LOGINARAHEEN
She 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
ARAHEENShe looked away to steady herself, then noticed the structural damage here was more contained than in the outer chamber, yet far more alarming.Cracks ran along the pillars, the walls, and even the ceiling. But what bothered her most were the fractures cutting through the sigils themselves.“How are the sigils breaking?” she asked in disbelief.Unless Garud was secretly a master sigilmaker, nothing else should have been capable of damaging these sigils.“That’s exactly what we’re trying to determine, Lady Commander.”The Warden exhaled, hands settling at his hips as his gaze swept the chamber before fixing on Garud.“Our working assumption is that the restraints are weakening, and that Garud has begun ramming itself against the structure in an attempt to break free.”“Has anyone else seen this?”“Only myself and the Vice Warden,” he replied. “I granted him access to the Pits, but he remains in th
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
ARAHShe burst out of the back hallway, sensing the danger in the air. She froze in place, her eyes darting toward the plume of smoke curling up from the distant horizon. Fire crackled, likely coming from the direction of the main gate and watchtowers. Had the enemy blown them up with magic?Her stoma
GILDEONHe yanked off his shirt, tossing it aside. Time to get serious. Individually, these three looked tough—tougher than that rogue crab witch he’d dealt with before. Gildeon could’ve faced them one by one, but he needed to see how they fought together.Half his arm shifted this time, controlled po
ARAHShe gasped as his skin rippled before her, like ink bleeding into parchment. His face blurred then vanished—or rather, fused with the hard lines of the mask that took its place. He looked exactly as he had when she’d crossed the Mad End’s Wall.Warmth crept up he
ARAHShe stirred, her body feeling as if a boulder were pressing down on her. Her mind was hazy, her muscles sore, and her joints cracked with even the slightest movement. How long had she been asleep? Her mouth felt like sandpaper, and the bright light stung her eyes, tear