"I can't feel my fingers, Jesse."Draven stared down at his left hand, his voice nothing more than a ruined rasp that barely carried across the quiet apothecary room. The flesh was covered in thick white linen wraps, propped up on a velvet pillow, motionless as stone."You're just exhausted, Draven," Jesse said quickly, their voice cracking as they pressed both hands against his bandaged wrist. "Your body went through hell up there. You held two superheated iron conduits together with your bare flesh! Give the light a second to work!""Jesse, stop," Draven whispered, trying to pull his arm back, but he could barely muster the strength to shift his shoulder. "Look at me. Look at my eye.""No! I am not stopping!" Jesse sobbed, their pale golden scars flaring into a blinding, desperate glare across their face and arms. Warm, brilliant ribbons of anchor light poured from their palms, sinking deep into Draven's scorched skin, trying to force life back into the deadened nerves. "Feel that!

"They called themselves the Silent Archons, and they've just awoken."Kaelen slouched heavily against the wooden doorframe of the apothecary, his voice raspy and thin as he held a stained parchment in his bandaged fingers. Sweat glistened on his forehead, his face pale despite the warm, golden light spilling from the giant central tree into the courtyard."What are you talking about, Kaelen?" Jesse asked, stepping toward him, their brow furrowing in instant alarm. "Valen's high council was executed after the siege. You told us that yourself three weeks ago!""I thought they were dead," Kaelen choked out, his dark eyes wide with sudden, sickening realization. "I signed the execution logs myself! But these records... Jack found them locked inside the citadel's deep vaults. Valen didn't execute his inner circle, Jesse. He put them into cryogenic stasis beneath the northern tundra!""Stasis?" Draven growled, stepping up beside Jesse, his newly grafted left hand flexing slowly. The golden

"If you tear me apart, Draven will burn your entire legacy to ash."Jesse choked out the words through blood-slick lips, their ankles bound in cold brass shackles that hummed with a sickly, paralyzing static. High above the frosted iron floor of the northern vault, suspended inside a cage of black steel and crackling purple arcs, they stared down at the towering figure below."Let him come, child," Archon Cassandra whispered, her voice echoing through the frozen chamber like rusted needles sliding across glass. Her frail, ancient body was encased in a gilded mechanical harness, long copper needles extending from her spine directly into three massive stasis pods behind her. "The blacksmith is nothing without the flame you feed him. And right now, your flame belongs to me.""It's not... a battery!" Jesse shrieked, their pale golden scars flaring erratically, fighting against the dark currents draining out of their chest. "You can't just steal a human soul to wake your dead gods!""I am

"They aren't just empty constructs... there are human minds sleeping inside them."Jesse's voice cracked into a desperate, horrified whisper that echoed off the damp stone walls. They took a staggering step forward, gray eyes wide, staring up at the towering glass frames suspended from the high vault ceiling."Jesse, step back right now!" Draven shouted, his heavy hand clamping down on Jesse's shoulder. His golden-grafted left arm flared into a protective, blazing orange. "Don't get close to them!""No, Draven, listen to me!" Jesse cried, pulling away and pressing both glowing palms flat against the cold crystal foot of the nearest giant frame. "I can feel them! It isn't just dark machinery! There are living, breathing human souls trapped inside these glass cages! They're dreaming, Draven! They've been trapped in an endless nightmare for three hundred years!""Jack..." Draven growled, his single human eye darting around the vast, shadow-drenched hall as the red chest cores pulsed in a

"We strike together, one final time!"Draven's thunderous roar echoed through the collapsing subterranean chamber, cutting cleanly through the deafening shriek of rupture alarms and rushing sea water. He stood before the glowing power core, his heavy hammer lifted high, his golden-grafted left arm burning with a white-hot, blinding radiance that pushed back the freezing darkness."Draven, no!" Jesse screamed, their voice cracking into a raw sob as torrents of icy deep-sea water slammed against their boots. "You can't stay in here while the thermal containment drops! The pressure will crush you!""I am holding the lock shut, Jesse!" Draven bellowed back, his teeth gritted so hard a line of blood ran down his chin. "If this core detonates, the shockwave will obliterate the entire valley! Get the people out! Get them to the surface!""I am not leaving you behind again!" Jesse cried out, taking a frantic step toward him, their pale scars flaring into a desperate, golden glare. "Do you hea