All Chapters of THE SILVER LINING: Chapter 151 - Chapter 160

The Citadel walls shook as the fight beyond them intensified, the clangor of the beasts' roars and cracking earth echoing through the stone corridors. Miyal's breathing was controlled, but hiding beneath the composure, his heart pounded with a ferocity to match the tempest outside. His chains, weighing heavily with each step, seemed alive, writhing with a power of their own, the reminder of what he was willing to pay."We act fast," he informed her, his tone strained with urgency. "We haven't got time to wonder. We haven't got time to hesitate."Kaelen, always the tactician, gave him a look. "You're right," he murmured, the seriousness of the decision weighing down his words. "But don't forget, Miyal, this is more than simply rescuing Krishna. If we do this.if we shatter the chains, if we defy the Elders there is no going back."Miyal's jaw locked. He had heard the threats before. And he had made his decision. "Then let it burn," he said flatly, as the echo of his boots through the co

"Kaelen!" Miyal croaked. "Take the left! Ignatius with me now! We cut them down to make a way."They did. Women and men flung themselves into the gap like knives tossed. The river swallowed bones and spat them out in song. Miyal's sword slid like the hands of an old lover, recalling edges. Kaelen's face, glimpsed in a bolt of lightning, was a prayer held in the fist."Now!" he bellowed and pushed through. The golden chain scorched up and down his chest, its heat a brand. He sensed something pass through him a memory, or a memory's shadow: a child's laughter at the edge of a beach, Krishna's hand cold in his on a threshold of stars. The chain owed back; the chain wanted to be paid back.At the first step over the final stone, a dam of noise broke. It was not merely a howl of creatures it was a siphon. The lattice of the ward trembled like a net cast upon a fire. For the first time this morning, Krishna's shoulders dropped, and fear a new, human emotion colored itself across her face.M

Vosvak growled, a harsh, guttural sound that made the air surrounding them crackle with raw malice. He spread his arms apart, and the sky itself above them grew dark, the clouds twisting and writhing as if they were under his control.Out of the darkness of his presence, creatures smaller than himself beasts corrupted—crawled, their flesh composed of smoke and fire. They hissed and attacked the villagers, but Miyal was already running."Now!" he bellowed, his voice cutting through the turmoil. "Defend the ford! Bar them from crossing!"The villagers, though battered and determined, rallied around him. Kaelen was already on the move, her sword flashing steel as she cut through those that attempted to push forward. Ignatius, his composed façade unshaken, assumed position beside Miyal, prepared to fight to the very last gasp.But Miyal's gaze never wavered from Vosvak. This fight wasn't just about the monsters. It was about putting an end to the corruption that had run rampant through th

The fight burst on in a frenzy nearly supernatural, the ring of metal and flesh bursting through the air as the beasts swarmed through the ford. Miyal's sword bit into the darkened confusion, every blow a wild attempt to bite deep through the sea of horrors that seemed to have no end. His lungs seared in his chest, his muscles howling with fatigue, but he didn't cease. He couldn't. Not when the ward—Krishna—perched precariously on the edge of the void.Vosvak's enormous body towered above, black and irresistible, his eyes two suns of burning fury. His gargantuan form stamped the ground into submission as he moved forward, every step spreading waves of shadows that rolled across the battlefield, consuming all in their wake.Miyal could feel the chain sear against his chest, tightening each second as if whatever lay within it knew its job was imminent. His eyes blurred, and the world around him began to move slowly. He could see the glimpses of Kaelen and Ignatius hacking at the foes to

"It is done," he whispered once more, and in that instant, he at last granted himself repose.The battlefield was still, but the atmosphere was heavy with the trappings of war, smoke, blood, acrid scent of incinerated earth. The screaming death-throes of the beasts and the shaking of the falling ward were little more than fading whispers now. But the earth still shook beneath their feet, as if the world itself grieved for the loss of the storm.Krishna's heart thudded in her chest as she ran across the field, gasping in short, harsh breaths. Her fingers crackled with the dying sparks of power, but it was already weakening, the magic draining away with every frantic step. Ignatius followed close behind her, his face set, eyes scanning the horizon as if anticipating another wave of darkness to break through at any instant. But there was just silence. The kind that rings inside your bones, weighed down with loss.They did not speak. The words meant nothing now. They