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CHAPTER 70: HOLY WAR
They didn’t even make it to morning.The Church hit first.At midnight, every bell in the eastern hills started no gentle chime, either. These were massive, bronze war bells booming through the dark. Ronan shot awake, already gripping his sword.“What’s going on?” Kael mumbled, half out of his blankets.“War bells,” Vaelin said. Candlelight made her face look ghostly. “The Church of Mercy is calling its faithful.Ronan rushed to the window.From the tower of the Forbidden Division, he could see it all: the torches twisting through the night, thousands of them. They snaked up the mountain road, straight toward the Academy, a river of fire.“How many?” Ronan asked.Vaelin came up beside him. She didn’t have to squint. Her old eyes saw further.“Ten thousand. More, maybe. Paladins, priests, zealots. They’ve called a holy war.”“We can’t stop ten thousand,” Darius said.“We don’t need to.” Ronan turned from the window. “We just have to break their faith.”He snatched up the silver key and
CHAPTER 69: THE LONG ROAD DOWN
They walked down the mountain without a word, but it wasn’t a peaceful silence. It pressed in around them, thick and tense.Ronan kept fingering the key in his pocket. Eyes on the ground, mind spinning elsewhere.The trap is set.Vex never said it out loud, but Ronan saw it the quick glint when the commander handed over the key. The way his hand hovered over the desk. The too-still look in his eyes as they’d walked out.He was way too calm. Gave in too quickly. Way too eager.“We need to talk,” Ronan said, and they stopped on a curve in the trail. Rocks arched over them, and wind battered everything just out of reach. Here, it felt silent and small.“You saw it too,” Silas said, not really asking.“He didn’t put up a fight,” Ronan said. “The Iron Legion never surrenders. They’re the kind to die before handing anything over. Vex just handed us the key.”Mira tried, “Maybe he actually wants to make things right.”“Maybe.” Ronan pulled out the key into the shadowy light. The metal caught
CHAPTER 68: THE IRON LEGION
The darkness shifted.Ronan blinked. Those weren’t shadows they moved. Fast.“Down!” he yelled.They dropped. A blade tore the air right above Kael’s head, slammed the wall so hard it sent sparks everywhere.What stepped out wasn’t human.It was armor massive, almost seven feet tall, every inch covered in black iron plates. Bolts, plates, not a single scrap of skin. In the visor, two red lights flickered exactly where eyes should be. Its sword was a slab of metal, more like a door than a weapon.“The Iron Sentinels,” Vaelin whispered. “Torvan’s guardians. I always thought they were just stories.”“They’re not,” said Ronan, already drawing his sword.The Sentinel swung that blade. Ronan twisted aside, rolled, and stabbed for its knee joint. Steel screeched. The thing staggered…but it didn’t go down.“They don’t have flesh!” Silas shouted. “No bones, no joints to break! They run on Torvan’s magic!”Kael threw a knife at the visor. Pointless the blade clinked off. Darius lowered his shou
CHAPTER 67: THE FORGOTTEN ROAD
They slipped out of the Academy at dawn.For the first time in ages, nobody was after them.Ronan noticed it right away, but the calm didn’t sit right. He kept glancing back, half-expecting to hear boots on stone, a flash of magic, or Vane’s icy voice behind him. All he got was silence, the soft scuff of shoes on dirt, and the cool, empty breeze.“Would you quit that?” Kael grumbled from behind.“Quit what?”“You’re looking behind us every five seconds. You’re making my skin crawl.”Ronan tried to loosen up. “Sorry.”They went east, mountains ahead. Vaelin took point, a dog-eared map in her grip. The trail barely deserved the name more like something deer had worn down over decades—but that was the point. The main roads were crawling with Church patrols.The Hollow walked beside Mira…it was Elara’s turn today. You could always tell when it was her; she moved lighter, full of restless energy, and refused any help.“I can walk,” she’d told them that morning, adamant. “I’ve been stuck in
CHAPTER 66: TWO SOULS
The Hollow woke up with a scream. But not just one scream.Two voices. Tangled together.Ronan rushed in, sword at the ready. Mira was already by the bed, holding the Hollow down. Lyra and Silas came right behind him.The Hollow was thrashing on the cot, body twisting, eyes snapping open and shut. Their cries twisted, echoed: one voice a boy, the other a girl fighting each other for a shot at the surface.“Get out of my head!”“You’re hurting her!”Those two voices, climbing over each other. One throat, two desperate minds.“Hold them down!” Mira yelled.Ronan dropped his blade and gripped the Hollow’s legs. Kael took their arms. Black veins crawled down the Hollow’s neck, almost pulsing.“Let go!”“Please, stop!”And then total stillness.No one moved. Not even a breath.The Hollow’s eyes opened. Brown, sharp, clear. Not vacant or lost, but awake. Alert.She glanced at Ronan, then at Mira. She tried her voice…raspy, shaky, but steady.“Where is he?” she asked.Ronan blinked. “Who?”“
CHAPTER 65: THE ASHES OF THE TOWER
The white light sputtered out.Just like that, the tower was only a tower again.Ronan stood over the wrecked altar, chest still heaving. Dust and something darker clung to the edge of his rusted sword. Blown-out candles smoked nearby. The priests lay scattered on the floor, slowly shifting back to themselves as the Sixth's twisted magic faded.“Is it over?” Kael asked, wiping blood from a cut above his brow. “Did we get him?”Ronan shook his head. “He ran.”Kael spat. “Of course. Coward.”On the altar, the Hollow’s body was still. The sickly white glow had vanished. Their breathing sounded steady, and Mira was already checking their pulse.“They’re okay,” she said, relief thick in her voice. “The ritual didn’t work.”Lyra watched from the doorway and whispered, “Thank the gods.”Ronan met her eyes, a little bitter. “What’s left of them, anyway.”No time to linger.The Academy was stirring awake, and chaos was spreading like wildfire. Wards flickered, barely holding, like a lantern gu
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