Reborn To Change My Fate-Chapter 337 - Three Hundred And Thirty Six

Derek stood completely frozen. His dark eyes were wide, staring at the older man in iron chains.

A few minutes ago, Derek had accepted that his life was over. He had accepted that he would sit on the golden throne of Eudora with a broken, empty heart. He had watched Marissa die in the snowy alleyway. He had felt her cold skin. He had seen the royal physician shake his head.

But now, Lord Colton had just offered him the impossible. She could be brought back to life.

Derek’s logical mind screamed that this was a lie. The dead do not return. It was a rule of the world. But the desperate, grieving husband inside him grabbed onto those words like a drowning man grabbing a rope.

Derek took a slow step forward. His heavy black boots scraped against the dirty stone floor. He ignored the sharp, burning pain shooting through his bandaged back.

"What is the forbidden arts?" Derek asked. His voice was a low, rough whisper. It shook with a mixture of deep fear and sudden, terrifying hope.

Lord Colton did not smile. He looked at Derek with complete seriousness. He slowly lifted his hands. The heavy iron cuffs around his wrists clanked loudly in the quiet cell.

"Magic that defies nature," Colton replied simply.

Derek frowned, waiting for more. He knew very little about magic. In the capital, magic was considered an evil myth or a dangerous weapon.

Lord Colton saw the confusion in the new King’s eyes. He lowered his chained hands and explained further.

"In the western region, my people practice the ancient ways," Colton said, his voice calm and steady as a teacher. "True magic is not chaos, Your Majesty. It is deeply connected to the natural order of the world. Our magic obeys the laws of nature. A healer can use magic to close a cut faster, but they only speed up what the body naturally does. A farmer can use magic to bring water to dry soil, but they cannot create water from nothing."

Colton took a deep breath, looking at the flickering torchlight.

"Nature has a strict balance," Colton continued. "You cannot take without giving. You cannot create something out of thin air. That is the natural law."

Colton turned his eyes back to Derek. His expression grew very dark.

"But the forbidden arts are different," Colton warned. "The forbidden arts do not obey the natural order. They break the rules. They force nature to bend and twist. And nature does not like to be broken."

Derek listened closely, his heart pounding hard against his ribs.

"Once a magic wielder performs the forbidden arts," Colton explained, his voice dropping to a serious whisper, "you lose something. You cannot cheat the universe. They pay a price equivalent to the cost of the spell. It is the absolute law of equivalent exchange."

Derek’s eyes narrowed. He was a soldier. He understood the concept of paying a heavy price for a victory. He understood sacrifice.

"What is the price," Derek asked, forcing the words out of his tight throat, "for bringing someone back to life?"

Lord Colton looked at Derek with deep pity. He knew the answer was heavy.

"Another life," Colton replied firmly. "The circle of life must be perfectly balanced. You cannot add a life to the world without removing one. To bring another back to life with the forbidden art, the wielder’s life will be taken."

Derek stared at him in complete shock. The breath left his lungs.

"The wielder?" Derek repeated.

"Yes," Colton nodded. He stood tall, despite his chains. "I am a magic wielder, Your Majesty. I kept it a secret to become a Governor, but the blood of the West runs in my veins. In your case, my life will be used."

Derek took a step back. His mind was spinning wildly. This disgraced Lord, a man facing twenty years in prison for treason, was offering to die so the King’s wife could live. It made absolutely no sense.

"And," Colton added, interrupting Derek’s racing thoughts, "you, as her husband, will also sacrifice something else. The spell requires an anchor to tie her soul back to the living world. I can provide the life force, but I have no connection to her."

Derek straightened his posture. He did not care what he had to give. He would give anything. He would give his crown, his wealth, his eyesight, or his own life if it meant seeing Marissa smile again.

"What is that?" Derek asked immediately, without a single second of hesitation.

"Your blood," Colton replied. He pointed a finger at Derek’s chest. "Your blood will be bound to her. The forbidden art will link your life forces together. You will share a magical bond. But more importantly, you must give a significant portion of your own blood during the ritual to anchor her soul to your body."

Derek placed a hand over his own heart. His blood. It was a small price to pay. It was nothing compared to losing her forever.

But then, Derek’s sharp instincts kicked in. The suspicion returned, cold and hard. He knew that people did not offer their lives for nothing.

Derek crossed his arms carefully over his chest, wincing slightly as the movement pulled at his injured back. He glared at the older man.

"Why are you telling me this?" Derek asked, his voice turning hard and suspicious. "Why do you want to give your life for a stranger? You do not know Marissa. You do not know me. A few hours ago, you were helping Prince Liam raise an army against the capital. Now you offer me the greatest gift in the world. Why?"

Lord Colton did not flinch at Derek’s anger. He understood the suspicion. He looked at his heavy iron chains, and then he looked up at Derek with eyes full of a desperate, burning passion.

"For my people," Colton replied. His voice echoed loudly in the small stone cell.

Colton took a step forward, the chains rattling loudly around his ankles.

"I told you in the Great Hall, Your Majesty," Colton said, his voice thick with emotion. "I made a deal with Prince Liam because my people are suffering. They are dying in the shadows. They are hunted like animals. I sit in this cell facing twenty years of prison, knowing that nothing will change for the West. They will still be segregated. They will still live in fear."

Colton dropped to his knees. The sudden movement echoed sharply in the quiet cell. He bowed his head before Derek, not as a prisoner, but as a leader begging for his people’s future.

"I offer my life to you," Colton pleaded, looking up at Derek from the dirty floor. "But in return, you will have to promise me that my people won’t be segregated again."

Derek stared down at the kneeling man.

"If I bring your beloved wife back to your arms," Colton continued, tears forming in his eyes, "you must use your power as the new King to change the laws. My people will be part of Eudora again. They will be allowed to live in the cities. They will be allowed to work anywhere they are qualified to. We won’t be seen as monsters anymore. We will be true people of Eudora and not people of the West."

Colton placed his bound hands on his chest.

"I will gladly die on a stone altar," Colton swore, "if my death buys the freedom of thousands of innocent men, women, and children in the West. That is my price, King Derek. Give my people peace, and I will give you back your world."

Derek stood in silence. The heavy weight of the decision pressed down on his shoulders.

He thought about the laws. Changing the laws about magic wielders would cause massive outrage among the traditional nobles in the capital. It would be a very difficult political battle. He would have to fight the religious leaders and the old generals. It could cause riots.

But then he thought about Marissa. He thought about her cold body. He thought about his nephew, Ryan, crying for his aunt. He thought about the empty, silent life stretching out ahead of him without her.

He looked at Lord Colton. He saw a man willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for love. Colton loved his people just as fiercely as Derek loved Marissa.

Derek slowly uncrossed his arms. His face remained carefully neutral. He could not agree to a magical ritual without understanding the risks, and he needed to secure the safety of the kingdom first.

"I will think about it," Derek spoke softly. It was not a yes, but it was not a no.

Lord Colton quickly pushed himself up from his knees. Panic flashed across his tired face.

"You do not have time to think for long, Your Majesty," Colton warned urgently. He stepped closer to the iron bars of the cell door, gripping them with his chained hands.

"You have only one day," Colton said, his voice strained and desperate.

Derek frowned. "One day?"

"The forbidden arts have strict limits," Colton explained rapidly. "The body must be perfectly preserved, and it is still fresh right now. But more importantly, the soul still remains nearby."

Colton pointed a finger in the air, trying to make Derek understand the invisible rules of magic.

"When a person dies," Colton said, "their soul does not vanish instantly. It hovers near the body for a short time, confused and untethered. It lingers in the space between the living world and the afterlife. But that window closes quickly."

Colton looked deep into Derek’s dark, grieving eyes.

"By sunset tomorrow," Colton warned, his voice dropping to a serious whisper, "her soul will cross over completely. Once it crosses that boundary, it is gone forever. If her soul leaves, there is nothing that will be used for the exchange. My life and your blood will mean absolutely nothing. It will just be empty magic cast on an empty shell."

Colton gripped the iron bars tighter.

"Do not wait too long, Your Majesty," Colton pleaded. "Decide before the sun goes down tomorrow."

Derek listened to the terrifying warning. One day. He had less than twenty-four hours to make a decision that would change the history of Eudora and the fate of his own soul.

He looked at the desperate, chained Lord one last time. He saw the truth in the man’s eyes.

Derek did not say another word. He gave a single, firm nod.

He turned around and walked to the heavy iron door of the cell. He knocked twice on the metal surface. The royal guard outside immediately unlocked the door and pulled it open.

Derek stepped out into the dim hallway. The heavy iron door slammed shut behind him with a loud, echoing clang, locking Lord Colton inside once again.