The symbols continued glowing beneath Kael’s skin; nobody in the council chamber moved, and nobody spoke. The markings stretched from his wrists toward his shoulders, forming intricate patterns that looked older than any language still known.Eron stood beside him immediately. “Kael.”His brother remained calm, too calm. Kael studied the markings as if they belonged to someone else. “They don’t hurt.”That did little to reassure anyone.Tavin looked ready to throw the nearest chair through a wall. “I am getting tired of ancient secrets choosing this exact moment to appear.”Queen Seraphine folded her arms. “You are not the only one.”The messenger who had delivered the report looked as though he regretted entering the room; the scholar standing beside him appeared even worse. Everyone stared at Kael’s arms; the symbols pulsed once, then faded, and the glow disappeared.The room finally breathed again.Kael slowly lowered his sleeves. “We continue.”Tavin stared at him. “That is your r

The chamber remained silent after the monument revealed its final message, 'prison'. One had begun awakening; twelve remained. Nobody spoke; nobody seemed capable of speaking. The ancient light faded slowly from the monument’s surface, leaving the words burnt into everyone’s memory.Eron stared at the stone, Tavin stared at the stone, and the scholars stared at the stone, and Kael simply watched; that was what unsettled Eron the most, and everyone else reacted. Kael observed quietly, carefully, like a man studying a battlefield before deciding where to step.The distant heartbeats had stopped for now, and that somehow felt worse. The chamber felt too still, too calm, as if something enormous had shifted beneath the world and was waiting to see how people responded.The lead scholar cleared his throat. “We should leave.”Nobody argued.The excavation team gathered records as quickly as possible, guards secured the corridors, and workers began evacuating sensitive materials from the low

The council chamber remained silent after the second report arrived, with two messages and two warnings. The first prisoner was gone; something had awakened. Neither statement offered comfort.Eron stood beside the large table and watched as messengers rushed in and out of the room; the atmosphere had changed completely. Only an hour earlier, they had been preparing an investigation; now they were preparing for a crisis.The difference mattered.King Halric looked exhausted. “What exactly are we dealing with?”Nobody answered immediately, not because they were hiding information but because they genuinely did not know.Tavin rubbed his forehead. “I am beginning to miss the days when our enemies simply tried to kill us.”Several council members laughed despite themselves. The humour lasted only a moment, then reality returned. Kael remained unusually quiet, and his eyes moved across maps spread throughout the chamber. Dozens of locations had been marked as ancient ruins, prison sites,