The boat rocked violently, the oar slipping from my hands as I struggled to keep my balance. My muscles burned, my chest heaving with each shallow breath, the cold bite of the river still seeping into my bones. I’d just pulled Aric out of the water, but the exhaustion was already hitting me, and it wasn’t the kind of tiredness that would go away with rest. No, this felt deeper, like it was carving away at me piece by piece.


    Aric’s face was pale, his eyes wide and unblinking. I could feel his weight on the boat, a constant reminder of what was at stake. He’d been swallowed whole by the creatures, and somehow, he was still here. How? I didn’t know, but I wasn’t about to let them take him. Not now. Not after everything.


    “Should’ve just told me your damn story when I asked, smart ass,” I muttered. Aric didn’t respond.


    Therran’s voice cut through the storm of my thoughts.


    “Kaelith, what happened to him? What did the river do to him?”


    I didn’t answer. What could I say? The truth was tangled in the currents, too complicated for words. Aric wasn’t just another soul to ferry across. No, the river had its own reasons for keeping him here, reasons I couldn’t yet understand. But one thing was clear: Aric’s story wasn’t finished. His refusal to share it had stirred something deep within the river, something it didn’t like, and now I was caught in the middle of it.


    The mist thickened, creeping closer like fingers tightening around my throat. I tried to ignore the knot of guilt that tightened with it. That’s the thing about the river—it remembers. It remembers everything.


    “Kaelith.”


    Her voice rang clear through the fog, familiar, haunting. A chill crept up my spine even before I turned to face her. There she was again, stepping out of the mist as if nothing had changed. Before, she had just been a seer to me, an enigma I could never fully understand. Her eyes had always known more than she let on, but I never let myself ask—too afraid of what it might reveal. She had always been about the future, never the past. I told myself that’s all she ever was.


    But now that I remembered—now that she was standing before me—it wasn’t just her seer’s gaze that pierced through me. It was the ghost of everything I had tried to bury. Everything I had left behind when I made my bargain with the river, when I chose the river over her.


    I’d run from her. From us.


    And now she was here. The woman I’d loved, the one I couldn’t keep, still haunting me with that look in her eyes. Still pulling me in, as if nothing had ever changed.


    “You’re not real,” I rasped, barely able to breathe, let alone speak her name. The words tasted bitter in my mouth.


    “Really?” Her eyes met mine, full of knowing, full of things I didn’t want to face.


    Therran gripped my arm, his voice low with unease.


    “Who is she?”


    I opened my mouth to speak, but the words stuck in my throat. Charys. My past. The one person I couldn’t outrun.


    “You shouldn’t be here,” I muttered. “You... you died.”


    Her gaze didn’t waver.


    “So did you.”


    Her words pierced me like a knife. The memory of that day—the day she stayed behind, the day she made the choice to protect the balance while I ran—surged forward, flooding my chest with a suffocating guilt. I had begged her to come with me. I had begged her to run, to survive. But she wouldn’t. She chose to stay. She chose to protect what was left of the balance. I ran. I always ran.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    "I came back for you," I whispered, the words thick with a sorrow I hadn’t allowed myself to feel until now.


    She shook her head, her eyes softening with an understanding that broke me.


    "You came back too late, Kaelith. And you chose to stay in the river. You chose to cheat death."


    The boat rocked beneath us, and I gripped the edge, trying to steady myself. The river’s pull was relentless, like it always was, reminding me of how deep it had claimed me. How deep I had claimed it.


    "You should''ve let go," Charys continued, her voice gentle, but sharp with truth. "You chose the river, Kaelith. But it’s costing you. You’re not just ferrying souls anymore. You’re feeding the imbalance you created."


    I couldn’t look at her. She was right. I hadn’t let go. I couldn’t. My past, my choices—they were still choking me, wrapping around me like the very currents that carried me. I had thought running from it all would bring peace. I had thought choosing the river would erase the guilt. But it hadn’t.


    It had only made it worse.


    “Don’t,” I muttered, my voice barely a whisper. “Don’t say it. Don’t make me face it.”


    Charys stepped closer, her presence pulling me into the past, into the storm that had torn us apart.


    “You can’t run forever. The river has heard your story, Kaelith. It’s heard Aric’s too.”


    It knew? I pulled out the ledger.


    “The river knows everything,” she said, as if reading my mind. “It’s not just after Aric. It’s after you. The man you were. The one who bargained with the river for another chance.” She paused, her voice thick with sorrow. “And that bargain came with a price.”


    I squeezed my eyes shut, the weight of her words heavy in my chest. The price—I knew it all too well. The monsters that hunted me weren’t just after the souls I ferried. They were after me, for breaking the rules, for refusing to let go of a past that had long since passed me by.


    The river had taken my life. And in return, it had bound me to its will. But I hadn’t truly understood the cost, not until now. Not until I saw her again.


    “You were supposed to be my anchor,” I whispered, the words a jagged shard in my throat. “I couldn’t let go of you.”


    She didn’t flinch at my confession. “And I couldn’t let go of you either. But I had to. You were the one who chose to stay. You were the one who asked for another chance. And now… now the river demands balance.”


    The boat lurched beneath us again, and this time, I didn’t hold on. The monsters were closer now, their forms flickering in the mist, just out of reach. I could feel their eyes on me, their hunger gnawing at the edges of my mind.


    “We both made our choices,” Charys said, her voice soft, but firm. “You can keep fighting, Kaelith, but the balance won’t be restored until you face it. Until you face me. Until you face everything you’ve been running from.”


    I opened my eyes to meet hers, and for a moment, the fog lifted. I saw her—not the seer, not the guardian of balance—but the woman I had loved.


    “I’m sorry,” I whispered. The words felt hollow, but they were all I could offer. “I should’ve died with you.”


    “You did,” she said, her voice full of quiet understanding. “But you didn’t. And now, the river will demand its toll.”


    Her form began to flicker, fading like a shadow in the wind. “Kaelith, you have to stop running,” she urged, her voice fading along with her image. “You’re the one who has to fix it. You’re the only one who can.”


    I reached out, but my fingers closed on empty air. She was gone, leaving nothing behind but the echo of her words.


    The boat rocked violently again, and I spun around, my breath catching in my throat. The creatures were closing in, their forms solidifying in the mist, each one more monstrous than the last.


    Therran was frantic, his voice shaking. “Kaelith—what do we do?”


    I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. The river had already answered for me. It had chosen me.


    I had to make the choice. To face the past. To face the river. To face the truth.


    With trembling hands, I dropped the oar.


    The boat steadied. The mist began to clear, and the creatures paused, hesitating as if waiting for something. The silence that followed was deafening.


    But I knew the truth now. The river had never been my enemy. I was.


    And the monsters? They were just the echoes of everything I’d tried to outrun.