The storm broke at dawn.Thunder rolled down the cliffs like war drums, shaking the Sanctuary’s broken stones. Rain sheeted through the shattered roof, hissing against their fire until only embers remained.The oathbound woke hollow-eyed. Some had not slept at all. Others stirred only to find dreams had been worse than waking the Shadow Rider’s whispers crawling into their skulls like worms.Isolde had not woken. Her skin was pale as carved marble, her breath shallow as a dying ember. Even the touch of flame no longer warmed her.“She’s slipping,” murmured one of the healers, pressing trembling hands to her brow. “If the flamebearer falls, the oath falls with her.”No one replied. They didn’t need to. The weight hung heavier than the storm.They could not stay. The Shadow Rider’s hand was spreading. Scouts who ventured too far returned with haunted eyes villages stripped of life, fields reduced to blackened husks. And in the distance, columns of armored Riders swept like blades throug

The air inside the Shadow Rider’s maw was suffocating. Kael’s boots crunched over brittle fragments of bone as he pressed deeper into the cursed camp. Torches burned with ghostly flame, casting shadows that twisted as if alive.Nira walked at his side, sword drawn. Her voice was low, urgent.Nira: “This place… it doesn’t breathe like a camp. It listens.”Kael’s hand tightened on his weapon.Kael: “Then let it listen. We’re here to tear its heart out.”Behind them, Isolde raised a hand, flames curling faintly from her palm.Isolde: “Careful. Fire reacts strangely here. Too much, and it could burn us instead.”They reached the center a prison pit carved into the earth, chains dangling like veins. Dozens of figures slumped in the dark.Roran: (gritting his teeth) “Prisoners. Gods, they look half-dead.”Kael vaulted down first. His voice rang across the pit.Kael: “You are free. Rise, oathbound or no, and fight!”Chains rattled as gaunt faces lifted. Eyes burned with fear and hunger. Some

The battlefield lay in ruin. Ash drifted down like snow, settling over corpses, shattered steel, and broken banners.Kael staggered forward, clutching Isolde against his chest, her flame guttering like a dying torch. Nira led what was left of the oathbound, their numbers little more than a whisper against the roar of enemy horns.And at the front stood Roran. His shield was split, his armor cracked, his once-dark beard now streaked fully white with ash and years. Yet his stance remained unbroken — a wall against the tide.The enemy surged again, shadows pouring over the ridge like a flood. The Warlord’s roar echoed behind them, though he too faltered, half-burned, bound to Isolde’s flame.Kael barked through clenched teeth.Kael: “We can’t hold them. Not like this.”Nira drew her twin blades, eyes narrowing.Nira: “Then we hold until we fall. That was always the oath.”But Roran’s voice cut through the air, calm, steady, heavier than the clash of swords.Roran: “No. This is where I st

The march of the living and the dead thundered like a storm. The echoes of oathbound past walked beside Kael and the others, their phantom weapons shimmering faintly against the darkness.But the Shadow Rider was no longer waiting.The air itself buckled. The ground beneath their feet softened into ash. The sky cracked apart like brittle glass.Isolde shouted, “Hold together!” Her flames rose high, a beacon against the encroaching black.Yet the light bent and twisted.Shadows reached up like talons, clutching at their ankles. The world tipped sideways. A howl like a thousand broken promises filled the void.And then the battlefield shattered.The Oathbound were dragged into another realm entirely an endless abyss of black mist and fractured light.Kael staggered to his knees. His sword clattered to the ground, its steel glowing faintly as if resisting the darkness.Nira planted her spear and hissed, “Where is this?”The Rider’s voice rolled over them, heavy and cruel.“Welcome home,

The abyss stank of burnt ash and blood. Isolde’s body lay limp in Kael’s arms, her chest barely rising. Nira stood before them, sword drawn, her gaze locked on the Shadow Rider as his cracked helm bled smoke.The oathbound survivors gathered ragged, bloodied, faces pale but unbroken. Dozens where there had once been hundreds. Yet their eyes burned with the same fire: the Oath of Ashes.The Rider spread his arms, shadows billowing like wings.“See how your vows betray you. You bind yourselves to death, and I am death. You are already mine.”Nira raised her voice, steady though her throat ached. No… you’re wrong.Nira raised her voice, steady though her throat ached. “No… you’re wrong.”Roran coughed blood, forcing himself upright with his shattered banner. “Speak it, Nira. Remind us.”She stepped forward, sword raised high, and shouted, each word a strike:“The Oath was never about survival. It was never about victory. It was about defiance.”The survivors echoed, their voices ragged b