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Home / Fantasy / Shards of the Gods / Chapter 12: Into the Dark Flue Copy
Chapter 12: Into the Dark Flue Copy
Author: Erina
last update2026-10-12 07:31:29

The rusted iron hatch creaked, complaining under Pipit’s small fingers. A gust of stale, warm air blew into Reksa’s face, carrying the scent of ancient soot and burnt grease.

"This is it," Pipit whispered, pointing her shrouded lantern into the dark, vertical square. "The old flue. It runs straight up to the bell mechanism. The cell block is just off the main shaft on the fifth level."

Reksa peered into the gloom. The chute was barely wide enough for his shoulders. "Are you sure this hasn't bee
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  • Chapter 18: Wrath of the Weaver

    The wooden back door of the dye shop splintered as Reksa crashed through, coughing up a mouthful of gray soot and blood."He's back!" Pipit cried, dropping her lantern. "Nyai, he's back!""Shut the door!" Reksa gasped, collapsing onto the damp stone floor. "Bolt it! Now!""You're bleeding," Pipit whispered, her hands shaking as she slid the heavy iron bar into place. "Your hair... it's completely white.""The price of the passage," Reksa wheezed, clutching his chest. "I had to... I had to see him.""You went into the tower," a cold, razor-sharp voice cut through the dark.Nyai Kemuning stepped out from behind a row of hanging, indigo-dyed fabrics. She didn't carry her spectacles. In her hands was a pair of heavy, rusted iron shears, and her eyes were wide, flashing with a dangerous, silver-blue luminescence."Nyai, I—""Silence!" she hissed. The pressure radiating from her tiny, frail frame was suddenly heavy enough to press Reksa back against the door. "I gave you one instruction. On

  • Chapter 20: The Leap of Faith

    "That mark," Dharsa whispered, his voice trembling for the first time. "How do you have that?"Reksa took a step back, but his boots slipped. The slate tiles beneath him weren't wet. They were frozen. A layer of pitch-black ice was rapidly creeping outward from the folded cloth around his neck."I don't know," Reksa gasped, clutching his throat. "I don't—"*Quiet,* the third voice commanded. It didn't ring in his ears. It echoed in his bones. *You speak to insects.*"Get out of my head!" Reksa screamed."Reksa!" Wiratma’s voice was a frantic roar. "Do not let it breathe! If that seal fully wakes, it will draw every warden in the province to this spot!""It's suffocating me!" Sarnika shrieked, her usual arrogance entirely gone. "Cut it off, Reksa! Pull the cloth off!"Reksa tore at the black fabric, but his fingers felt numb, like blocks of wood. The black ice had reached his knees, anchoring him to the sloping roof.Dharsa recovered his composure, his pale eyes narrowing. "So. You can

  • Chapter 16: The Alarm "Get up," Wiratma barked.

    Reksa coughed, tasting copper and soot. "Bagas...""He’s gone, Reksa," Sarnika’s voice was a cold whip. "If you stay, you join him."He pushed himself up. His palms were shredded, bleeding golden light onto the cracked stone of the fourth floor. The ceiling above him was a jagged, smoking crater."We have to go back up," Reksa wheezed."Are you insane?" Sarnika screamed. "Look around you!"The corridor was filling with gray smoke. Below, the furnace was still roaring, sending heat rising through the floorboards."I can’t just leave him," Reksa said, his voice cracking."He chose this," Wiratma said, his tone heavy. "He broke your chains. He gave you a path. Run, Reksa!"Footsteps echoed from the western stairwell. Heavy, rhythmic, and fast."Hey! You!" a voice boomed through the haze.A sentry wearing the black-and-silver plate of the Rakta Guard stepped into the corridor. He raised a glowing blue lantern, his eyes widening as the light caught Reksa’s silver hair."Intruder!" the sent

  • Chapter 15: Whispers Through the Bars The blood-red light solidified.

    It didn't just glow; it hissed, condensing into thick, vertical columns that vibrated like hot iron dipped in grease. They formed a cage within a cage, locking Reksa and Bagas inside the shallow bowl of the floor, while the white-armored figure stood just beyond the searing barrier."Do not touch them," Sarnika warned, her voice vibrating with raw panic inside Reksa's head. "Those aren't made of magic. That is liquid decay. Touch them, and your flesh will rot off your bones in seconds."Reksa backed away, his heels scraping the edge of the warding circle. "Bagas, can you move?"The old man hung from the violet bands, his skin translucent. "I told you... to run, boy.""I'm not running," Reksa spat, his silver hair clinging to his sweat-slicked forehead. "Not without you. Wiratma, can we shatter this?""No," Wiratma said, his voice unusually quiet. "The white-armored one... he has locked the energetic cycle. If I try to channel power now, it will only feed the cage. He wants us to strug

  • Chapter 14: The Guarded Cage

    "Let go of me!" Reksa roared.He kicked backward with his free boot. His heel slammed into something cold, dense, and metallic.Metal shrieked against stone."Target identified," the mechanical voice droned from the dark flue behind him. "Shard signature confirmed. Initiating suppression protocol.""He's draining your light!" Sarnika shrieked in his head. "Kick it, you idiot! The wrist joint! Strike the wrist joint!""I can't turn around!" Reksa hissed, his fingers clawing at the soot-covered floor of the conduit. "Wiratma, help!""The stone," Wiratma said, his voice echoing with sudden authority. "Do not push it. Pull it. Shatter the conduit ceiling behind you!""If I do that, we get buried alive!" Reksa yelled."Better buried than captured!" Sarnika countered. "Do it!"Reksa gritted his teeth. He pressed his bare palm against the floor, ignoring the stinging pain as the magical mortar sparked against his skin. He didn't picture still water. He pictured a collapsing mountain."Drop!"

  • Chapter 13: The Voice in the Soot Copy

    "Up!" Wiratma roared inside his skull. "Pull, Reksa!""I'm trying!" Reksa gasped, his fingers slipping on the heated iron grate.Below him, the orange glow flared into a blinding white. The heat was a physical wall, pushing him upward."The hinge is rusted," Sarnika hissed, her voice sharp with panic. "Kick it! Use your heel!""With what leverage?" Reksa grunted.He swung his legs, his boot heels slamming against the iron grate.*Clang.*The metal groaned, but held."Again!" Wiratma urged. "The fire is rising!"Reksa screamed, a raw sound swallowed by the rush of the furnace blast, and kicked with both feet.*Crack.*The grate flew open. He hauled himself through the gap, rolling onto a flat, soot-covered stone floor just as a tongue of white flame licked the soles of his boots. He kicked the hatch shut, sealing the roaring heat below."We are alive," Reksa wheezed, pressing his face against the cold, dusty stone."For now," Sarnika said coldly. "But you smell like singed hair. Move.

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