The night air was thick with tension as I stepped into the courtyard. Maxwell stood waiting, his expression set in grim determination. Behind him, a handful of trusted allies—faces I had fought beside, bled with—stood in the shadows, waiting for my word.I exhaled slowly, steadying myself. “Tell me everything.”Maxwell nodded. “We’re going to the vault beneath the Blackwood estate. That’s where they kept her body, sealed away so no one could reach her. The Council thinks they’re the only ones who know how to break the enchantments surrounding it, but they’re wrong.”I narrowed my eyes. “How?”Maxwell smirked, but there was no humor in it. “Because I stole the key.”I blinked. “You what?”He pulled a small, ancient-looking talisman from his coat pocket. The sigils carved into it pulsed faintly, reacting to the magic in the air.“Wasn’t easy,” he admitted. “But let’s just say the Council isn’t as careful as they think they are.”I ran a hand through my hair. “You’re insane.”“Probably.”
From the darkness, Elias emerged. His silver hair gleamed in the faint light, and his eyes—cold, calculating—bore into me with quiet authority. He was not alone. Figures moved behind him, stepping into the dim glow. Council enforcers. Armed and waiting.Maxwell cursed under his breath. Mara's grip tightened around the dagger at her waist. The others stiffened, but none moved. We were outnumbered, but that was never the problem. The problem was Elias."You knew we were coming," I said, keeping my voice even.Elias tilted his head slightly, his lips curling into something that might have been amusement. "Of course. Did you think the Council would leave the Blackwood vault unguarded? Did you think you could walk in and take what you wanted without consequence?"My jaw tightened. "She's my sister.""She is dead," Elias said flatly. "What you seek to do is an abomination."Rage burned in my chest. "An abomination? You speak of abominations when the Council has twisted the laws of nature fo
The ground shuddered beneath us as stone and dust rained down from the collapsing vault. The torches that had been lining the chamber flickered and died, plunging everything into near-total darkness. The only light came from the residual magic crackling in the air, casting eerie flashes of crimson and violet against the crumbling walls.Elara was awake. But something was wrong.Her black eyes—voidless, endless—held no warmth, no familiarity. Yet she had spoken my name. That had to mean something.Elias was already moving, his form barely a blur in the dim light. He raised his hand, his fingers curling as raw energy crackled between them. He was preparing another spell. A binding. Maybe worse."No!" I threw myself between him and my sister. "You don’t get to touch her."Elias’s jaw tightened. "You don’t understand what you’ve done."I felt Elara shift behind me, felt the coldness radiating from her body. The air itself seemed to recoil from her presence."I brought her back," I said, m
Elias was still coughing, one hand pressed to his throat as the enforcers steadied him. His eyes burned with something between fury and grim resignation. But he didn’t attack again. Not yet.Elara stood motionless, watching me. The silence in the chamber was suffocating. Her words still rang in my head. I let him live for you.It wasn’t a mercy. It was a message.I swallowed hard, stepping closer. "Elara… tell me the truth. What happened to you?"She tilted her head slightly, as if considering the question. "You already know," she murmured. "You felt it when I woke."I shook my head. "That doesn’t mean I understand it."Elias wiped blood from his mouth. "She’s a vessel now. Whatever you dragged back, it needed a body. And you gave it one."Elara’s lips curled into something that was almost a smirk. "Is that what you think?" She stepped toward Elias, slow and deliberate. "You act like you know the rules of life and death. But tell me, scholar—if I were truly gone, how could I remember
The chamber was silent, but the air was thick with tension. My heart pounded as I stared at Elara’s outstretched hand.Behind me, Elias was still breathing hard, his magic coiled and ready. Maxwell and Mara stood tense, waiting for my move. And Elara—she simply watched me, her dark eyes filled with something both familiar and terrifying.“Lena.” Elias’s voice was sharp. “Don’t.”Elara didn’t flinch. “Why do you hesitate?” she asked softly. “You know what we are, sister. You felt it when I woke. You felt the bond between us. It’s stronger than anything you’ve ever known. So why are you afraid?”I swallowed. “Because I don’t know if it’s you anymore.”Her expression flickered, something almost like hurt passing over her face before she masked it with a small, knowing smile. “I am me. I am more me than I have ever been.” She lowered her hand slightly. “And you could be, too.”Maxwell stepped forward. “She’s manipulating you,” he said, his voice low and dangerous. “She knows what you want
The chamber pulsed with unstable energy. I could feel it in my bones, in the air thick with something ancient and unknowable. Elara’s gaze burned into me, waiting, expecting. Behind me, Elias was holding his breath, his body rigid with tension. Maxwell’s grip on his dagger was white-knuckled, and Mara… Mara was watching with eyes that had seen too much, as if she already knew what was coming.I swallowed hard. My thoughts were a storm, colliding, spinning, breaking apart.This was it. The moment when everything changed.Elara stretched out her hand again. “Lena.” Her voice was a whisper, barely audible over the hum of power around her. “Come with me. Choose me.”My fingers twitched at my sides.Elias’s voice cut through the air like a blade. “If you take her hand, it won’t be you anymore.”Elara’s eyes flickered with something—amusement, annoyance? “He always did think in absolutes, didn’t he?” She let out a breath, tilting her head slightly. “Lena, they don’t understand us. They neve
The fall seemed endless. My stomach lurched as the wind howled around me, the void swallowing every sound except the hammering of my own heartbeat. I twisted midair, reaching for anything—something—to stop the plunge, but there was nothing. Just darkness stretching infinitely below.Then, a force yanked me sideways, an unseen grip pulling me out of the descent. My body slammed into something solid, knocking the breath from my lungs. I gasped, rolling onto my hands and knees, my palms scraping against rough stone.A voice echoed through the void. “You should be dead.”I snapped my head up.Elara stood across from me, her violet aura flickering like a dying flame. Her expression was unreadable, but something in her stance—stiff shoulders, clenched fists—betrayed uncertainty.I pushed to my feet, ignoring the sting in my ribs. “What did you do?”She didn’t answer. Instead, she tilted her head, studying me like I was some puzzle she couldn’t quite solve. “You weren’t supposed to survive t
“Elara,” I tried again, my voice quieter now. “Where are we?”She let out a slow breath. “We’re outside the threads.”A chill rolled through me. “The threads…” My stomach turned as her words sank in. “You mean the fabric of fate. Of reality.”She gave a small nod. “They’ve abandoned you, Lena. The ones who wove your path, who guided you, who made sure you survived—they aren’t here anymore.”I took a step back. “That’s not possible.”“You feel it, don’t you?” Elara’s eyes locked onto mine, sharp and knowing. “That silence. That absence. Like something was always in the back of your mind, nudging, pushing, whispering—and now it’s just… gone.”I hated that she was right.Because I did feel it.That quiet space inside me, where instinct had once thrived, where I’d always known—deep down—that no matter how dire things got, something was guiding me, ensuring I made it through. That feeling had vanished. Like a severed connection. Like I had been cut off.My throat tightened. “What does that
Silence had weight. It wasn't just the absence of sound—it was the pressure of dread before something snapped. That silence hung heavy in the sanctuary, where the second seal now glowed faint red, pulsing like a heart buried too deep in the stone.I stood before it, my hands trembling not from fear alone, but from the ripple of ancient magic churning through the floor, creeping into my bones.“She tricked us,” Nima whispered, her voice raw with disbelief. “She tricked all of us. Even you, Lena.”“I know,” I said.Maxwell leaned against a cracked pillar, one arm pressed to his ribs where Elara had thrown him. “This isn't the end,” he said. “It’s the real beginning, isn't it?”“I think it always was,” I murmured.Barin slammed his fist into the stone. “We should’ve killed her when we had the chance. We had the chance.”“No,” I said flatly. “We had an illusion. Elara wasn’t trying to win. She was buying time. She’s not the villain. Not entirely.”Maxwell’s gaze sharpened. “What are you s
The aftermath should have felt like a victory. But it didn’t.The sanctuary lay broken, cracked from the battle, the magical veins of the earth still pulsing weakly underfoot. Smoke drifted lazily in the air, the tang of blood and burnt magic too thick to ignore. Survivors moved like ghosts, patching wounds, retrieving bodies.I sat on the cold stone steps of the ruined central hall, numb, staring at my shaking hands. Maxwell hovered close, never letting me drift too far, but giving me space I didn’t know how to fill.“What now?” Nima asked softly, kneeling beside me. Her face was grimy, streaked with dried blood, her eyes bruised from exhaustion.“Now?” I said the word hollow on my tongue. “Now we bury the dead. And we wait.”“For what?” Barin asked, joining us, cradling a broken arm against his chest.“For the next monster,” I said, without a shred of humor.Maxwell shifted, his body taut with tension. “They’ll come,” he said. “Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not even next month. But the
The ground buckled under the weight of the creature stepping from the breach, its horns scraping the edges of the broken sky, its very presence warping the sanctuary’s magic like a disease. Every breath it exhaled filled the air with a thick, choking fog that tasted of ash and endings.Maxwell tightened his grip on me, shifting his stance defensively. “Lena, we can’t fight that.”I struggled to sit upright, every nerve screaming in protest, the knife wound burning like an open brand against my side. My magic was dim, a flickering candle in a hurricane. I knew, deep down, he was right. We couldn’t fight it. Not like this.Not head-on.The creature spoke again, its voice layered with a thousand echoes. "You were meant to shepherd my arrival, Gatekeeper. Instead, you squandered the blood. You squandered the keys."Maxwell turned to me, his face pale but determined. “What is it talking about?”I coughed, each word tearing out of me. “The Crown... the Vault... they were... distractions. Th
The roar of the Firstborn creatures tore across the sanctuary like a living wave. They moved with terrifying grace, shadows with jagged edges, mouths full of teeth too many for any natural being. Their bodies twisted in ways that defied logic, like they had never been meant to walk in a world bound by rules.I barely had time to raise a shield before the first impact hit. Magic flared around us, an unsteady wall of golden light. Maxwell was already at my side, slashing at the nearest creature, his blade singing as it cut into the darkness. But they weren’t easy to kill—every wound sealed almost immediately, the monsters adapting, growing stronger with each blow.“We can’t hold them!” Barin shouted from somewhere to my left, his arms coated in blood—some his, some not.Nima and Elara worked furiously at the boundary, their chants weaving more layers of protection, but the creatures shredded through them like paper. I knew it then. This wasn’t a battle we could win by brute strength.We
The magic snapped like a whip through the circle.For a moment, it felt like the sanctuary itself recoiled from what we were trying to do, as if even the earth knew the risk we were taking. But we held the line—Maxwell, Barin, Nima, Elara, and the others—all of us linked not just by magic, but by sheer, desperate will.The vault below the sanctuary pulsed like a second heartbeat, slower and heavier than the First Door, but no less ominous. As we chanted, the bindings on it began to fray, golden threads unraveling into the night air.And then, A crack.Not from the ground this time. From the sky.Lightning forked across the heavens, but it wasn't the natural blue-white of a summer storm. It was black, threaded with red, like the sky itself was bleeding. A smell like burning iron filled the air.Something else had arrived. Something not from our world.Barin staggered, clutching his head. “They’re coming!” he gasped.“Focus!” I shouted, forcing my magic into the next seal layer.Nima’s
For the first time in my life, I felt powerless.The heartbeat beneath the earth had grown faster, stronger, until the ground vibrated constantly, as though the land itself were straining against invisible chains. Around us, the sanctuary’s wards pulsed weakly, flickering like candle flames caught in a hurricane. Every instinct in my body screamed that the Harbinger’s arrival wasn’t the end of the nightmare—it was the beginning.Maxwell stood beside me, staring into the darkness beyond the tents. His face was a perfect mask, but I knew him too well. I could see the tension in the set of his shoulders, the fear he would never voice unless forced.“We’re not ready for this,” Barin muttered, pacing back and forth. “We built defenses against armies, assassins, the Council’s damn enforcers—but this?” He shook his head violently. “We can’t fight myths, Lena.”“We’re not fighting myths,” I said, my voice hoarse but certain. “We’re fighting the consequences of lies too old to be forgotten.”I
For a long time, no one moved.Lior’s body lay unnaturally still, the black veins receding slowly as if whatever force had animated him had finally burned itself out. The silence pressed into my ears like a physical weight, and all I could hear was the wild hammering of my own heart.Maxwell knelt cautiously, checking Lior’s pulse even though we all knew there would be none. “He’s gone,” he said grimly, standing and wiping his hands on his trousers like he could scrub away what he had just witnessed.I stepped closer to Lior’s body, forcing my legs to obey even as every part of me screamed to turn away. My fingers itched to summon my magic, to scan deeper, but something in my gut warned me against it. Whatever had been buried in Lior, whatever had just been unleashed, it had been old. Purposeful. A ticking time bomb planted within him long before he ever set foot inside our sanctuary.Barin's voice broke the suffocating quiet. “First Door?” he said, his tone raw, full of confusion and
The Seal wasn’t just breaking.It was opening.I could feel it deep inside my chest, pulsing to a rhythm I hadn’t known was mine until now—a calling that wasn’t spoken in words, but written into my bones.Maxwell gripped my arm. “Lena. Talk to me. What’s happening?”I struggled to find my voice. “The Seal... It’s not just a lock. It’s a beacon. It’s been waiting for me. Not to keep it closed—” my throat tightened, “—but to complete it.”Barin burst into the tent, panting hard. “The eastern sentries just reported—cracks. In the ley lines. They’re... bleeding magic. Wild magic.”Bleeding.The word hit harder than it should have. As if something sacred was hemorrhaging, and I could feel every drop slipping away.Maxwell swore under his breath, pacing. “We don’t have time. You have to decide. Now.”But how could I decide?If I answered the call, if I embraced the destiny written into my blood, I risked becoming something else—something not entirely human. Not entirely mine. But if I refus
The silence after the stranger’s departure was deafening.Everyone remained frozen, as if moving might crack the fragile shell of reality he had left behind. The air inside the tent was thick with confusion, suspicion, and fear. Real fear. Not the kind that came from facing enemies you could see, but the kind that crawled inside you when you realized the ground you stood on might not be solid at all.Maxwell was the first to move. He grabbed my elbow, steady but firm. “Lena, what did he mean? What oath? What time are we losing?”I shook my head, though the truth gnawed at the back of my mind like a starving animal. I knew something. Something long buried. But my waking memory refused to yield it.“I don’t know,” I said, though my voice lacked conviction.Lior was already pulling on his jacket, moving toward the entrance. “We need to track him. He can't have gotten far.”“No,” I said sharply, stopping him mid-step. “He didn’t come to hide. He came to make sure we heard him. If we chase