"You want to know the real truth?" Tobias asked, his ancient eyes getting darker.
"About why I’ve been hunting your bloodline for centuries?" Elara felt her heart stop. "Hunting us?" "Every lifeti, I found you.
Every lifeti, I got close. And every lifeti..." He paused, pain flashing across his face.
"I was the one who led your enemies right to you." The room burst with angry voices.
"You betrayed her?" Kael growled, trying to stand despite his weakness. "Seven tis?" Ronan’s voice shook with rage.
"You killed our mate seven tis?" Darian’s calm mask finally cracked.
"Wait," Elara said, her voice cutting through the confusion. "Let him explain."
"There’s nothing to explain!" Evelyn snapped. "He’s a murderer!" "No," baby Truth said suddenly.
"He’s telling the truth, but not the whole truth." All eyes turned to the glowing baby.
"What do you an?" Elara asked. "Show them, Keeper," baby Wisdom said to Tobias.
"Show them what really happened." Tobias closed his eyes. When he opened them, the air filled with new pictures.
But these were different from before. These hurt to watch. Ancient Egypt.
Tobias stood over a dying woman who looked exactly like Elara. Her children lay dead around her.
"I’m sorry," he whispered to her. "I’m so sorry." "You promised to protect us," she gasped with her last breath.
"I tried. I failed." dieval England. The sa scene. Tobias holding a dying Elara while enemy forces burned down the village.
"Why do you keep finding us if you can’t save us?" she asked.
"Because I have to try," he said, tears running down his face. Viking lands. Colonial Arica. The Wild West. Industrial London. Nazi Germany.
Every lifeti, the sa finish. Tobias coming too late to save Elara and her children.
"I don’t understand," Marcus said quietly. "If you were trying to protect them, why did you say you were hunting them?"
"Because I was," Tobias answered bitterly. "But not by choice." "What do you an?" Celeste asked. "I’m cursed."
The words ca out like broken glass. "The Devourer didn’t just kill my people. It enslaved ."
"How?" Evelyn asked. "It took sothing from . Sothing I can never get back." He looked at the nine kids.
"It took my free will." "That’s impossible," Dr. Cross said.
"Is it? You’ve seen what the Devourer can do. It doesn’t just eat bodies or souls. It devours choice itself." "You’re saying you had no control?" Elara asked.
"None. Every world, I would find you. Every lifeti, I would try to warn you, to help you. And every lifeti, sothing would go wrong."
More images flashed. In Egypt, Tobias accidentally led soldiers to Elara’s hidden place while trying to bring her supplies.
In dieval England, his attempt to evacuate her family ended in them being trapped by enemies.
In every lifeti, his attempts to save her only made things worse.
"The curse made sure of it," he said. "No matter what I did, I would always be the reason you died."
"But this ti is different," baby Love said softly. "How?" Tobias asked. "Because this ti, we’re here," baby Hope responded.
"And we can break curses," baby Courage added. "Can you?" Tobias asked, hope creeping into his voice for the first ti in ages.
"We already started," baby Truth said. "The mont we were born, your curse began to weaken."
"That’s why you could resist the ti freeze," baby Wisdom stated. "That’s why you could warn us about the portal."
"For the first ti in three thousand years," baby Love said, "you have a choice." Tobias looked at them in wonder.
"You’re saying I’m free?" "Not completely," baby Truth admitted. "But enough. Enough to help us this ti."
"How do we know this isn’t part of the curse?" Ronan asked suspiciously. "How do we know he won’t betray us again?"
"Because," baby Courage said, "the Devourer doesn’t know we can break spells. It thinks Tobias is still its puppet."
"Which ans," baby Wisdom continued, "we have an advantage it doesn’t expect." "What kind of advantage?" Kael asked.
"The kind that might actually let us win," Tobias said, understanding dawning on his face. "Win how?" Darian asked.
"By using the curse against the Devourer," Elara said, pieces clicking together in her mind.
"If the Devourer thinks Tobias is still enslaved..." "Then it won’t suspect him when he helps us," Evelyn ended.
"Exactly," baby Truth said. "But there’s more." "More what?" Marcus asked.
"The curse wasn’t just about making Tobias betray us," baby Wisdom stated. "It was about making him collect information."
"Information about what?" Celeste asked. "About how to kill the Creator’s bloodline," Tobias said grimly.
"Every lifeti, every failure, every death - the Devourer was learning." "Learning what?" Tom asked. "Our weaknesses. Our skills. Our patterns."
Tobias looked at Elara. "By the seventh lifeti, it knew exactly how to destroy you." "But I survived," Elara said.
"Because this ti was different. This ti, you had three mates instead of one. This ti, you had nine children instead of three or four."
"The triplet bond changed everything," Evelyn realized. "It changed the pattern," Tobias confird.
"The Devourer’s information was suddenly worthless." "Which is why it had to possess Marcus," Darian said. "It needed new information."
"But that backfired too," Kael added. "Because it revealed itself."
"So what happens now?" Ronan asked. "Now," baby Truth said, "we turn the tables." "How?" Elara asked.
"We use what the Devourer taught Tobias," baby Wisdom stated. "All that information about our bloodline? It works both ways."
"You an..." Tobias breathed. "We use it to destroy the Devourer," baby Courage finished.
"But first," baby Love said, "we need to break your curse completely."
"Can you do that?" Tobias asked. "We can try," baby Hope said. "But it will hurt." "Good," Tobias said firmly.
"I’ve been hurting for three thousand years. A little more won’t kill ." "It might," baby Truth warned.
"The curse is tied to your soul. Breaking it could break you." "Then break ," Tobias said. "I’d rather die free than live as a slave."
The nine kids looked at each other. "Together?" baby Wisdom asked. "Together," they agreed.
They began to glow brighter than ever before. The light surrounded Tobias, and he scread.
But it wasn’t a scream of pain. It was a scream of freedom. Dark energy poured out of him like smoke.
The curse fought back, trying to keep its hold. "It’s working," Evelyn said.
"No," Dr. Cross said, backing away. "Look at his eyes." Tobias’s eyes were changing.
The old sadness was burning away, replaced by sothing else. Power. Raw, endless power.
"Oh no," baby Truth whispered. "What?" Elara asked. "We made a mistake." "What mistake?"
"The curse wasn’t just enslaving him," baby Wisdom said in fear. "It was containing him."
"Containing what?" Kael asked. "His true nature," baby Truth answered. Tobias stopped screaming.
When he looked at them, his eyes were no longer human. "Thank you," he said, but his voice was different now. Older. More dangerous.
"You’re welco," Elara said carefully. "You don’t understand," he said, smiling. "I’m not thanking you for freeing ."
"Then what?" "I’m thanking you for making strong enough to complete my real mission." "What mission?" Ronan asked.
"To deliver the Creator’s grandchildren to their grandfather." "That’s good, right?" Celeste asked.
"Not when their grandfather," Tobias said, his form starting to change, "is the Devourer." The room fell silent.
"The Creator and the Devourer," baby Truth whispered in terror. "Are the sa being," baby Wisdom finished.
Tobias smiled with teeth that were no longer human. "And you just made strong enough to take you to him."
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