2026-03-17 00:45:58
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CHAPTER 106
Author's POVAstoria woke them at seven AM.Not the vicious four-thirty wake-up calls from earlier. Not the kind treatment of letting them sleep till ten. Just--seven. A compromise that came between their tired bodies and the fact that they were running out of time.Nobody argued. They just dragged themselves out of bed, mechanically put on training clothes, and marched down to the training hall like soldiers reporting to duty.The atmosphere was heavy. Oppressive. Like the air itself bound down by whatever had occurred in the last twenty-four hours.Charis's people collected Zayan's siblings at midnight. He'd said goodbye over video call - Maya crying and not understanding why she had to leave, Marcos trying to be brave but obviously terrified, both of them begging for Zayan to come with them.He'd promised he would. Soon. When it was safe.Lied to their faces because the truth - that he might not be alive long enough to see them again - wasn't something a fifteen-year-old, and an ei
CHAPTER 105
Author's POV"Two weeks," Astoria said."Give or take. The convergence is close now. I can feel it tugging at the mark. Activating it. In two weeks or less, the legion of corruption will touch my heart. And when it does--" He paused, "--I'll either die, or become a thrall, a puppet for Grimfall to use."Eilish was crying openly now. Not the kind of quiet tears from before, but actual sobs shook her entire body. Her grandmother drew her close, one arm around her shoulders, but Astoria's face was grim."Why didn't you tell us?" Rune's voice broke on the question. Why did you not tell us when we first came here?" When we started training?""Because you would have left," said Aeris simply. You would have thought there wasn't a point in training with someone who was dying. No point in trusting one who was already corrupted beyond saving.""So you lied to us," Kaladin said."I kept some things to myself," Aeris corrected. "To protect you. To allow you to get strong enough so that you can fi
CHAPTER 104
Author's POVAeris ended the call with Charis."It's done," he said, putting down his phone. "She's sending a team to pick up Marcos and Maya within the hour." They'll be transferred to a safe house outside of the city. Completely off the grid. Protected."Zayan nodded numbly. He had not moved from his corner, had not looked up; he simply sat there with his hand on his bruised throat."You can video call them whenever you want," Aeris continued, trying to offer some comfort. Encrypted communication will be set up by Charis." They won't be cut off entirely from you.""Yeah." Zayan's voice was flat. Empty. "Okay."The common area fell back into heavy silence.Aeris stood there for a moment, with the phone still in his hand, and trying to think of something else to say. Something which would make this easier. Something that would ease the crushing weight of the guilt and grief sitting down on all of them.But there was nothing.They'd just survived an attack that had killed two people an
CHAPTER 103
Author's POVThe weight of it threatened to crush him.But he was the leader. The mentor. The one who was supposed to have the answers.So he pushed aside the self-recrimination and focused on what needed to be done."We need to talk," Aeris said softly.Nobody responded. A few of them looked up, but nobody said anything."I know everybody's processing what just happened," Aeris continued. "And you should. Take the time you need. But there's something we need to get on with right away."Still silence.Aeris directly stared at Zayan. "Your siblings. Marcos and Maya. They're not safe."Zayan's head snapped up with eyes red-rimmed but alert all of a sudden. "What?""Tiago knows about them," Aeris gently but firmly said. "He knows they exist. He knows where you live. And Zenna"--he paused, choosing his words carefully--"Zenna knows all about them. Where do they go to school? Their routines. Their vulnerabilities."Zayan's face went pale. "No. No, they're fine. They're at home. They're sta
CHAPTER 102
Author's POVThe Sanctum felt like a tomb.They'd made it inside - just - and now they were spread out in the common area in all the various states of physical and emotional collapse. Nobody spoke. Nobody moved unless they absolutely needed to. The silence was heavy, oppressive, and broken only by the sound of pained breathing or the drip of blood on concrete.Richard was on the couch and not yet fully conscious. His nose had finally stopped bleeding, but his face was swollen and bruised from the backlash of his forcefield's destruction. Astoria's remaining tactical team members were attending to him with quiet efficiency, checking his vitals, making sure the damage wasn't permanent.Astoria herself was sitting at the table, her hands folded in front of her, staring at nothing. Her face composed -- years of military discipline had kept her expression neutral -- but her eyes were hollowing. Empty.Marcus and Sarah were dead.Two soldiers she'd trained personally. Two people who'd fough
CHAPTER 101
Author's POV She went down in a morass of elements, her scream cutting off abruptly."NO!" Astoria's voice held anguish, which she did not often show. Two of her people - soldiers she'd trained, fought beside, trusted with her life - down in seconds.The chaos intensified.Aeris was still fighting Tiago but losing. The corrupted shadows had wrapped their way around most of his body now, pinning his arms, constricting his chest. His element of Fire was sputtering, weakening.Tiago's corruption was eating away at him, finding the reduced scar on his chest and feeding on it, making it spread again.All the healing that Zenna had accidentally given him was being taken away. Reversed. The pain was back, sharp and immediate, and worse than before."This is the way it ends," Tiago said as he stood over his trapped brother. "Not with some grand battle.Not with you saving the world. Just you, dying in a dirty lot, defeated by your own brother."He held up his hand, shadows collecting in his p
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