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Chapter 12 – The Choice and the Siege
The ruin quaked again. Dust sifted down from the ceiling. Outside, that hum swelled into a living roar. The system’s voice blared in Desmond’s skull: [Decision Required. Assassin’s Fate.]Mira’s wide eyes pleaded. “Keep him alive, please!”Lysandra’s blade glittered. “Kill him now.”Selene’s lips curved. “Use him. Then dispose of him when it suits us.”Three voices. One heartbeat. The assassin, bleeding and bound, smirked through cracked teeth. “Choose, boy. Or the Serpent chooses for you.”Desmond’s chest tightened. His head pounded with the weight of the choice. He saw the system prompt shimmering in his vision, three paths branching in front of him like a broken trident.For a heartbeat, silence. Then his voice cut through. “No more stalling.”He stepped toward the prisoner. Mira held her breath. Lysandra’s grip on her sword trembled, poised. Selene’s eyes gleamed, hungry.Desmond’s hand closed on the assassin’s chin, forcing those slit-pupiled eyes to meet his.“I keep you alive,”
Chapter 11 – The Fracture Within
The ruin still trembled with the echo of armored boots. Their sound seemed to linger, ghostlike, in the morning air. Even with the guards gone, the walls pressed close, suffocating.Desmond hadn’t moved. His chest rose and fell as though each breath weighed a stone. He could still feel the captain’s eyes on him, sharp as a blade pressed against his throat.And then Mira’s voice broke the silence. “You lied,” she whispered. “You lied to them. We should have given him over.”Her hand trembled where it clutched her cloak. “The Serpent hunts us, Desmond. The King watches us. You’re balancing fire on both hands, and”“and you’d have us hand over our only chance at answers?” Lysandra cut in, voice hard. She stood near the bound figure in the corner, one hand gripping her sword’s pommel, her eyes lit with fury. “Better to risk our necks than let the Serpent vanish into the King’s dungeons, untouchable. At least this way, we keep control.”Selene leaned against the wall, arms folded, her smil
Chapter -10- B– At the Mercy of the Crown
The first light of dawn bled across the ruin’s broken stones, gray and thin. Mira had dozed against the wall, her breathing shallow.Lysandra kept her hand on her sword even in sleep, posture tense. Selene leaned awake in the corner, eyes sharp, as if she’d expected this moment. The moment when bootsteps thundered in the street outside.Desmond stiffened, instinct dragging him upright. “Wake them,” he hissed.Mira stirred with a start as Lysandra’s eyes snapped open, hand instantly gripping her blade. Selene’s lips curled into a cold smile. “Finally. I wondered how long it would take them to arrive.”The doorless arch of the ruin flooded with armored figures. Gleaming helms caught the pale dawn. Spears lowered in unison.“By order of His Majesty, King Dorian,” barked the captain, “you are to step forward and account for last night’s disturbance.”Lysandra stepped into position before Desmond, blade drawn, voice sharp. “Disturbance? We defended ourselves.”The captain’s eyes flicked to
Chapter 10-A – Shattered Silence
The torch had burned low, leaving the ruin steeped in long shadows. The assassin lay bound in the corner, chest rising in shallow, uneven rhythm.But the room’s real weight wasn’t the prisoner, it was the silence between Desmond and the women.Mira broke it first. Her voice was soft, fragile. “Desmond… what was that? The green light, the voice…”Desmond rubbed his temples. His skull still throbbed from the battle in his mind. “The Serpent. Or something tied to it. Whatever it was, it wanted inside.”Mira shuddered, arms wrapping around herself. “I felt it too. Like… like a snake in my veins.”Selene scoffed, though it lacked her usual bite. “Convenient. Very convenient. The assassin whispers nonsense, you groan dramatically, and suddenly you’re the hero who saved us all?”Lysandra bristled. “You saw the glow in his eyes. You heard the voice. Don’t you dare call that nonsense.”Selene’s gaze sharpened. “And you don’t dare ignore that power is dangerous. He’s carrying something none of
Chapter 9 – Fangs in the Dark
The ruin was colder than usual, the night air biting against crumbling stone. A single torch guttered near the corner, throwing unsteady shadows across the bound assassin.Desmond sat opposite him, knees stiff, eyes sharp. The staff lay propped against the wall within arm’s reach. He didn’t trust it, but he didn’t dare cast it away either.The assassin stared back, lips curled in a smirk, as if the ropes were an inconvenience rather than chains. “You’re quiet tonight,” Desmond said at last.The man chuckled. “Why waste breath on the condemned?”“You’re the one tied to a post,” Desmond shot back. “Condemned looks more like your role than mine.”The assassin tilted his head, pale eyes glimmering green in the torchlight. “You really don’t understand, do you? I’m not bound here. You are.”From behind, Selene scoffed. “Pathetic attempt at intimidation.”“Or truth,” Lysandra muttered, arms folded tightly across her chest. “Men like him don’t fear death because someone taught them not to.”M
Chapter 8 – The Assassin’s Secret
The ruin smelled of smoke, dust, and iron. The cloaked man lay sprawled on the dirt floor, wrists bound with rope stripped from the ruined rafters. His shallow breathing rasped in the silence.Desmond stood over him, the stolen staff clutched tight in his hand. The faint green glow had died, but a residue of wrongness still clung to the wood. The system whispered faintly in his skull:[Optional Quest Available: Interrogate the Captive.][Failure: Loss of Potential Intel.]Mira’s voice broke the quiet. “W-we can’t keep him here. What if he wakes?”Lysandra crossed her arms, eyes hard. “Then we make sure he doesn’t.”Selene’s lip curled. “Always the soldier’s answer. Kill first, ask never.”Lysandra shot her a glare. “Better than dragging trouble back to the King’s men and branding ourselves traitors.”Selene stepped closer, her voice sharp with disdain. “Or perhaps you’re too dim to realize: if he was sent by someone powerful, killing him only covers the trail. Reporting him to the Kin
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