Chapter 80 || BOUND AND TORN BY PROPHECIES

 

The Bond Unbroken

 

Dark incense coiled through the air, heavy with ancient spells as Jungkook was forced into the centre of a rune-etched circle. His legs barely held him up, trembling with starvation and exhaustion. The chanting had begun long ago, the voices of cloaked mages rising in a slow, endless rhythm around him.

 

Iravelle stood just beyond the ring, dressed in robes of black and gold. A triumphant smirk played on her lips as she watched Jungkook sway.

 

“Break the guardian bond a little faster. I am losing my patience,” she commanded coolly.

 

The lead mage extended his arms, ancient symbols blazing across his palms. The light in the circle pulsed, and Jungkook screamed as a sharp pain tore through his chest—the bond inside him twisting, tugging, screaming back.

 

Then, the chanting faltered.

The runes dimmed.

The air shifted.

 

The mage's voice wavered. He stepped back, pale and shaking. “Something’s stopping it.”

 

Iravelle snapped around. “What did you say?”

 

The mage glanced between her and Jungkook. “The guardian bond resists. We could break it—if it were alone. But... there’s another force, ancient and stronger. You didn’t tell us.”

 

Iravelle’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “What force?”

 

The mage hesitated, then said grimly, “A mate mark. He’s not just his guardian. He’s mated to the one he guards. A royal dragon’s mark cannot be severed. And their mate bond... is protecting the guardian bond. They reinforce each other. We cannot break them.”

 

Iravelle froze. Then she screamed, fury twisting her features.

 

“You LIED to me!” She stormed forward, reaching Jungkook in a heartbeat. “You witch,” she spat. “You knew. You knew what this would do. How dare you do it?”

 

She grabbed the front of Jungkook’s tattered robe and ripped it open.

 

The skin beneath Jungkook’s collarbone shimmered faintly with silver and gold—the swirling flame of Taehyung’s mate mark. Weak, flickering... but still there.

 

“No!” Iravelle shrieked. “This should not be! I should be the one to wear this mark, not a filthy human like you.”

 

She looked towards the mage. “Break it. I don’t care if he dies. Break this mate bond. Only I deserve it. Not this filthy human.”

 

She shoved Jungkook hard. The boy crumpled to the stone floor, gasping, every rib in his body screaming. He could feel it. The pain, the weight of the spells, his spirit fraying at the edges. His human body couldn’t take much more. His vision dimmed, breath coming in shallow rasps. Blood from his cracked lips trickled down his chin.

 

But even in this moment, even as death reached its fingers toward him... Hope burned quietly in his chest.

He had to hold on.

Just a little longer.

Just until he saw him—

Taehyung.

Once more.

 

The chanting grew louder. Jungkook, barely conscious, could feel his heartbeat slowing with every whispered incantation. The circle of cloaked mages surrounding him pulsed with unnatural light. He was too weak to fight. Too cold to scream. The magic clawed at his soul.

 

Iravelle stood at the edge, watching with smug satisfaction.

 

“Finally,” she said, folding her arms. “When the bond breaks, he’ll be free. And mine.”

 

Jungkook crumpled on the floor with a loud cry, his body too frail to endure more. His limbs shook, his breath faltered. Death hovered close.

 

But even as the world darkened, Jungkook whispered in his mind:

Just once more... Let me see him again...

 

A sudden shift.

A ripple through the air.

 

Jungkook, lying broken on the cold floor, felt something—warmth. Familiar. Fierce. Like golden fire brushing his skin. His cracked lips parted.

 

"...Taehyung..."

 

A roar tore through the place.

The walls cracked.

The rune circle shattered.

 

Cloaked mages screamed as a vortex of fire and storm broke the veil of dimensions. Dark stone exploded as the very realm was torn open.

 

Dragons—shadowy, celestial, terrible—rained fury across the sky above the hidden fortress.

 

And at the centre of it, his scales seared gold and black, wings beating with rage, was Taehyung.

 

The Prince had come.

 

Iravelle turned to flee, but it was too late.

 

Taehyung landed with such force that the stone beneath him cracked like ice. His eyes locked on her.

He didn’t speak.

He didn’t give a warning.

He incinerated her.

 

The fire consumed Iravelle’s scream, turning her to ash in seconds.

 

Mages tried to scatter, but the guardian team surged in—Yoongi, Nyla, Niki, and the dragons. The air split with cries of fury and battle. The Neravan illusion realm burned.

 

And Taehyung rushed to him.

 

Jungkook lay still, eyes closed, lips blue.

 

He dropped beside him.

 

“Jungkook. Jungkook, open your eyes.”

 

Nothing.

 

He pressed his forehead to his.

 

“You promised me, remember? That you'd always find your way back.”

 

Still, silence.

 

“Please.” His voice broke. “Don’t leave me. Not now.”

 

Nyla reached them, face streaked with sweat and blood.

 

“We have to go. Now.”

 

Without another word, Taehyung lifted him gently into his arms.

 

He turned, wings spreading.

 

“Take us home.”

 

And with that, they vanished into the storm of magic and flame—leaving behind a smouldering ruin and a realm torn by wrath.

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