CHAPTER 133QUIET AFTER TREMBLING The pulse stopped without warning. No tremors, no distant heartbeat beneath the stone, no violent pressure curling through the underground foundations of Nyxara. One moment the city had felt like it was breathing through clenched teeth, and the next… silence. The safehouse remained still for several long seconds afterward, as though none of them trusted it.Rylan sat against the far wall beneath the dim lanternlight, one arm resting loosely over his knee while dried blood still marked the side of his face. His breathing had finally evened out. The shadows around him no longer twisted unnaturally along the floor. Even the air in the room felt lighter now. That frightened Lucien more than the tremors had. “You feel anything?” Mara asked carefully. Rylan shook his head once. “No voices?”“No,” he answered. This time it sounded true.Tarin frowned from where he stood near the entrance tunnels. “So it just… stopped?”Kael remained near the opposite wall,

CHAPTER 135BENEATH THE GLASS CATHEDRAL The meeting place Rylan chose stood in the oldest district of Nyxara. The Glass Cathedral had not been used for worship in centuries. Most citizens avoided it entirely now, not because it was forbidden, but because something about the structure unsettled people instinctively. The cathedral rose from the centre of a dead plaza like a frozen shard of moonlight, its towering black arches veined with pale crystal that reflected the city’s crimson lanternfire in fractured patterns across the stone streets.Rylan arrived just before midnight. Rain had started sometime earlier, thin and cold, barely enough to soak through fabric but enough to leave the streets shining beneath the lanternlight. He wasn’t alone, even if Seraphine pretended otherwise. Lucien and the others remained hidden across the surrounding rooftops and ruined balconies overlooking the plaza. Mara had argued against the meeting entirely until the very end, but once Rylan decided to c

CHAPTER 137HEIR TO THE KINGDOM BUILT ON GRAVESThe question stayed in the cathedral long after Seraphine finished speaking. What happens when the monster starts sounding like you?Rylan hated that he didn’t have an answer. Rain continued falling beyond the shattered windows while distant thunder rolled softly somewhere above Nyxara. The city lights below flickered faintly beneath layers of mist and crimson lanternfire, beautiful and rotting all at once. Seraphine watched him carefully.“You talk like this was inevitable,” he said quietly.Her expression remained unreadable. “It was.”“That’s convenient for you to say.”“But it’s the truth.”Rylan let out a sharp breath, pacing once across the cracked cathedral floor before stopping again. Shadows shifted unnaturally beneath his boots for half a second before settling. Seraphine noticed. “You already feel it becoming easier,” she said softly. His gaze snapped toward her immediately. “The anger,” she continued. “The instincts, the way

CHAPTER 139TRUTH BETWEEN ENEMIESThe rain continued falling through the broken sections of the cathedral roof while cold wind moved through the ancient structure. Water gathered in shallow pools across the cracked stone floor, reflecting fragments of lanternlight from the city beyond. For several moments after Rylan’s refusal, neither he nor Seraphine spoke. The silence between them felt different now. It wasn’t hostile or uncomfortable, it was just… silence.Seraphine studied him carefully while he stood near one of the fractured pillars. There was no disappointment on her face, nor anger. If anything, she looked unsurprised. “You expected that answer,” Rylan stated.“Honestly, I did.”“Then why offer it?”“Because it was still your choice to make.”Rylan laughed softly. “Everything with you comes back to choices, doesn’t it?”“Shouldn’t it?.” Seraphine asked.His gaze narrowed. “Well that’s easy to say when you’re the one holding power.”Something shifted in Seraphine’s expression

CHAPTER 141FAITH BENEATH THE CITYThe prison corridors eventually emptied. Guards still remained at distant checkpoints and the crimson lanterns continued burning along the walls, but the prisoners were left alone after Cassian departed. The screams, arguments, and questions faded behind him as he descended deeper beneath Nyxara. The two cloaked figures followed several steps behind. Both of them didn’t speak. Not until they passed through three separate iron gates and entered chambers that no official Dominion records acknowledged existed. The air changed immediately. The prison smelled of stone, rust, and fear, while this place smelled of incense and old blood. Ancient symbols covered the walls. Some had been carved directly into the black stone centuries ago while others had been painted repeatedly over the same markings until layers of dried crimson darkened the surface. Candles burned everywhere. Thousands of them.The chamber stretched downward like an underground cathedral, it