azryth opened with a complex series of touches that looked like he was playing invisible piano.

The elevator descended for what felt like several minutes, way deeper than any normal basent.

"How far down does this go?" I asked.

"Far enough that we won’t be disturbed, the archive exists in a pocket dinsion anchored to the foundation of the building." He said it like this was completely normal. "It’s been here longer than the city, we just built around it."

"We?"

"Infernal entities with interests in the mortal realm, it’s a neutral ground, a place to store records, conduct research, make deals." He glanced at . "Try not to touch anything unless I explicitly tell you it’s safe."

"Why? What happens if I touch the wrong thing?"

"Best case? Minor curse. Worst case? Spontaneous combustion."

"You’re joking."

"I’m really not."

The elevator doors opened onto a vast space that seed to stretch impossibly far in all directions. Shelves upon shelves of books, scrolls, tablets, so looked ancient, so looked disturbingly modern, floating lights provided illumination, drifting lazily through the air like bioluminescent jellyfish.

And everywhere, symbols. Carved into the floor, glowing on the walls, hanging in the air like frozen smoke.

"This is..." I couldn’t find words.

"Impressive? Terrifying? Both?" Azryth stepped out, and I followed closely. "The archive contains knowledge accumulated over millennia. Treaties, bloodline records, historical accounts of supernatural events." He moved with purpose down one of the aisles. "And, hopefully, information about who targeted you."

"How do you find anything in here?"

"You ask." He stopped, raised his voice slightly. "I seek information regarding warden bloodlines, specifically the Kael line and docunted attacks against it."

The floating lights began moving, converging on a specific section of shelves. Books started glowing, pulling themselves out and floating toward us.

"That’s convenient," I said.

"It’s efficient, the archive is sentient. Or at least, magically indexed in ways that mimic sentience." He caught the first floating book. "It responds to queries from authorized users."

"And you’re authorized?"

"I own part of this archive, several of us do, we pay for maintenance, expansion, protection." He opened the book, scanning pages that I couldn’t read, the text looked like it was written in several languages simultaneously. "Here. Warden bloodlines. Historical overview."

He turned the book so I could see, the text shifted, becoming English.

*"Spirit wardens represent a genetic anomaly, humans born with natural resistance to infernal influence and ability to perceive/interact with supernatural entities. First docunted instances appear approximately 800 BCE, suggesting ancient origin. Bloodlines are matrilineal, with abilities manifesting most strongly in firstborn offspring."*

"Matrilineal," I said. "So it ca from my mother’s side."

"Most likely, keep reading."

I continued scanning the page.

*"Wardens pose significant threat to infernal operations in mortal realm, their ability to perceive and banish entities makes them dangerous adversaries. Historical records show multiple attempts by various demon clans to eliminate warden bloodlines through targeted assassinations, arranged accidents, and strategic manipulation."*

"They tried to wipe out wardens," I said. "Systematically."

"Multiple tis over the centuries. Sotis successfully." Azryth pulled another book from the floating stack. "But warden bloodlines are resilient. They hide, scatter, resurface unexpectedly, which is why tracking beca important."

He opened the second book to a page filled with what looked like family trees. Complicated ones. Nas and dates going back centuries.

"The Kael line," he said, pointing. "Your bloodline, it goes back further than most, over a thousand years of docunted warden activity."

I stared at the nas, so were crossed out with red lines through them.

"Those marks," I said. "What do they an?"

"Confird deaths. Usually violent ones." His finger traced the tree. "Your bloodline was targeted heavily in the 18th and 19th centuries, multiple family mbers killed in what were recorded as accidents but show signs of infernal intervention."

"They tried to kill off my family."

"They succeeded with most of it, by the ti you were born, the Kael line was down to a handful of individuals. Your mother." He pointed to a na. "Rebecca Kael, died in childbirth, you survived."

My mother. I’d never known her na, never had any information about her.

"She died giving birth to ," I said quietly.

"According to records, yes. But..." He pulled up another docunt, this one looked more modern, computer printout rged with handwritten notes. "There are inconsistencies, the hospital records show standard complications, but infernal tracking logs show different dates, conflicting reports. The Covenant sotis falsifies death records when they lose track of high-value targets, marks them as eliminated to close the file."

He showed the docunt, I couldn’t read most of it, but certain words stood out.

*"Target: Rebecca Kael. Status: Eliminated. thod: Childbirth complications (induced). Secondary target: infant. Status: Survived. Abilities: Dormant. Recomndation: Continue observation."*

The room spun slightly. "They killed my mother deliberately, during childbirth."

"Yes." Azryth’s voice was carefully controlled.

"Why? Why kill my mother but let live?"

"Because you were an infant. No powers, no threat, they probably assud if you developed abilities, they could eliminate you later." He flipped pages. "Which brings us to the car crash."

Another docunt, more recent, with the sa handwriting I’d seen on the back of that photo.

*"Subject: Riven Kael. Age: 10. Status: Under observation. Powers: Dormant. Recomndation: Provoke manifestation event to assess threat level. thod: Vehicular accident. Controlled environnt. Minimal collateral damage."*

And below that, in different handwriting:

*"Event executed, subject survived, powers manifested as predicted. Threat assessnt: Low-moderate. Recomndation: Continue passive observation unless threat level increases."*

I felt sick. "They caused the crash to see if I’d develop powers. It was really a test."

"Yes. And when you did manifest abilities but then suppressed them, they lost interest and filed you away as a minor concern." Azryth kept reading. "Until recently."

He showed a final page, very recent, dated two weeks after our binding.

*"Subject: Riven Kael. Status: URGENT. Bound to Azryth Valek, exiled infernal lord. Powers: Active and developing rapidly. Threat assessnt: EXTRE. Recomndation: Imdiate termination or acquisition."*

"Acquisition," I said. "What does that an?"

"It ans soone wants to use you, your warden abilities combined with infernal power make you unique and valuable." His jaw was tight. "The poison attack. That was a termination attempt, when that failed, they’ll likely move to acquisition."

"aning kidnapping."

"aning worse than kidnapping, forcibly binding you to soone else, controlling you, using your abilities for their purposes." He closed the docunts.

"Do you know who’s behind this? Who’s been tracking my family?"

Azryth pulled one more docunt from the stack, this one looked very old and official, with seals that hurt to look at directly.

"The Covenant of Silent Chains," he read. "An infernal organization dedicated to eliminating threats to demon operations in the mortal realm. They’ve been hunting warden bloodlines for centuries, and they’ve been tracking yours specifically since your great-great-grandmother killed one of their operatives in 1847."

"My great-great-grandmother killed a demon?"

"Quite famously, apparently. There’s a whole section on it." He showed what looked like a wanted poster. Old-tiy style, with a sketch of a woman who had my eyes. "She was considered one of the most dangerous wardens of her generation, the Covenant put a bounty on the entire Kael bloodline after she disrupted several major infernal operations."

I stared at the sketch, at my ancestor, the woman who’d started this whole thing.

"So they’ve been trying to wipe out my family for almost two hundred years."

"Yes. And they almost succeeded, until you bound yourself to ." Sothing like satisfaction crossed his face. "Which complicates their plans considerably."

"Because you’re protecting ."

"Because killing you now ans going through , and attempting to acquire you ans declaring war on Valek Industries and all my associated interests." He started gathering the docunts. "The Covenant is powerful, but they’re not suicidal. Direct action against you now would trigger retaliation they can’t afford."

"So I’m safe? Because I’m bound to you?"

"You’re safer, not completely safe. They’ll look for opportunities, monts when I’m not present, situations where they can act without direct attribution." He looked at seriously. "Which is why you don’t go anywhere alone, why we’re training you to defend yourself, why I need you to take this seriously."

"I am taking it seriously!"

"Are you? Because you’ve been treating this like an inconvenience, a temporary disruption to your normal life." His voice was sharp. "This isn’t temporary. There’s an entire organization that wants you either dead or enslaved, and the only thing stopping them is our binding and my willingness to go to war over you."

The weight of that statent hung between us.

"You’d go to war," I said quietly. "Over ?"

"I’d raze the Covenant to the ground if they touched you." He said it with absolute certainty. "Not because of the binding, not because your death would kill too, but because you’re mine. And I don’t share."

It should have sounded like ownership. Instead, in a place that cataloged my family’s deaths like footnotes, it sounded like shelter. Dangerous shelter, but shelter all the sa.

"Okay," I said. "What do we do?"

"We train harder. And we make it very clear to the Covenant that attempting to acquire you will cost them more than they’re willing to pay." He started leading back toward the elevator. "But first, we’re docunting everything we found here. Building a case, and reaching out to so old contacts."

"What kind of contacts?"

"The kind who specialize in eliminating organizations that target things I care about." He pressed the elevator call button. "I’ve let them operate in the shadows too long, ti to remind them why no one interferes with Azryth Valek’s interests."

The elevator arrived. We stepped in.

As the doors closed and we began ascending, I processed everything I’d learned.

My mother, killed deliberately. My childhood, monitored. The accident that changed everything, staged. My entire life, shaped by people trying to decide if I was worth eliminating.

And now, bound to soone powerful enough to protect but also making a bigger target than I’d ever been.