The sun rose over the highlands for the first time in what felt like an eternity, its light pushing back the memories of war like mist retreating before dawn. Brown stood on a cliff overlooking the valley, the wind stirring his half-healed cloak. Beneath the burn scars and bandages, something new stirred in him—something he hadn’t known since before the fire.Peace.He didn’t trust it.Clara stood behind him, arms crossed, a half-smile on her lips as she approached. “You’re waiting for it to break again, aren’t you?”Brown didn’t answer at first. “Peace is a field before the arrow flies.”She slipped her hand into his. “But this time, maybe we get to plant something in that field before it does.”Behind them, the citadel—half rebuilt from shattered stone and half grown from the roots of magic—hummed with life. Children laughed in the courtyards where once soldiers bled. Fires in the forges sang songs of building instead of breaking.But even now, scouts returned with stories. Shadows

Clara tightened the straps on Eva’s gauntlet. “You find him, you bring him home.”Eva’s eyes glimmered. “I will. Or I’ll vanish beside him.”Midnight Again — Between RealmsDann stood on the threshold of the last chamber. Ahead, a mirror. But no reflection.A voice spoke from the dark.“Are you here to save yourself, or to be judged?”Dann didn’t answer at first. His hand hovered over the blade at his side. Then, slowly, he let it fall.“I’m here,” he said, “to bury what never died.”And the silence that followed... finally answered back.The lower districts of Konzia were a skeleton of what they once were—hollowed tunnels, rusted rails, and bone-deep silence. Eva moved swiftly through the abandoned conduits, the Ember Guard insignia cloaked under a veil of shadowdust.Beside her, two companions kept pace: Clara, reluctantly armed and more than a little bitter about it; and Eren Voss, a silent scout once loyal to the old regime, now paying for his past in blood and allegiance.“There,

“You don’t need to trust them all. You only need five people.” She gave a meaningful look.Dann smiled slightly. “Clara says the smugglers are operating out of the Vault Isles.”Eva’s gaze sharpened. “Cyras?”“Maybe. Or someone he's backing.” Dann stood. “Either way, I need to go.”Eva’s grip tightened. “Then take Kael or Clara with you.”Dann shook his head. “I need ghosts for this. Not generals.”Elsewhere – Aboard a Black Vessel near the Vault IslesMoonlight danced across metal crates—fuel, medicine, stolen tech. A figure stood at the prow, his armor laced with shadows, his eyes flickering blue.Cyras Riddect.“Let them fight,” he murmured. “Let them bleed the seas dry. And when the storms rise, Dann will have to choose: his crown… or his child.”A long pause. Then a cruel smile.“And either way—he loses.”Coastline of the Vault Isles – Two Days LaterThe sea was moonless, and so was the silence.Dann stood at the edge of a darkened skiff, dressed not in the armor of a general—but