[BL] I Didn't Sign Up For This-Chapter 63: In Which Mara Drops Another Bombshell (Because Why Not)

Chapter 63: In Which Mara Drops Another Bombshell (Because Why Not)

I woke to the smell of coffee and the sound of voices arguing.

For a blissful moment, I thought I was back in my old apartment. That everything, the binding, the rifts, the apocalypse, had been some kind of stress-induced nightmare.

Then I felt Azryth’s arm still around me, the binding humming contentedly between us, and reality reasserted itself.

We were in an abandoned safehouse, hunted by multiple organizations, racing against Veyrith’s apocalypse timeline, and apparently, we’d weaponized our feelings last night.

Normal Tuesday, really.

Azryth stirred beside me. "Are they arguing?"

"Sounds like it."

We untangled ourselves from the couch, a process made complicated by various injuries and general exhaustion, and followed the voices to what had probably been a kitchen.

Mara and Henrik were standing over a laptop, both gesturing emphatically at the screen.

"It’s too dangerous," Henrik was saying. "Even if we could arrange it..."

"We don’t have a choice," Mara interrupted. "We need real answers, not speculation or ancient texts or theoretical possibilities."

"What’s going on?" I asked.

They both turned, Mara’s expression was grim. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"We have a problem," she said.

"Add it to the list," Azryth said dryly.

"This one’s different." She gestured us closer to the laptop. "I’ve been running calculations on the rift nexus based on Henrik’s research, the timeline is worse than we thought."

The screen showed maps and data I couldn’t fully parse, but the red zones were expanding.

"How much worse?" I asked.

"We have maybe ten days before the first cluster reaches critical mass. After that, the cascade effect begins." She pulled up another view. "Even if we close every primary rift, there’s no guarantee we can stop the nexus from activating, Veyrith has redundancies built into the structure."

"So closing the primaries isn’t enough," Azryth said.

"It’ll delay him and disrupt his timeline, but it won’t stop him." Mara’s jaw was tight. "We need to understand the nexus itself, how it works, what powers it, what its actual purpose is beyond just ’merge the realms.’"

"And how do we get that information?" I asked.

"We ask someone who understands dimensional architecture better than anyone." She looked at me seriously. "We contact the arbiters."

The temperature in the room dropped.

"Absolutely not," Azryth said immediately.

"What are arbiters?" I asked.

"Ancient beings who exist between realms," Henrik explained. "They’re older than demon lords, older than most warden bloodlines, they maintain balance between dimensions, occasionally intervene when reality itself is threatened."

"And they’re incredibly dangerous," Azryth added. "Even approaching them is suicidal."

"They’re also our best option," Mara said firmly. "I have a contact in the neutral arbiter realm, someone who owes my grandma a significant favor. If anyone can explain what Veyrith is really building and how to stop it, it’s them."

"The neutral arbiter realm," Azryth repeated. "Which is only accessible through limbo."

"Yes."

"What’s limbo?" I asked, though something about Azryth’s reaction suggested I wasn’t going to like the answer.

"The space between realms," he said. "Where reality doesn’t function properly, where time distorts, space folds in on itself, and hostile entities feed on anyone stupid enough to enter."

"It’s not that bad," Mara said.

"It’s exactly that bad," Azryth countered. "Most beings who enter limbo never return, the ones that do are usually changed, damaged, and sometimes irreversibly."

"But it’s possible to survive," Henrik said. "With proper preparation and guidance."

"It’s a death trap."

"It’s also the only way to reach the arbiters without alerting Veyrith," Mara said. "The moment we try any conventional approach like summoning, ritual contact, even long-range communication, he’ll know. He has eyes everywhere, monitoring supernatural channels for exactly this kind of activity."

"But limbo is unmonitored," I said, understanding.

"Because nothing sane monitors it," Azryth said. "Because entering it voluntarily is insane."

"We’re already operating in the realm of insane," I pointed out. "What’s one more impossible thing?"

He looked at me. "You’re seriously considering this?"

"I’m seriously considering getting answers before we all die." I turned to Mara. "Your contact, how reliable are they?"

"Very. They once helped me escape the Covenant purges, gave me information that saved dozens of warden lives." She met my eyes. "If they say they can explain the nexus, I believe them."

"And what do they want in return?" Azryth asked. "Arbiters don’t give information freely."

"I’ll handle the payment," Mara said. "The favor owed is mine to call in."

"That’s not what I asked."

She was quiet for a moment. "They’ll want something from Riven."

"Absolutely not," Azryth said again.

"Hear me out." Mara raised her hands. "Arbiters are obsessed with balance, a Kael warden with an active inheritance seal, bound to a demon lord? That’s unprecedented. They’ll want to study the binding, understand how it works, maybe take some measurements."

"How will they study me?" I asked.

"They won’t harm you or interfere with the binding, they just want to understand it." She looked at Azryth. "And in exchange, they’ll tell us everything about Veyrith’s nexus, how it works, what its weaknesses are and how to dismantle it permanently."

"It’s still too dangerous," Azryth said. "Limbo alone could kill us."

"Not if we prepare properly," Henrik said. "I can create anchor charms, protective wards and temporal stabilizers. The transit through limbo would be risky, but manageable."

"Manageable," Azryth repeated flatly.

"More manageable than facing Veyrith blindly," Mara said. "Right now, we’re guessing, hoping that closing primaries will be enough, that we can disrupt his structure without fully understanding it. But what if we’re wrong? What if there’s a backup system we don’t know about? What if closing the rifts just triggers the nexus early?"

She had a point. A terrifying, logical point.

"How long would we be in limbo?" I asked.

"Hours, maybe less if we move efficiently." Henrik was already pulling up maps of something that looked like impossible geometry. "The entry point is about two hundred miles from here, we cross into limbo, navigate to the neutral arbiter realm, make contact, get answers, and come back."

"That sounds very simple."

"It’s not simple. It’s scary and probably going to be the worst experience of your life." He looked at me seriously. "But it might be necessary."

I looked at Azryth. Through the binding, I felt his absolute opposition to this plan, his fear, not for himself, but for me, for us.

"We need answers," I said quietly. "You know we do."

"Not at this cost."

"What cost? A few hours in a dangerous place?" I touched his arm. "Azryth, we’ve been in dangerous places constantly. The warehouse attack, the safehouse assault, every rift closure, this is just another risk."

"This is different."

"How?"

"Because limbo doesn’t just kill you." His voice was tight. "It changes you, it shows you things that break your mind, it feeds on fear and doubt and every dark thought you’ve ever had. People go in sane and come out..." He stopped. "Changed. Broken."

Through the binding, I felt something deeper, a memory, maybe. Something about limbo that scared him on a visceral level.

"Have you been there?" I asked. "To limbo?"

He was quiet for a long moment. "Once, a very long time ago. I barely made it out alive."

"But you did make it out."

"Not unscathed." He looked at me. "Riven, I’m asking you. Please. Let’s find another way."

"Is there another way?" I looked at Mara and Henrik.

They exchanged glances.

"Not that won’t alert Veyrith," Mara admitted. "And not that will give us the same quality of information, the arbiters understand dimensional architecture better than anyone. If there’s a hidden weakness in the nexus, they’ll know."

"Then we go," I said.

"Riven..."

"We go," I repeated, looking at Azryth. "I know you’re scared for me, I’m scared too. But we need this information, and I’m not doing it alone, you’ll be with me the entire time."

"That doesn’t make it safer."

"But it makes it bearable." I grabbed his hand. "We’ve survived everything else, we’ll survive this too."

I felt him warring with himself, fear versus logic. Protectiveness versus necessity.

"If we do this," he said finally, "we do it my way. Full preparation, maximum protection, and at the first sign of real danger, we abort. Immediately."

"Agreed," I said.

He looked at Mara. "Are you certain your contact will help?"

"As certain as I can be. They’re reliable, and they do owe me."

Azryth was quiet for a long moment. Then: "Fine. But I’m negotiating the terms directly, they get limited access, limited time, and if they push boundaries, we’re done."

"Fair enough," Mara said.

I looked at Henrik. "How long to prepare?"

"A day or two, I need to create the anchor charms, set up the protective wards and make sure we have contingencies for temporal distortion." He was already making notes. "This isn’t something we rush."

"We have time now," I said. "Thanks to our accidental magical interference."

"About that," Henrik said, pulling up his monitoring equipment. "The interference is still active and stronger than yesterday, actually. Whatever you two did, it created a persistent effect, you’re completely untraceable."

I felt my face heat. "We didn’t do anything special."

"You weaponized emotional honesty and created a magical dead zone," Mara said dryly. "That’s pretty special."

Azryth’s hand found mine, and through the binding I felt his amusement mixing with residual embarrassment.

"So we have time," I said, trying to move past the topic. "We prepare properly, cross through limbo, get answers from the arbiters, and come back before anyone can track us again."

"That’s the plan," Mara confirmed.

"It’s a terrible plan," Azryth said.

"It’s the best plan we have," I corrected.

He sighed, and I felt his resignation through the binding. He didn’t like this, he hated it, actually, but he understood the necessity.

"Two days," he said. "We prepare for two days, and if Henrik can’t create adequate protection, we find another option."

"Deal," Henrik said, already pulling out supplies.

Mara started organizing maps and equipment. "I’ll contact my arbiter connection, set up the meeting to make sure they know what we need."

Which left me and Azryth standing in the ruined kitchen, contemplating a journey through the space between realities.

"You’re sure about this?" he asked quietly.

"No. But I’m doing it anyway." I squeezed his hand. "We need answers, and if limbo is where we get them, then that’s where we go."

He pulled me closer, his arm around my shoulders. "If anything happens to you in there..."

"Then you’ll be right there to pull me back out." I looked up at him. "That’s how this works, remember? We protect each other."

Through the binding, I felt his love mixing with fear.

He kissed the top of my head, and I felt him accept this plan despite hating it.

We had ten days before the first cluster went critical.

And two days to prepare for limbo.