Chapter 131 – Ashes in the RainThe rain had a way of making ruins look older than they were. Every broken wall seemed a relic, every burned beam a skeleton of some forgotten age. And yet, the city of Calvess had been burning just yesterday. The smoke still rose in lazy threads where the water hadn’t yet drowned the embers.Kai Velden dragged himself across the mud-slick square, each step heavy with exhaustion. His boots squelched in water thickened by ash, and his sword—once gleaming—was stained in streaks of dried blood, rust, and filth.“Sit. Down.” Mira’s voice was sharper than her dagger. She darted to his side, pushing a wet lock of black hair from her face as she tried to steady him. “You’re losing blood faster than you realize.”“I can still fight,” Kai said, but his voice lacked conviction. He glanced at his arm, where the bandage had already soaked through, crimson blooming beneath the layers. “If I stop, someone else dies in my place.”Mira caught his chin and forced him to

Chapter 133 – The Southern WallThe storm turned the battlefield into a nightmare.Rain churned the earth into black sludge, swallowing boots, dragging men down as they fought to rise again. The fire wagons had done their work—three siege towers burned to skeletons, their frames collapsing in showers of sparks—but Bram’s army pressed forward, unshaken.From the southern wall, Calvess’s defenders rained arrows, rocks, and boiling water onto the invaders below. Each impact struck with satisfying finality, but for every soldier that fell, two more seemed to take his place. The enemy was endless, their ranks tightening even as the flames licked at their shadows.Kai stood knee-deep in mud at the breach in the wall. His sword flashed with each strike, his arms numb, his wounds forgotten in the sheer weight of survival. Mira was beside him, her daggers dancing, her cloak drenched but her movements precise as lightning.Behind them, Theo fumbled with a bow he barely knew how to use. Each arr

Chapter 135 – The Walls WithinThe fire spread faster than the rain could smother it.Thatched roofs burned like tinder, sending sparks across the narrow lanes of Calvess. Smoke rolled between the houses, black and choking, hiding friend and foe alike. The city itself had become a trap: streets that once bustled with merchants and children were now filled with corpses, overturned carts, and barricades hastily thrown together from shutters and doors.Mira pressed her back to a wall, dragging Kai with her as a squad of Bram’s soldiers swept past. The enemy did not move like men but like wolves—disciplined, coordinated, ruthless. They cleared alleys with shields and torches, cutting down anyone too slow to flee.“They’re not raiders,” Mira whispered, sweat streaking her soot-stained face. “They’re trained for this.”Kai wiped grime from his brow, forcing his breath steady. “Then we make the city fight them.”He looked to the roofline. The rain slicked tiles gleamed, treacherous but usefu

Chapter 137 – The Fall of the LionThe dawn came red. Not from the sun, but from fire.Calvess burned like a dying god, every tower a pyre, every street a river of ash. The rain had stopped, but the air was still wet — with smoke, with blood, with the last breaths of the city that had defied an empire.Kai staggered through the wreckage of the gate. His armor was cracked, his face streaked with dirt and grief. His sword, once polished silver, now looked forged from ruin.Behind him, Mira limped, her arm bound, her eyes wild. Corvyn supported Theo, who barely stood. The defenders had fallen back into the keep’s lower courtyard — the final wall before the sanctum.The banners of Calvess hung in tatters from the ramparts.And across the courtyard, through smoke and embers, Bram approached.The conqueror’s crimson cape dragged through the mud. His armor gleamed with the reflection of flames, his face expressionless — almost serene. In his hand, the great black sword pulsed faintly, as tho

Chapter 139 – The Seeds of DawnThe rain had stopped three days ago, but the scent of it still lingered in the earth. Puddles gleamed like fragments of glass scattered between stones, and the new grass that sprouted between cracks carried the pale green of beginning again.Calvess — once a city of screaming bells and firelight — now whispered with the soft sounds of rebuilding. Hammers struck wood, children’s laughter echoed through alleyways once charred black, and the distant hum of voices blended into a strange, almost sacred music. It was imperfect, noisy, and alive.Kai stood on the balcony of what used to be the command tower. Now it was half-broken, its stones scorched, its banners gone. But from up there, he could see everything — the skeleton of the city taking its first careful breaths.He wore a simple shirt rolled to his elbows, his sword still at his hip but untouched. His hair, longer now, moved with the breeze that came down from the northern cliffs. He’d never thought