"No."
Kaelen's fingers tightened around the pendant. The metal lay cold. Lifeless. Dead.
For seventeen years, it had burned. Now, nothing remained.
Riven moved closer.
"The pendant. Why has it—"
"Mother's binding. Gone."
The ground shook. Watchtowers in the outer ring collapsed, stone that had stood for centuries crumbling to dust.
From the enemy camp, children wept.
Riven clenched his fist. No ice formed. He tried again. Nothing.
"My ice magic drains away. I cannot stop it."
Another tremor. The floor shuddered.
Through the window, the Stone Devourer rose above the treeline. Thirty feet tall. Stone body pulsing with crimson light. One burning eye in the centre of its forehead.
Each step cracked stone. The Archive's foundations groaned beneath the weight.
Stone walls aged a thousand years in seconds where its shadow fell, crumbling to dust.
Riven touched the pendant carefully with one finger. No ice formed where his skin met metal.
"That should not be possible. My ice magic should freeze any metal I touch. Always. Without thought or effort."
Nothing happened.
Kaelen turned to Riven. "Has your magic gone as well?"
Riven spread his hands, examining them.
"Not gone. Being pulled away. I can feel the ice magic flowing out of me. Steady. Like blood from a wound that will not close."
He turned toward the Stone Devourer, climbing closer with each measured step, then pointed at the burning eye.
"There."
The eye pulsed. Draw. Pulse. Draw. Pulse.
Kaelen clutched the pendant tighter.
"This has never been completely dead before. Even when Mother died. Even during the worst moments after. The pendant always held some warmth. Some pulse."
For the first time in seventeen years, it remains completely silent.
Sebastian moved toward them, his footsteps ringing on stone. The Council members watched in silence.
"The boy understands correctly. The Stone Devourer does not simply feed on ambient magic. It drains power through a conduit. A focus point."
The building trembled. A bookshelf crashed to the floor.
Halden stepped away from the window. "The crystal sphere. The one Malachar left in the Flame Sanctum."
Kaelen forced her mind back to that memory. The ritual. The moment Malachar vanished. "The seven crystals are arranged around it. All pointing downward."
Another tremor. Cracks spider-webbed across the ceiling.
Sebastian gestured toward the flickering sun-stone overhead. "Seven binding crystals positioned around the sphere. All aimed at the foundation chamber below."
The sun-stone's light dimmed further.
Halden faced the Council members. "The foundation crystal. Deep beneath the Archive lies a crystal formation. The crystal powers everything. The sun-stone. The wardlights. Every protective barrier in this city."
The sun-stone flickered. Weaker than before.
Kaelen stumbled as the drain intensified. Riven caught her arm.
Sebastian returned to the window, watching the Stone Devourer climb higher. "All of it flows from the foundation crystal, and Malachar's sphere channels that power directly to the creature through those seven binding crystals he positioned in the Sanctum."
Each pulse weakened.
The wardlight protecting the city thins.
Kaelen steadied herself against the table. "So the creature feeds on our foundation crystal through Malachar's sphere."
Sebastian gestured toward the Stone Devourer. "The sphere intercepts the flow from the foundation crystal to the sun-stone, then redirects the power through that eye. Into the creature itself."
Riven clenched his fist again. Still, no ice appeared.
"My ice magic is being pulled through the foundation crystal, through the sphere, into that thing."
The building shook. Another step. Closer.
Kaelen straightened. "Then we destroy the sphere. We break Malachar's channel before it empties the foundation crystal."
Halden turned from the window. "If the foundation crystal dies, the sun-stone dies. The wardlight collapses completely."
Elder Morvain gripped her staff. "The entire city goes dark by nightfall. Everyone freezes to death."
Thorne moved closer to the group.
"How much time do we have?"
Sebastian studied the creature's pulsing eye, counting under his breath. "The drain is not constant. Watch the pattern."
He pointed at the crimson light.
The eye flared bright, dimmed slightly, then flared again.
Sebastian counted again. "The creature draws power in cycles—draw, process, draw. During the processing phase, the pull weakens."
Riven held up his hands again. This time, faint ice began forming on his fingertips—weak, barely visible, but present. "My ice magic is returning. Slowly."
The ice melted away as the creature's eye flared bright once more.
Sebastian finished his count. "Three heartbeats between pulses. Perhaps four at most."
Elder Graves shook his head.
"Three heartbeats is not enough time to reach the Sanctum."
Riven stepped forward. Ice spread from his feet across the floor, stronger now during the processing phase.
"Three heartbeats are enough for magic to return. If we time our movement with the cycles—"
Kaelen touched the pendant. Still dead, but warmth returned from within. Her own flame magic woke between the creature's pulses. "We can reach the Flame Sanctum before the Stone Devourer empties us."
Halden paused. "Malachar has been studying the ancient creatures for years. He has been trying to awaken them."
Another pause.
"Your mother—Elena—spent her life trying to stop him."
Thorne's hand slipped from his sword hilt. Awakening ancient creatures. That is what Mother died preventing.
Halden's hand pressed against the window frame. "The sphere in the Flame Sanctum has awakened one of them."
Thorne's hand tightened on his sword hilt. "You knew. You knew Mother died trying to keep those creatures sealed."
Halden met his son's eyes without flinching. "I suspected Elena's true purpose. But I could not prove it. Not without risking—"
Thorne stepped closer. "Risking what? Us? Your position? What was worth more than the truth?"
Halden did not move back. "Your life. Both your lives."
His hand pressed against the window frame.
"Elena made me swear to protect you above all else. Even above the truth."
The creature roared. Windows shattered throughout the Archive's inner ring. Stone walls melted where its hands touched, and the wards collapsed.
Elder Graves retrieved a fallen candle. "We do not have time for debate."
Kaelen drew her mother's sword. Steel rang against leather. "Then we finish what she started. The Flame Sanctum fell three days ago. Malachar cast a spell, destroyed the chamber, and shattered the protections covering it."
Thorne stepped forward. "Then we take it back."
Elder Morvain raised her staff. "Through how many Warriors? Malachar left guards."
Halden spread his hands. "We do not know what guards Malachar left behind—"
Kaelen turned to Riven. "Can you shatter the sphere?"
Riven opened and closed his hands. "If I can strike during the cycle. Ice magic can break magical bindings. Freeze them until they crack."
Thorne moved between them. "Your magic has been drained."
Riven watched his fingers. "Not completely. It returns during the processing cycles. Three heartbeats. Sebastian counted three heartbeats between drains."
Elder Morvain shook her head. "Three heartbeats to gather enough ice magic to shatter the sphere?"
Riven met her gaze. "Three heartbeats to attempt it."
Thorne crossed his arms. "And if you succeed?"
Riven watched the Stone Devourer through the window. "The creature loses its power source. The pull on the foundation crystal stops."
"Will the creature die?" Thorne asked.
Riven shrugged. "Or collapse. Either way, it cannot feed any more."
Kaelen drew her mother's sword. Steel rang against leather. "Riven. Come with me."
Riven stepped beside her. His hands remained bare. No ice.
Elder Graves looked between them. "What of the rest of us?"
Kaelen sheathed the sword. "Evacuate the scribes. Get the civilians as far from the Archive as possible. If this fails, at least some will survive."
Thorne stepped toward the door. "And if it succeeds?"
The pendant pulsed once. So faint she almost missed it. Then dead again. "Then we discover whether Elena's designs were strong enough."
Thorne reached for the door. "I shall come with you."
Kaelen blocked his path. "Someone must coordinate the inner defences."
Halden stepped forward. "I shall go with them."
Thorne turned. "Father—"
Halden gripped his son's shoulder. "The scribes need a commander they trust. That is you."
He held Thorne's gaze. "I need to finish what Elena started."
Thorne held his father's gaze for a long moment. Then nodded once. "Return safely. All of you."
Halden did not answer. He turned toward the door. "Let us finish this."
. . .
Kaelen ran toward the stairs, Riven and Halden close behind.
Corridors filled with fleeing scribes blurred past. Behind them, stone cracked with a steady pattern.
Riven glanced back. "Each impact has been calculated. The Stone Devourer is not raging. The creature is working."
She stumbled, caught herself on the wall. The sphere's pull dragged at her magic.
The sphere's hunger.
Halden steadied her. "Fight it. We need your mind clear when we reach it."
They climbed the winding stairs toward the Flame Sanctum at the Archive's peak, where Malachar had placed his construct.
Behind them, footsteps echoed at the same steady pace.
Halden glanced back. "Someone follows us."
A figure in dark armour climbed the stairs below them.
Kaelen pushed harder. "Mordane follows us."
Riven kept pace beside her. "He knows where we are going."
They quickened their pace, but the footsteps behind them did not.
Kaelen gasped between words. "He is not chasing us. We... the Sanctum. That is where... he wants us."
Halden glanced back at the pursuing figure. "He drives us exactly where he wants."
They reached another landing. Below, the Stone Devourer's burning eye moved across the Archive's walls.
She stumbled again.
Riven caught her arm. "How much further?"
Kaelen pointed up. "One more level."
Behind them, Mordane's footsteps grew closer.
. . .
They burst through a doorway into a corridor strewn with debris—fallen stones, broken weapons, dead ward-keepers with blood soaking their robes.
Halden knelt beside one of the fallen. "The Sanctum's defenders. Three days dead. Perhaps four. I knew this man, trained with him for years."
He closed the ward-keeper's eyes.
Kaelen stepped over the rubble. The door to the Flame Sanctum stood ahead—black wood with symbols moving across its surface.
But the door stood open. Broken. The wards that had protected it lay shattered.
Kaelen examined the shattered wards. "Malachar's forces breached it. Killed the ward-keepers. Took the chamber."
Riven peered through the opening. "No Warriors. No traps that I can see."
Halden joined them. "Because Mordane is the trap. He herded us here. He knew we would come."
Riven pushed the door fully open. "Then we walk into his trap."
Beyond lay the Flame Sanctum. Fallen stones covered the floor, and twisted metal jutted from cracked walls. A path cut through the debris where seven binding crystals stood in perfect formation.
Riven moved closer. "Seven crystals. Malachar's arrangement from the failed ritual."
Halden pointed at the sphere. "But only one matters now. That one at the centre. The sphere channels the power while the binding crystals merely focus it downward. Destroy the sphere, and the channel breaks. Without their focus point, the crystals lose all power."
Riven studied the formation. "So we leave them?"
Halden's gaze remained fixed on the sphere. "We must. Shattering all seven would take too long. That sphere is our target. The heart of Malachar's construct."
Lines of red light ran from the sphere into the floor. Into the walls. Running through the stone.
Kaelen moved toward it. One step, then another.
What Elena died trying to destroy.
Her knees buckled. The sphere pulsed faster as she approached.
"The pulsing accelerates," Riven said.
It wants my power. All of it.
Through the broken ceiling, the creature climbed, its hands gripping the Archive's outer walls.
Below, people fled through the corridors—scribes, scholars, warriors. The Warriors backed away as the creature approached, weapons lowered, hands trembling.
Its burning eye fixed on the Sanctum. On the sphere. On them.
Mordane's boots echoed behind them. "Wait."
Mordane waited near the entrance, his armour unmarked despite the chaos above. "You will destroy yourselves attempting this and accomplish nothing."
Flame sparked at her fingertips. "Better than serving you."
Mordane gestured at the pulsing sphere. "Will you risk it? Without your pendant's control, that fire will consume you. I have seen this before. Princess Lyanna tried the same thing."
He advanced. "Fifty thousand dead because she could not control the fire she unleashed. I need only wait for this one to burn herself out."
Her flames brightened. "Lyanna was untrained. Raw power but no understanding. I have studied the flame arts for years."
Mordane did not move. "Study means nothing when facing your first binding sphere. The hunger it creates lies beyond comprehension."
Kaelen walked toward the sphere. "Then I shall be strong enough."
The sphere pulsed before her, pulling at her magic. Constant. Unending.
The connections became clear. Magic drained from every flame bearer into the sphere.
And she felt the magical bonds holding it together.
"I can see how it works. The magic has been bound together in a pattern. Break the pattern, and it all falls apart."
Halden examined Malachar's construct. "Elena's notes described them. Sever those bonds, and the entire construct collapses."
Not raw power. Precision.
Kaelen placed both hands on the sphere's surface. "You are wrong about one thing."
Her mind burned—not from the sphere's power, but from the connection to every mage in Erathil.
Every mage in the city. She sensed them all, their strength flowing away, their life force feeding the creature's hunger. "So many voices. I can hear all the mages crying out."
So many voices crying out. So much pain.
She reached for her flame magic. Nothing. The brief window had passed, and the creature's eye pulsed again. Her magic flowed away before she could gather it.
She forced the words out. "The timing does not work."
Mordane's laughter echoed through the chamber. "Did you truly believe it would be that simple?"
The sphere pulsed beneath her palms. She felt the magical bonds holding it together—the pattern, the threads binding every mage.
There is always another way.
Kaelen looked at Riven. "There is always a second plan."
She shouted to him. "The hammer!"
Riven grabbed a fallen warhammer from the debris. He raised it high. "Now!"
. . .
The hammer fell. The sphere cracked with a sound like breaking glass, then shattered completely.
The creature's roar became a scream, and the entire Archive shook.
Through the broken ceiling above, the creature's burning eye flickered and died.
The Stone Devourer staggered. Stone cracked along its body as the bindings shattered, and the creature collapsed.
Stone struck stone. The sound carried across the city.
Riven lowered the hammer. "Look how it falls."
The pendant warmed against her palm. Her flame magic surged back.
Power returned. Every ward. Every wardlight.
Riven pointed toward the windows. "The wardlights are returning. Every magical barrier in the city rekindles."
We won. We actually won.
. . .
Mordane brushed stone dust from his armour. "Impressive. You still do not understand what Verrian can do."
The pendant warmed, steady and controlled. "I understand enough."
Mordane studied her face. "Greenvale fell because I broke their spirit before I broke their bodies. And you have just given me the perfect weapon."
Kaelen straightened. "What weapon?"
A thin smile crossed Mordane's face. "A flame keeper who has tasted her full power. Who knows what she is capable of? Fear of you will do more damage than my warriors ever could."
She held his gaze. "Fear is just another enemy to defeat."
Mordane tilted his head. "Is it? When the people of Erathil see what you can truly do, they will beg Verrian to save them from you."
War horns echoed.
Riven moved to the window. "Verrian stands at the gates."
The pendant burned warm in her grip. "Then we meet him there."
Halden joined them. "Together."
. . .
End of Chapter 14
. . .
Next Chapter Preview: Steel and Fire
The Stone Devourer falls, but Verrian's true assault has only begun. As thousands of warriors breach the Archive's gates, Kaelen and her companions race to the foundation chamber where the crystal powering Erathil's defences cracks under strain. With only two bloodlines remaining from the original seven, they attempt a desperate repair—but Mordane has other plans. When steel finds flesh and the Archive's last defences crumble, Kaelen must choose between control and survival.