The tunnels beneath the palace were older than the city itself — carved by ancient hands for purposes long forgotten.Now, they belonged to the Master.Adrian stood at the mouth of one such passage, a torch burning low in his hand. The flickering light painted his face in shades of orange and shadow, deepening the hollows beneath his eyes.Behind him, Kael checked his blades, the silence between them heavy and brittle.“You sure about this?” Kael asked quietly.Adrian’s grip tightened on the torch.“No. But hesitation is a luxury we can’t afford.”Kael exhaled sharply. “I wasn’t talking about the mission.”Adrian didn’t respond. He only stepped forward, his boots crunching on the damp stone. The air grew colder with each step, smelling of mildew and something faintly metallic… like old blood.Kael muttered under his breath, “This place feels wrong.”“It is wrong,” Adrian said flatly.“And we’re going to burn it out of existence.”Far above, in the war chamber, Selene stood before her

The tunnel chamber reeked of smoke and blood.The lingering ash hung in the air like a storm cloud, swirling around Adrian’s kneeling form as if drawn to him by some terrible magnetism.Selene staggered forward, one hand clutching her bleeding side.“Adrian…” she whispered, her voice raw and breaking.“Please… fight it. Fight him.”Adrian lifted his head slowly, his face obscured by shadow.When his eyes met hers, Selene’s breath caught.They glowed — not with the warmth she knew, but with a cold, hellish fire.“Selene,” he said, his voice low and eerily calm.“You should have stayed away.”Kael cut down the last of the Master’s agents and sprinted to Selene’s side. His chest heaved with exertion, his armor streaked with blood.“Selene!” He caught her before she collapsed. “We need to move. Now.”Selene shook her head violently, trying to pull free.“No, I can’t leave him. He’s still in there, Kael. I know he is.”Kael’s expression hardened as he stared at Adrian, who was slowly risin

The war camp stank of smoke, blood, and despair.Wounded soldiers lay on makeshift cots, their groans mingling with the hiss of boiling water and the frantic shouts of healers.Selene stood in the center of it all, her armor streaked with soot and tears drying on her face.Around her, chaos reigned — but inside, she was ice.She had to be. If she let herself feel, even for a moment, she would shatter.You are a queen, she reminded herself.You cannot break.And yet, her heart broke anyway.Inside the healer’s tent, Kael lay pale and trembling, a crimson bandage pressed against his side.Each shallow breath was a battle he was losing.Selene knelt beside him, clutching his hand.“Stay with me,” she whispered fiercely.“You’re too stubborn to die, Kael. You’ve proven that a thousand times.”Kael managed a strained laugh.“You… always were bad at compliments.”“Shut up,” she snapped, blinking away tears.“You saved me today. Again. I won’t let it be for nothing.”His fingers tightened we

The river churned black, its waters tainted by shadow-magic and blood.The ground trembled as though the earth itself feared what was coming.Selene planted her feet in the mud, sword raised. Across from her, the crimson-cloaked woman smiled, her dagger dripping with dark fire.“You’re late, Your Majesty,” the woman purred, circling like a predator.“Your soldiers died screaming for you.”Selene’s jaw clenched. “And you’ll join them.”The assassin laughed, a sound sharp and cold as breaking glass.“No, Selene. You will. The Master sent me to end this little rebellion before it begins.”She lunged.Their weapons clashed in a frenzy of sparks.Selene’s blade moved in precise, powerful arcs — the disciplined strikes of a queen trained for war.The assassin’s dagger, by contrast, was quick and unpredictable, slashing with wild, chaotic energy.“You fight like someone desperate,” the assassin taunted, her cloak swirling as she spun aside.“Is it for your kingdom? Your people? Or for that b

The battlefield lay in eerie silence, broken only by the faint crackle of dying fires and the whisper of the wind through broken banners.Selene knelt where Adrian had vanished, her hands digging into the ash-stained soil. Her nails were bloodied, her breath sharp and uneven. The emptiness where he had stood felt like a wound cut deep into the world itself.Darius stood a few paces behind her, leaning heavily on a shattered spear for support. His face was pale beneath the grime, his voice rough with exhaustion.“Majesty,” he rasped, “we must return to the city. The people need you. The war may be over, but the kingdom—”“No.”The word cracked like a whip.Selene rose slowly to her feet, swaying but unbroken. When she turned to face him, her eyes burned with a strange, unyielding fire.“The war is not over,” she said, her voice shaking with fury and grief.“It won’t be over until I bring Adrian back.”Behind them, the survivors of the battle were gathering — scattered groups of soldier