Chapter 40
Author: Yeshua Yin
last update2025-07-30 20:29:47

It took them three days to reach the outskirts of Cireen. The journey south from Argent Academy passed through mountain ranges of bone-white stone and valleys so quiet the wind seemed afraid to speak.

No birds flew overhead. No beasts crossed their path. Only dust, and the ever-present feeling that something, someone, was watching.

Cireen had once been a shining trade city, famous for its underground vaults and crystal-lit streets.

But nearly a century ago, an explosion of unstable magic had swallowed half the city whole.

Now it was a hollow shell, haunted, abandoned, and officially cursed by every known mage council. The perfect place for a soul anchor.

They set up camp outside the main gate at dusk. Aurora secured the perimeter with light wards while Holt drilled a line of salt into the dust.

Elara unrolled her maps, marking tunnel entrances and collapse zones. Norra fidgeted with her satchel, muttering incantations under her breath.

Mason stood alone near a broken statue of a r
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    The chapel was nothing but ruins. Its walls leaned inward, black with soot. Its roof had collapsed long ago, leaving the stars to watch from above. The air smelled of smoke and rot, and the ground was littered with broken stone and half-burned icons.This was where Mason’s band rested after their last battle. But it did not feel like rest. Men sharpened blades with shaking hands. Women stared into the ashes of small campfires, their eyes empty. Children curled against one another, too tired to cry but unable to sleep. The silence pressed heavy on all of them.Norra sat by Mason’s side. He leaned against a broken column, his skin pale, his breath shallow. His silver eyes glowed faintly in the dark, a light that looked less like strength and more like a wound.She watched him in silence, her heart heavy. Every time he unleashed the fire, she thought it would be the last. She thought he would not rise again. Yet he always did, slower, weaker, but still burning.Her small hands clenche

  • Chapter 111

    The morning after the rider’s warning, the academy ruins felt smaller. The courtyard was filled with noise. Envoys shouted orders, priests sang prayers, refugees begged for protection. Horses stamped at the gates, soldiers sharpened blades.But Mason did not linger among them. He stood at the flame mark, his silver eyes fixed on the glow. His hand rested lightly on the stone, feeling the steady pulse beneath it. The warmth of Aurora’s fire beat like a second heart inside him.He spoke softly, too low for others to hear. “I will carry it. I will burn them all, before they rise again.”John approached, his cloak dragging ash across the stones. His silver eyes were sharp, his voice low. “You’re leaving again.”Mason nodded once. “The shadows don’t wait.”John’s jaw tightened. “And the world behind you? The kings, the priests, the people who think you’re their savior? You’ll leave them quarreling in your absence?”Mason’s gaze flicked to him. “Let them quarrel. I’m not their savior.”No

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    The road back from the Black Hills was heavier than the march east. They carried fewer supplies, fewer voices. Some who had left with Mason did not return. Their bodies lay buried beneath the charred ruins of the village, marked only by scorched stones and the smell of ash.Norra walked beside Mason in silence, her small hands clenched into fists. She had watched him burn shadows with fire that was not his. She had seen him shake after, skin pale, breath ragged.She had wanted to scream at him to stop. But she hadn’t. Because the shadows would have swallowed them all if he hadn’t.Now, with each step, her chest ached with a fear she could not voice. Refugees followed them west. Men, women, children with hollow eyes. They spoke in whispers that spread like smoke. “They say he carries the Saint’s fire.”“They say the silver-eyed warrior burns darkness itself.”“They say Aurora gave him her soul.”Mason heard them. He ignored them. His silver eyes stayed forward, cold as steel, but John

  • Chapter 109

    The courtyard was quiet at dawn. The flame mark pulsed faintly, its glow softer than in the nights before. The pilgrims who had camped at the gates still slept, their breaths rising in steady clouds, but Mason was awake.He stood at the edge of the courtyard, silver eyes fixed on the east. The Black Hills waited there, jagged shadows across the horizon. His jaw was tight, his shoulders squared. He had not spoken much through the night, but all who saw him knew what weighed on him.The messenger’s last words were still sharp in his mind. “They gather. Fragments… shadows… Vazquez’s remnants.”Mason closed his hand into a fist. “Then we’ll meet them.”By midmorning, the survivors gathered in the ruined hall. It was smaller than it had been, half the roof missing, the stone cracked. But the voices inside carried strong.John stood at Mason’s side, his arms crossed, his silver eyes cool. Norra sat on the step nearby, her chin lifted high, defiance glowing in her young face.Students, old

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    The sun rose over the academy ruins. Its light spilled across shattered walls, broken towers, and scorched earth. Yet even with the dawn, the brightest thing in the courtyard was not the sun.It was the flame mark burned into the stone. It pulsed faintly, gold light rising and falling like a heartbeat.The survivors gathered around it, whispering among themselves. Some bowed their heads in prayer. Others touched the stone carefully, as if afraid it might vanish.Norra sat beside the mark, her hands pressed against it. Her hair was tangled, her clothes torn, but her eyes burned fiercely with determination.She hadn’t left the mark since the night Aurora vanished into fire. When the younger students asked her why, she always gave the same answer. “Because she’s still here. I can feel her.”Her words spread quickly. The children began to sit near the mark with her, some whispering Aurora’s name, others humming softly like a song.Every time the mark glowed brighter, Norra’s heart leapt.

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