The fire burned for three days. It was a supernatural conflagration, the ironwood consuming the petrified form of Vorlag not with smoke and ash, but with a pure, cleansing light. The stone did not crack or crumble; it glowed from within, a furnace of trapped memory and regret, slowly, surely, transmuting into something else. The entire keep watched in silent, somber vigil, a kingdom holding its breath.On the dawn of the fourth day, the flames died, not fading, but retracting, as if being sucked back into the heart of the pyre. Where the statue of a man had once stood, there was now only a pile of smooth, grey, river-worn stones, each one cool to the touch, each one inert, and harmless. The soul was free. The prison was empty. The debt was paid.Kaelen felt the release through the bond, a final, silent sigh of a spirit that had been given its peace. The cold, heavy knot of the void within him remained, but it was different. It was no longer just a burden; it was a reminder. A reminder
Baca selengkapnya