The darkness inside the Forge wasn’t empty; it was heavy, pressing against my skin like cold oil. As the red alarm-light flickered from the ceiling, the sheer scale of the chamber revealed itself—a cathedral of gears and pistons the size of mountains, all silent for a thousand years."The girl... where is she?" I rasped, my vision swimming. My arm was still humming from the silver-light merge, but the girl was gone."The portal separated us! She’s likely in the lower sanctum," Silas shrieked, his straw body tangled in my belt. "But that’s the least of our problems, Jack! Look at the pedestal!"In the center of the hall sat a jagged column of white glass—the core interface of the Forge. It was dead, but the moment I stepped toward it, a low, ominous vibration rattled my teeth."It wants the Key," Elara said, emerging from the shadows. She was limping, her leather armor scorched. "But the kid is gone, and Malakor is breathing down our necks from the upper tier. We have to prime this thi

The violet chains of mana didn't just bind my arms; they surged into my mind, turning the sub-basement into a swirling kaleidoscope of nightmares. The stone floor dissolved into ash. Elara’s shout and Silas’s frantic rattling faded into a distant, muffled echo."You think you’re a savior, Jack?" Malakor’s voice didn't come from his mouth. It came from the wind, from the ground, from the very blood pounding in my ears.I was standing in the center of a ruined city. The Capital’s spires were toppled, their white stone stained with a familiar, oily black ink. The sky wasn't blue or even the bruised purple of the eclipse. It was a dead, hollow grey."What is this?" I roared, swinging the Calamity Blade at the empty air. The sword felt heavy now, its edge flickering like a dying candle."This is the truth," Malakor said, appearing ten feet away. He wasn't the charred, desperate man I’d seen a moment ago. He was a giant, robed in starlight, his face serene and pitying. "This is the world af

The glass shards of the Inquisitor’s mirror were still settling in the mud when I turned to the group. The violet light in Elara’s neck was no longer a glow; it was a rhythmic, angry throb. She was dying in the snow, and every second we spent as a group was a second Malakor used to sharpen his scythe."I’m going in alone," I said. The Calamity Blade, now fused to my forearm by silver filaments, hummed against my bone."Like hell you are!" Elara rasped, her hand trembling as she tried to reach for a dagger. "You'll... you'll get yourself turned into a soul-battery before you hit the gates.""She's right, Jack," Silas added, his red eyes darting toward the horizon where the Capital’s spires pierced the smog. "The Unseen are a mob, not an army. They need a head, or they'll scatter the moment the first Silence-Hound barks.""That’s why you’re staying," I said, looking directly at the scarecrow. "Organize them. Korg knows the terrain, but you know the magic. If the Purge-Legion moves, you

The descent from the balcony was a blur of shadows and sharp breaths. I landed in the Royal Gardens, but this wasn't a place of nature. It was a manicured nightmare. The trees were made of silver wire, their leaves translucent glass that hummed with a low-voltage chime. In the center of the grove stood the White-Tree, its bark weeping a golden, viscous fluid."The Aether-Sap," I breathed, my hand tightening on the hilt of the Calamity Blade."Don't move, little rat. The grass has ears, and I’m the one who tuned them."A man stepped from behind a weeping willow of liquid mercury. He wore robes of surgical white, stained at the cuffs with chemicals that sizzled against the air. His eyes were covered by brass goggles with rotating lenses, and his smile was a jagged line of porcelain teeth."The Grand Alchemist," I spat, recognizing the scent of the Siphon-Sting that was currently killing Elara. "You’re the one who poisoned her.""Poisoned? What a crude word," the Alchemist chuckled, clic

The Royal Garden was no longer a sanctuary; it was a smoking wound in the earth. The air, once perfumed with rare blossoms, now tasted of ozone, pulverized marble, and the metallic tang of the Void. My chest heaved, the Black-Iron core settling into a low, predatory hum after the explosion."Jack! Focus! Your eyes are still bleeding shadow!" Silas scrambled up my shoulder, his straw fingers digging into my tunic. "The perimeter is collapsing!"I didn't answer. I knelt in the dirt where Elara lay, her skin now a terrifying shade of bruised violet. The Siphon-Sting was winning. The veins on her neck were pulsing with a light that looked like shattered glass."I have it, Elara," I whispered, holding up the vial of Aether-Sap. "I have the cure.""Don't... waste it on a corpse," she wheezed, her golden eyes unfocused. "The tower... Jack... look at the tower.""Keep your eyes on me," I commanded, sliding my arm beneath her knees and lifting her. She felt weightless, her mana being hollowed