Axton couldn't sleep.Not because of cold. Not because of wounds. Because every time he closed his eyes, he saw Nina's face.The way her eyes flickered. Once. Barely. Then went dark.The way artificial death looked different from human death. Emptier somehow. Like someone turned off light instead of extinguishing flame.He sat by window. Three in the morning. Snow falling. Silent. The kind of silence that felt heavy. Accusatory.Three people died so you could sit here.Three people chose you over themselves.Three people won't see tomorrow because you're still breathing.His hands shook. He pressed them against stone. Felt cold bite into palms. Welcomed it. Pain was honest. Pain didn't lie about cost."Can't sleep either?"Kaelix stood in doorway. Shirtless despite cold. Scars mapped across torso like history written in tissue. Seventeen years of torture. Seventeen years of being weapon. All visible in raised flesh and twisted skin.His father looked older now. Not physically. Older i

The Northern Wastes didn't feel like place. Felt like absence.Absence of warmth. Absence of life. Absence of hope.Snow stretched infinite. Not white. Gray. Like color itself had frozen and died. Wind came constant. Not gusting. Just perpetual. Like world refused to stop screaming.They'd been traveling four days. Four days of climbing. Of cold that made thinking difficult. Of isolation so complete it felt physical.Axton's fingers were numb. Toes too. Kaelix said frostbite was setting in. Kaelix said they needed to find shelter. Kaelix said things with certainty that suggested experience Axton hadn't asked about."How many times you been here?" Axton asked. They were resting in ice cave. Small. Barely enough for two bodies. Fire made from wood they'd carried because no trees existed this far north."Once. Before torture. Before facility. I came with my father. Tyrex Warborne. This was final initiation. Warborne training complete when you reach Graveyard and make contact with old one

They reached Emerald Peaks at dusk.Monastery looked different now. Emptier. Like something vital had left.Grandmother Valeheart met them at gate. Her face was carved stone. Hard. Weathered. Knowing."You bound an old one." Not question. Statement. "I felt disturbance. Power signature older than mountains. Older than memory.""Kaelix merged with ancient Kael," Axton said. "It's killing him. Two consciousnesses fighting for control. We need help.""Help." Grandmother's voice was bitter. "You bound thousand-year warrior to broken man and expect easy solution. Binding isn't marriage. It's war. One consciousness always dominates. Other submits or dies."She looked at Kaelix. Really looked. Saw struggle written in posture. In eyes. In way he held himself like stranger in own skin."Come. We talk inside. But know this: solution might be worse than problem. Unbinding kills host. Always. No exceptions."They sat in meditation hall. Ca

They came at dawn.Not subtle. Not cautious. Overwhelming force. The way hunters move when prey is cornered and escape impossible.Fifty Heptarchy champions. Two hundred soldiers. Ten siege arrays. All converging on single monastery.Axton stood on wall. Watching army approach. Feeling weight of impossible odds."We can't win this," he said quietly."No," Kaelix agreed. His merged consciousness steady. Certain. "But we can survive. Buy time. Make them pay for every step. Every second. Every breath."Grandmother Valeheart moved between them. Ancient. Unbreakable. Her monastery. Her family. Her choice to stand."Students evacuated through tunnels. Non-combatants safe. Only fighters remain. Fifteen of us total. Against two hundred fifty.""Terrible odds," Axton said."Best kind," Kaelix replied. "Terrible odds build legends. Easy victories build arrogance."The Heptarchy commander's voice boomed. Amplified by Qi. Carrying across distance."Axton Vail Warborne. Kaelix Warborne. Surrender

Three days ended at dawn.Axton stood on ridge. Looking down at valley where Heptarchy assembled. Three hundred warriors. Organized. Disciplined. Confident.They thought they were hunting two Warborne.They were wrong."Fifty-seven against three hundred," Lyra said beside him. "Better odds than last siege. Still terrible.""Terrible odds build legends," Axton replied. His father's words. Ancient Kael's certainty. His own growing confidence.Kaelix approached. His merged consciousness stable now. Integration complete. Thousand years of warrior plus seventeen years of survival. Balanced. Powerful. Whole."They're bringing siege weapons. Twenty arrays. Mobile. Powerful. Designed for quick deployment. They learned from last time.""So did we."Axton gestured to valley behind them. Fifty-seven Warborne. Not random placement. Strategic. Tactical. Grandmother Valeheart had planned every position. Every angle. Every advantage."They expect conventional siege. Expect us fortified. Defended. Wa