My girlfriend is trapped in my superpower

The square emptied into Selene's hall, a long chamber carved from stone and shadow. Torches sputtered against the walls, their flames oddly dim, as if the darkness itself drank the light. The villagers gathered at the edges, whispering, but Selene led us to the center table—a slab of black rock etched with faded sigils.

"We don't have the numbers," Selene said, her voice sharp, decisive. "Not to fight head-on. Whoever approaches knows that. They're not here to test our walls—they're here for him." Her eyes flicked to me.

The words landed heavy in the room. Mira stepped closer to me instinctively, her hand brushing her blade. Bram shifted uneasily, muttering, "Not exactly a surprise."

"They can't have him," Mira said flatly, her voice ringing across the table. "I don't care what old prophecies or seals demand."

Selene's shadows stirred like wings at her back. "You think this is about choice? He is bound to the flame. Bound to the seal. If they tear him away, the monster beneath these mountains wakes. We all die. Not just us—every living soul in this land."

The chamber went still.

Lyra leaned lazily against the wall, though her ember eyes burned brighter than the torches. "She's not wrong," she drawled, though her tone lacked its usual bite. "Break the chain, wake the beast. Easy as that. And trust me, darlings—you don't want to meet what sleeps under your feet."

I felt their eyes on me, heavy, suffocating. Mira's glare cut across Selene's certainty, Bram's nervous shifting filled the cracks, Lyra's words crawled under my skin. My voice came out low, raw.

"So what? I'm a weapon now? A key? Something to guard or use?"

Selene's gaze didn't flinch. "You're the only reason we still breathe."

Mira slammed her hand down on the stone. "He's a boy, not a sacrifice."

Lyra smirked faintly. "Correction—he's both."

I wanted to scream. To run. To vanish into the same shadows that seemed to close around me. Instead, I asked the only question I could:

"What do we do?"

The room shifted, the council of shadows forming. Villagers leaning forward. Bram rubbing at his face. Mira tense as a bowstring. Selene cold and sharp, Lyra flickering in and out of form.The answer didn't come quickly. It weighed, it coiled, it turned into something far more dangerous than silence. It became plans.

"The choices are simple," Selene began, her voice cutting through the murmurs. "We fortify the village. Every shadow, every stone, every hidden passage bends to my will. If they come, we drown them before they breach the square."

"Fortify?" Bram let out a sharp laugh, though it lacked any humor. "I've seen what follows Kael. Fortifications are tinder. You really think your shadows hold against—against that?" He gestured vaguely, as if the memory of the Devourer still clung to him.

Selene's eyes narrowed. "So you'd rather run?"

"Damn right," Bram shot back. "Get Kael out of here, move him far from whatever's sniffing at your borders. Let the rest of us live to see the sunrise."

"That's cowardice," Selene snapped.

"No," Bram said, jaw tight. "That's survival."

The air between them bristled.

Mira's voice broke through, steady but sharp as steel. "You're both wrong." She looked from Selene to Bram, then squarely at me. "We don't fight or run blindly. We make them believe we're weaker than we are. Set traps. Lead them away. Keep Kael hidden while they chase shadows."

Her words made the villagers murmur—some nodding, others bristling.

Selene slammed her palm against the black stone, shadows curling up her arm like smoke. "Hide him? He's the seal. If they pry him from this land, it breaks. Everything we've kept buried wakes."

"Then maybe your land shouldn't rest its fate on a single boy!" Mira shot back, stepping closer to the table.

"Careful," Selene hissed, her shadows writhing.

"Make me," Mira answered coldly, her hand brushing the hilt of her sword.

For a moment, the chamber pulsed with tension. Even Bram swallowed hard.

Lyra finally spoke, her voice smooth, mocking—yet edged with something unsettling. "Oh, this is rich. Sister dearest, the shadow queen, arguing with the iron maiden protector. Both of you so convinced you know what's best for my little host." She gave me a lazy grin. "Tell me, Kael—who do you trust more? The family that claims you by blood, or the one that's bled at your side?"

Every eye turned to me.

My chest burned. The pull inside me gnawed like fire and chain, and the weight of their gazes felt unbearable. Selene's conviction. Mira's loyalty. Bram's desperate pragmatism. Lyra's twisted amusement.

The silence cracked as one of the villagers, trembling, stepped forward from the shadows. His voice was hoarse, but it carried through the chamber:

"Choose quickly, flame-bearer. The night will not wait."

The silence dragged, sharp enough to cut skin. Selene's shadows twitched at her fingertips. Mira's jaw flexed, her hand hovering over her blade. Even Bram's usual smirk had died, his eyes darting between them like he was watching two wolves bare teeth.

And Lyra? She leaned lazily against the stone wall, ember-hair flickering in the dim, a cruel little smile tugging her lips. "Time is ticking, Kael. Make your choice."

Something in me snapped.

"Enough!" My voice thundered before I realized it had left me. The chamber seemed to shudder with the force of it. Shadows recoiled. Whispers died. Even Lyra raised an eyebrow.

I stood, fists tight, fire prickling under my skin. "Do you hear yourselves? Bickering over pride, over control, while something worse than death is crawling toward us. You think we can afford to fight each other when the Devourer still breathes?"

Selene's lips parted, her pride flashing before faltering. Mira's glare softened just slightly, guilt flashing behind her eyes.

I stepped closer to the table, leaning on it, my voice lower now but no less cutting. "You want to argue? Do it when the ground isn't trembling. Do it when monsters aren't clawing at our doors. But right now? We fight together—or we all die together. Choose."

The words echoed through the chamber like the crack of an axe splitting wood.

No one spoke. Not Mira. Not Selene. Not Bram. Not even Lyra, who just smirked but said nothing, her silence louder than mockery.

Finally, Selene lowered her hand, shadows dimming. "Very well. United, then. For now."

Mira exhaled slowly, her grip leaving her sword. "For now," she echoed, though her eyes lingered on Selene with warning.

Bram clapped his hands once, too loud in the silence. "Well, look at that. Kael's finally learned how to yell. Took you long enough, flame-boy."

Some of the villagers chuckled nervously. Others bowed their heads deeper, whispering words like leader and heir under their breaths.

But I wasn't smiling. My chest still burned—not with anger now, but with the weight of what I'd just done. I hadn't meant to take command. But the moment I spoke, they listened.

I feared what that meant.