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2025-03-23 20:59:53

The tunnels felt different now.

Before, they had been cold and suffocating, mere passageways of damp stone leading to an uncertain future. Now, they thrummed with a faint energy, as if the city itself had woken and was watching. Samuel felt it in his bones, in the air around him, and in the way his sword seemed lighter in his grip.

They moved swiftly, their newly found allies following in near silence. The warriors who had sworn themselves to the old ways moved with the precision of those trained for war. Some carried weapons Samuel had never seen before—blades etched with forgotten runes, staffs that pulsed with a quiet glow.

Cassandra, walking beside him, cast them a wary glance. “You sure we can trust them?”

“They stayed hidden all this time,” Evelyn said. “They could’ve taken the city for themselves, but they didn’t.”

“That doesn’t mean they won’t change their minds.” Cassandra’s voice was low, but sharp.

Samuel understood her hesitation. He wasn’t sure he fully trusted them eithe

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231
People poured from their shattered homes and fire-scarred towers, drawn by the pulse in the air—a rhythm that wasn't heard but felt. A hum in the bones. A call in the blood.Nara stood at the summit of the Skyspire, the Crown of Flame hovering just above her brow, spinning slowly like a burning halo. She didn’t wear it. She didn’t need to. It obeyed her now.Below her, the city looked like a dream in reconstruction. Ashes swept into rivers, broken statues reborn into new mosaics. The past crumbled and the future crawled from its ruins, wide-eyed and unsure.Samuel watched from the plaza, his armor scuffed, his fingers still tingling with residual power. “She hasn’t come down in hours.”Madeline sat beside him, cradling a steaming mug. “Sh
230
Word had spread like wildfire: the god Veyr had returned, and Nara, once a corrupted vessel, now wielded the power to stand against him.Samuel stood in the shadow of the citadel’s east spire, watching the people gather in the plaza. They stared at the sky—still rippling from the strange event that had unfolded at the Plateau. His heartbeat hadn’t slowed since.Madeline joined him, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. “I can’t explain what happened. Not completely. That wasn’t just Ascension. It was integration.”“She fused with him?” Samuel asked, voice taut.“No. She resisted him. But she took something. Power, yes. But also memory. She knows more than any of us now.”
229
Though the city no longer burned, the ashes hadn't settled. After the confrontation at Hollow Ridge, hope fluttered through the survivors, but Samuel felt only dread. Something in Arthur's parting message—"You can cut the leash, but not the beast"—stuck in his ribs like a blade.The war room was darker than usual. Half its lanterns had been destroyed during the siege, and no one had bothered to replace them. The shadows made the maps look like ghosts.Sarah stood by the window, arms crossed. "The leyline is volatile. We've picked up spikes near the old Lunar Catacombs. You think Arthur's regrouped there?""Maybe," Samuel said, tracing the location on the map. "But he wouldn't go somewhere predictable. Not now."Madeline paced behind him. "What about Nara? She's stable, but the corruption lingers. She barely remembers her time under Veyr. And there's something else."Samuel looked up. "What?"Madeline hesitated. "When I scanned her with crystal runes, I saw... another aura. Familiar. I
228
The dawn after destruction was never silent.Smoke curled from the ruins of Aretra’s eastern quarter. Crystal fragments still floated in the air, whispering in fractured echoes—residual leyline voices now cut off mid-scream. The walls were cracked. The banners torn. Half the command tower was gone, buried beneath the twisted wreckage.Samuel stood amid it all, his sword sheathed, his thoughts louder than the wind. Nara had vanished. After the surge—the explosion of leyline energy—she had simply disappeared into the mist like a phantom.But the message was clear: Veyr was no longer just whispering. He was clawing his way back to the surface.Madeline walked slowly toward Samuel, bandaged and pale. “We found nothing,” she said quietly. “No blood. No body. Just scorched stone.”“She’s not dead,” Samuel said.“How do you know?”“Because I can still feel her.”Madeline didn’t ask what he meant. She only nodded. They had grown past explanations. The leyline connected them all now, in echoes
227
Maps of the city lay scattered across the table, red-marked zones indicating breached barriers and leyline flare-ups. The magical pulses had destabilized the eastern walls. Meanwhile, patrols reported sightings of hooded figures cloaked in Void mist—Arthur’s elite agents. The war was no longer knocking; it had walked straight in and taken a seat.Samuel stood at the table with the Falcon, Madeline, Damian, and Sarah. Nara rested in a warded tent nearby, recovering—but their time was razor-thin.“She’s stabilized?” Samuel asked.Madeline nodded. “Barely. The transfer worked… but she’s still bound to the leyline. If Veyr calls again, she’ll hear it.”Damian exhaled. “Great. So our walking leyline key might get hijacked by a god.”“Former god,” the Falcon corrected, tracing a finger across the map. “If Veyr was sealed once, he can be sealed again.”“But that took a whole civilization,” Sarah cut in. “We’ve got half a city, twenty battle mages, and a baker’s dozen of suicidal maniacs.”Sa
226
The crystalline roots that had sprouted when she touched the artifact spread out like veins, threading across broken stone and into the city’s foundations. The leyline had not only bloomed—it had reshaped the battlefield.Sarah knelt beside Samuel. “She’s alive?”“For now,” he said quietly.The Falcon crouched at the crater’s edge, inspecting the glowing roots. “This isn’t natural. This is controlled growth—like a mind guiding the leyline’s expansion.”Samuel looked down at Nara. “She became that mind. But I don’t think it’s over.”“Of course it’s not,” a familiar voice said behind them.They turned sharply.It was Damian, dusty and bruised, a streak of blood trailing down his temple. “The tunnels go deeper than we thought. We reached the original vault—the real one.”Samuel stood. “You found the Source?”Damian nodded grimly. “And something else. The Source… isn’t a thing. It’s a prison.”That landed like a blade.The Falcon tensed. “A prison for what?”Damian didn’t answer immediate

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