2025-08-09 08:48:06The first guard moved with a speed that didn’t belong to him. His blade sang through the dim light, striking where Kael had been an instant earlier. The gold-threaded darkness in his eyes didn’t blink, didn’t flinch.
Kael pivoted, letting the Oath guide his arm. His sword met the guard’s in a sharp ring, sparks scattering into the cold air. The second guard closed in from the left, the black mist coiling from his mouth with every exhale.
Liara slid between two shelves, twin daggers flashing. Her first strike caught one guard across the arm — the flesh beneath split, but instead of blood, threads of gold spilled out, writhing like living things.
“Not human anymore,” she said, voice tight.
Kael drove his shoulder into the first guard, slamming him back into the shelf. Scrolls tumbled to the floor, parchment scattering across the cold stone. The guard’s head snapped forward, teeth bared, and the gold in his eyes flared.
[Oath Energy: +5]
Kael’s sword cut clean through the man’s chest. The body convulsed once, then crumpled, the gold threads unraveling into dust before they touched the ground.
“Burn them if you can,” Kael said, already turning to meet the next strike.
The second guard came at him in a blur. Kael parried once, twice then caught the blade under his own and twisted hard, sending it clattering across the floor. He stepped in, driving the pommel of his sword into the man’s temple.
The impact would have felled any normal opponent. This one staggered, but his hands shot up, clawing for Kael’s throat. Liara’s dagger found the gap beneath his chin, and the gold threads spilled out, hissing as they dissolved.
Silence fell as the last thread faded. Kael’s breath steamed in the cold air, his grip tight on his hilt.
Liara knelt, searching the pockets of the nearest body. She drew out a small, black lacquered token stamped with the same gold symbol from the ledger.
“This isn’t just a mark,” she said. “It’s a tether.”
Kael took it, feeling the faint thrum under his fingertips — not unlike the Core Fragment, but weaker, fractured.
“If this is how he binds them,” Kael said, “then destroying these might break his hold.”
They worked quickly, gathering the other tokens from the bodies. Kael set them in a shallow brazier by the wall and struck flint. The flames caught slowly, licking at the lacquer until the gold symbols blackened and cracked.
A faint, distant cry echoed through the archives as the last token split in two. Kael didn’t know if it had come from the city above or the Emperor himself.
Joren appeared in the doorway, breathing hard. “The rest of the guards are on their way. Whatever you just did, they felt it.”
Liara glanced toward the rear of the archives. “Is there another way out?”
Kael nodded once. “Follow me.”
They wound through narrow aisles, past dust-caked shelves and forgotten scrolls, until they reached a locked iron door. Kael’s badge turned the mechanism with a reluctant groan. Beyond lay a cramped stairwell that spiraled down into the dark.
The air grew damp as they descended, the stone walls slick to the touch. The stair opened into a tunnel that ran beneath the Hall itself, its flagstones cracked with age.
“This leads to the old cisterns,” Kael said. “From there, we can reach the river.”
“Convenient,” Liara murmured.
They moved quickly, the tunnel amplifying every step. Halfway to the cisterns, Kael’s Oath pulsed hard against his chest. The cold deepened.
A shape stepped from the shadows ahead tall, cloaked, the hood drawn low. Gold light leaked from beneath the hood’s edge, faint but unmistakable.
“Leaving so soon?” the voice asked. It wasn’t loud, but it carried in the stones like water through a crack.
Kael stepped forward. “You’re one of his lieutenants.”
The figure tilted its head. “Lieutenant, servant, herald call it what you wish. My master prefers results to titles.”
Liara shifted her stance, daggers ready. “Then you’ll understand why we can’t let you walk away.”
The herald’s hand lifted. Mist boiled from the stones, swirling into three more gold-eyed guards. They moved in silence, flanking their master.
Kael raised his sword, the Oath’s heat filling his limbs.
[Oath Energy: +10]
The clash was immediate. Joren met one guard head-on, steel on steel ringing sharp. Matsu took the second, his strikes heavy and deliberate. Kael went for the herald, but the third guard intercepted, blades locking.
Liara darted past, her daggers slicing toward the herald’s cloak. The fabric split — and the mist poured out thicker, forcing her back.
Kael broke the guard’s defense with a twisting cut, the gold threads spilling from the wound. He turned in time to see Liara stagger as the herald’s hand brushed her shoulder. The gold light flared where they touched.
Kael’s strike came fast and hard, cutting clean through the herald’s arm. Mist hissed from the wound, the severed limb dissolving before it hit the ground.
The herald recoiled, voice curling into a hiss. “You are not ready to face him, Oathbearer. When you are, you will kneel.”
And then the mist collapsed inward, taking the herald and the last guard with it.
The tunnel was silent again, save for the sound of their breathing. Liara pressed a hand to her shoulder, where a faint gold thread still shimmered under her skin.
Kael’s eyes narrowed. “We’ll get it out.”
Her jaw tightened. “We’d better. I’m not giving him a door.”
They reached the cistern without further interruption. The water there was dark and still, the only exit a narrow tunnel to the river.
As they emerged into the night air, the city lay quiet above them. Too quiet.
Kael knew then that the Emperor’s reach inside Moonveil was deeper than any ledger could show. And as the Core Fragment’s weight pressed against his back, the Oath whispered its truth:
“You cannot save them all. Choose who lives.”
Kael did not answer. The choice would come and when it did, he would make it with steel in hand.
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Broken Promises
The bell at the Arms Hall tolled at dawn, its deep chime echoing across Moonveil’s streets. Kael Ruan stood in the courtyard, cloak damp with mist, eyes fixed on the gates. Messengers had ridden through the night, their reports all the same: attacks in the outer districts, vanishing patrols, witnesses describing gold eyes glowing in the dark.The Hollow Emperor was no longer whispering from beneath the stones. He was moving through the city.Liara Fen joined him, her hair tied back, daggers at her belt. “The Dockside Quarter is burning. Families are fleeing toward the central square. If we don’t hold them there, the streets will choke on panic before nightfall.”Kael’s jaw tightened. “Then that’s where we go.”Inside the council chamber, Master Renji sat stiff-backed, his cane across his knees. The faint golden threads in his eyes had faded since the burning of the tether, but his voice was weaker than before.“You can’t be everywhere,” he said. “The Emperor knows that. He’ll strike w
Into the Undercity
The entrance to the undercity lay beneath the oldest part of Moonveil, hidden behind a rusted grate in an alley no one used. By daylight, it was nothing more than a scar in the stone wall. By night, it breathed cold air that smelled of damp earth and something faintly metallic, like blood long dried.Kael Ruan knelt to unbar the grate, the Core Fragment strapped to his chest under his cloak. The Oath burned faintly, as if it knew where they were going.Liara Fen stood watch at the alley’s mouth, her daggers already in hand. Joren and Matsu waited just behind Kael, their armor muffled in black wraps.“Once we’re inside,” Kael said quietly, “there’s no quick way out. Stay close. If the mist rises, keep your backs to the wall and your eyes open.”Liara glanced at him. “Eyes open I can manage. Breathing, maybe not.”The grate opened with a groan, and Kael dropped into the darkness first. His boots landed in shallow water, the chill biting through the leather. The tunnel ahead stretched in
Ground of Choosing
The valley was a scar between two ridges, the ground littered with pale stone and the skeletal remains of long-dead trees. A river once ran here, but now only a shallow channel cut through the rocks, its water dark and still.Kael Ruan stood at the center, the Core Fragment heavy in his palm. The Oath pulsed in time with his heartbeat, each throb a reminder that this was the place he had chosen.Joren and Matsu were already setting the outer perimeter, driving iron stakes into the ground where ropes strung with talismans would hang. Liara Fen crouched near a flat slab of stone, arranging clay jars in a precise pattern. Inside each jar was a mixture of ash, salt, and ground quartz — Renji’s design to slow the Emperor’s mist.Renji himself sat cross-legged on the slab, his cane resting across his knees. His eyes were half-closed, his breathing slow. “The ground remembers,” he said quietly. “Blood was spilled here long before you were born. It will be spilled again.”Kael glanced up at t
The Thread Beneath the Skin
The healer’s chamber smelled faintly of crushed herbs and oil, the air warm from the brazier burning in the corner. Liara sat on the low bench, her cloak discarded, her shoulder bare under the lamplight. The faint gold thread shimmered just beneath the skin, curling like a mark burned there from within.Kael stood at her side, the weight of the Core Fragment heavy in his pack on the floor. Joren and Matsu guarded the door, their shadows stretched long across the wall.Master Renji leaned over Liara, his lined face drawn tight in concentration. “It’s not a wound,” he said finally. “It’s a channel. He’s using it to listen… and to speak.”Liara’s jaw tightened. “Then cut it out.”Renji shook his head. “If it were that simple, you’d be bleeding already. This isn’t in the flesh alone. It’s in the oath you carry.”Kael’s eyes narrowed. “She’s not oath-bound to the Bureau.”“No,” Renji said, “but she’s bound herself to you, hasn’t she? That’s enough for him. The Oath doesn’t know the differe
The Threaded
The first guard moved with a speed that didn’t belong to him. His blade sang through the dim light, striking where Kael had been an instant earlier. The gold-threaded darkness in his eyes didn’t blink, didn’t flinch.Kael pivoted, letting the Oath guide his arm. His sword met the guard’s in a sharp ring, sparks scattering into the cold air. The second guard closed in from the left, the black mist coiling from his mouth with every exhale.Liara slid between two shelves, twin daggers flashing. Her first strike caught one guard across the arm — the flesh beneath split, but instead of blood, threads of gold spilled out, writhing like living things.“Not human anymore,” she said, voice tight.Kael drove his shoulder into the first guard, slamming him back into the shelf. Scrolls tumbled to the floor, parchment scattering across the cold stone. The guard’s head snapped forward, teeth bared, and the gold in his eyes flared.[Oath Energy: +5]Kael’s sword cut clean through the man’s chest. Th
Shadows in the Hall
Moonveil’s walls rose from the morning mist like the ribs of some ancient beast. Kael Ruan rode at the front of the small column, the Core Fragment’s weight in his pack a steady reminder of the fight in Ashen Hollow. Liara Fen kept pace at his side, her eyes scanning the gates ahead.The guards on duty did not call out greetings. They watched in silence as the group passed through, their faces pale, eyes shadowed. Kael’s grip on his reins tightened.“They look like they haven’t slept in days,” Joren murmured from behind.“Or like they’ve been dreaming someone else’s dreams,” Liara said.The Arms Hall courtyard was empty when they arrived, its flagstones slick from a night of rain. The training posts stood untouched, and even the sparring racks looked neglected. Inside, the council chamber was lit by only two braziers, their flames low and sullen.Master Renji sat alone at the far table, his cane across his lap. He didn’t look up when Kael entered.“You’re late,” Renji said. His voice
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