MasukGILDEON
His fire blade clashed violently against Vergilius’s cane, each strike lighting up the foggy churchyard. The scent of burning foliage filled the air as they crashed through twisted shrubs, igniting a nearby holy statue. Vergilius blocked and countered each hit, his strikes growing heavier, more forceful.
Gildeon’s eyes narrowed. Something was wrong. Every clash sent a strange pulse up his blade, as if its energy was being siphoned. Vergilius&
ARAHEENHer father had once told her that only a handful of people had ever descended to the lowest level of the Crescent Tower. Most sylphs did not even know it existed.The secrets of the Pits had always been kept by the Warden—who had served since the tower’s founding—and by whoever bore the title of Army General.Araheen followed the Warden down a narrow corridor that ended in a recessed alcove carved into the stone wall. Suspended within it was a bronze falcon.The statue hovered motionless in the air. Its eyes, forged from a darker shade of bronze, seemed to watch them as they approached.The moment they stepped onto the platform, the falcon’s wings slowly spread.She glanced up at the Warden, faintly surprised that the broad-shouldered man could fit within the narrow alcove beside her. Or perhaps it was simply that she herself was smaller and lighter by comparison.The Warden suddenly went still. His eyes turne
ARAHEENThe question left Araheen silent for a moment. For an instant, it felt as if Kohina could see directly into her thoughts.Araheen broke the gaze, forcing her expression back into its usual calm.“I do not love him,” she said evenly.“Awakening cannot occur unless the sylph and the salamander share genuine feelings.”Araheen’s head snapped toward Kohina. “Arah had those feelings.”“Are the two of you not the same?”“We have different minds and different experiences.”Kohina sighed softly before stepping toward the bed and sitting at its edge.“Have you never considered,” the seer said, “that perhaps she was the person you were always meant to be?”“What exactly are you implying?”“You are a Fractured Sylph,” Kohina replied. “One born with unrestrained emotions who, after experiencing tragedy, chose to suppress them again for many years.”The seer tilted her head slightly and c
ARAHEENShe sat in the interrogator’s chair positioned beside the cell door.Her eyes drifted over Kohina, noting that the seer no longer showed any visible distress. Her hands had fully healed, both through her salamander physiology and the restorative magic of the sylphs. No trace of the horrific Devil Star damage remained.Kohina had been given a simple white dress. Among the sylphs, it was meant to be degrading—a symbolic stripping away of the enemies’ barbarity, replacing it with something the sylphs considered purity and dignity.Lately, the practice had begun to feel strange and wrong to Araheen.Much like many of their customs.“I trust this accommodation is better than the one you recently had,” she said, crossing her legs and resting her hands on her lap.Her eyes roamed around the chamber. The ceiling, walls, and floor were all forged from silver, every surface etched with dense layers of sigils.The
ARAHEEN“The answer is no,” Araheen told Gildeon as they stepped out of the High Council Chamber after reporting the outcome of their mission and presenting the Vulkar’s Rod.Seeing the subtle approval in her father’s eyes had filled her with a quiet sense of satisfaction.Lothair might have been a monster to his enemies—perhaps even a cruel man and father by the standards of lower mortals—but he was still her father. And his approval was something she had spent her entire life striving to earn.She had been in high spirits until Gildeon ruined it by requesting permission to see Kohina—Something she had absolutely no intention of granting.The seer had been confined to a specialized cell within Crescent Tower. Only Araheen herself was permitted to interrogate her. No other sylph was granted access.“You gave your word that I’d be allowed to see my comrades after the raid,” Gildeon reminded her.“I gave my word
GILDEONKohina was slumped in the center of the dark cell. Her head had been shaved clean.He couldn’t believe Old Man had done that to her.Her red dress, strangely, was still intact. Nearly clean, even. But her hands weren’t.Both palms were pinned to the stone floor by two black spheres of thorned growth. Blood pooled beneath them.Devil Star. A desert plant from the eastern wastes. Once its barbed core latched onto living flesh, it burrowed inward and anchored itself. The pod grew heavy—dense as iron—while its thorns drank slowly from the victim’s blood. It would never let go until the body stopped feeding it.For salamanders, whose blood constantly regenerated, the torment could last indefinitely.Pain without a pause or end.This was one of the cruelest punishments for their kind.His fists clenched until the knuckles whitened. If Haemos were still alive, Gildeon would
GILDEONHe suppressed a smile when Araheen pulled her hand away and straightened abruptly.For a brief second, he caught a glimpse of Arah in her—the same flustered reaction she used to have.Araheen cleared her throat.“Our scholars will have many questions for you,” she said, “about why you people came into possession of this… thing.”A faint smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.She turned to her soldiers. “Pack it carefully.”“Yes, Commander.”Gildeon stepped forward to help as they secured the object inside a reinforced silver case. Even then, it took four sylph soldiers to lift the box using the leather straps attached to its sides before hauling it out of the chamber.He mentally shook his head. These sylphs would never have survived the Ancient Beasts Era.Across the room, Araheen and Feviel spoke in low voices. He caught frag
GILDEONHis mind raged with questions. Kana wasn’t special—just a pure human. But what truly gnawed at him was Zylas’s father. He had to be a higher mortal. A salamander.Gildeon couldn’t begin to wrap his thoughts around the idea of a salamander coming down to Earthland and mating with a human. Th
ARAHShe was still reeling. The winged beast towering before her—the one Gildeon had called out to—was Zylas. Her mind flashed back to their conversation in the kitchen, his cryptic mention of flying. Now it made sense, and yet, it didn’t.This creature definitely didn’t belong to Earthland. What kind
ARAHShe was standing on a farm. The morning air was sharp and cool, carrying the smell of damp earth and manure. In the distance, a herd of cows grazed lazily, tearing into the grass, their low, rumbling moos punctuating the quiet.A man stood a few yards away, worki
ARAHShe rolled hard to the side, her movement barely outpacing Tiger Lokius’s crushing pounce. His claws swiped through empty air as she scrambled to her feet, snapping into a defensive stance. She put as much distance as she could between them, her breath tight in her chest.The striped beast ski







