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Chapter 148
The sun of Solara was not a natural thing. It was a machine, and like all machines, it had a rhythm. Every evening, the Great Sun would dim its light to allow the city to cool. This was called the Amber Fade. During this time, the sky turned the color of honey, and the shadows of the tall spires grew long and thin, stretching across the marble streets like the fingers of a giant.In the Mid-Tier District, the Amber Fade was the time for the "Shadow’s Toll."A squad of five Gold-Cloaks walked down a narrow, winding street known as "The Weaver’s Path." This street was famous for its silk shops, but now the shops were boarded up. The rich merchants had fled to the Upper City, leaving behind only the smell of dust and expensive perfume.The Gold-Cloaks were in a good mood. They were led by a man named Sergeant Harl. He was a broad-shouldered mage with a scar across his chin and a helmet that shone like a mirror. In his left hand, he carried a "Siphon-Jar," a large glass container fille
Chapter 147
The silence in the Inner Sanctum was heavy. It was not the peaceful silence of a sleeping forest. It was the silence of a graveyard after a storm. Drogo Payne lay on the cold, black-glass floor. His body was a ruin. His obsidian skin was no longer shiny; it was dull and gray, like a piece of wood that had been left in the rain for too long.Vesper and the other Shadow-Walkers stood in a circle around him. They were not moving. They were not talking. Their silver eyes were fixed on their Source. They could feel his pain through the tethers. It was a sharp, jagged vibration that made their own Abyssal Cores ache.Kaelen, the Silver Inquisitor, was gone. The children had driven him back into the shadows of the upper pipes, but the damage was done. The "Void-Anchor" feedback had nearly turned Drogo’s brain into ash.Inside Drogo’s mind, the world was a mess of broken glass. He saw flashes of the slums. He saw the white fire of the Solar Flare. He saw Tiana’s golden eyes. The "Sensory Fr
Chapter 146
The Inner Sanctum of the Pit was a room made of cold, black glass and heavy silence. In the center of the room sat the throne of Drogo Payne. But the giant who sat there did not look like a king. He looked like a candle that was burning from both ends.Drogo Payne was ten feet tall, but his body was changing. It was not the good kind of change. It was not an evolution. It was a withering.Drogo’s obsidian skin, which had been as hard as diamond, was now thin and brittle. It looked like old, burnt paper. In some places, the black stone had cracked open, revealing the raw, violet energy underneath. But that energy was not flowing. It was being sucked out.Drogo was the Source. He was the battery for five hundred Abyssal Thralls and thirteen Shadow-Walkers. Every time Vesper used [Shadow-Phase], she took a piece of Drogo’s mana. Every time Pip used [Mana-Sense], he pulled on Drogo’s core. Every time a Laborer carved a stone, they used a drop of Drogo’s blood.[SYSTEM WARNING: RESOURCE D
Chapter 145
Drogo’s head snapped to the side. He felt a new energy signature entering Sector 4. It was not a guard. It was not a captain. It was a sun.A man was walking through the black smoke of the Miasma. He didn't use a shield. He didn't use a spell. The smoke simply moved away from him, as if it were afraid to touch his robe.He wore a robe of pure, liquid gold. He had a long, red beard that looked like it was made of actual fire. In his hand, he held a staff made of a single, giant ruby.This was Master Ignis. He was one of the twelve High Masters of the Academy. He was a "Sun-Lord," a mage who could command the heat of the stars.Ignis looked at the piles of ash that used to be the Solaris Guards. He didn't look sad. He looked disgusted."Trash," Ignis whispered. His voice was a crackle of dry wood. He looked up at the ceiling, his eyes turning into two glowing red coals. He could see the tethers. He could see the violet lines connecting the Shadow-Walkers to the Source."I see you, Null,
Chapter 144
The air in Sector 4 of the Academy was screaming. It was not the scream of a person, but the scream of a system falling apart.Sector 4 was the "Power Heart." It was where the giant water wheels turned, pushed by the city’s waste, to create the electricity that powered the street lamps and the research labs. Usually, it was a place of loud machinery and bright blue sparks. But tonight, the machinery was silent. The only sound was the rhythmic thump-thump-thump of the Solaris Guards’ boots on the metal catwalks.Captain Hektor of the 3rd Solaris Battalion was sweating. His gold armor felt heavy. His Sun-Spear was glowing, but the light felt small in the thick, purple mist that was rising from the floor."Stay together!" Hektor yelled to his twenty men. "Shields up! Don't let the shadows touch you!"Hektor was a veteran. He had fought mountain trolls and sea serpents. He knew how to fight things he could see. But he didn't know how to fight the future."There!" a guard pointed his spe
Chapter 143
Mia stood up. She didn't use [Shadow-Phase]. She stepped out into the light of the Sun-Amber lamps. The Solaris Guards saw her. They raised their spears."Halt, rat!" the Captain yelled. "Who are you? Where did you come from?"Mia didn't answer. She stood perfectly still, her silver eyes fixed on the Captain.Drogo turned his mind toward Mia’s vocal cords. He didn't just want to talk to her; he wanted to talk through her.[SKILL ACTIVATED: ABYSSAL MOUTHPIECE.][WARNING: THIS WILL STRAIN THE SUBORDINATE’S PHYSICAL FORM.]Drogo willed his voice to travel through the tether.Mia’s mouth opened. But the sound that came out was not the voice of a ten-year-old girl. It was a deep, layered sound. It sounded like Drogo’s voice, but it was mixed with the whispers of the thirteen children and the roar of the Chasm. It was a voice that had a "timbre" of absolute cold."The Sun is a lie," Mia said.The voice was so loud it made the water in the fountain stop flowing. The Solaris Guards stepped b
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