The morning after the Heartsteel Convergence was oddly calm.
Aeryn felt it before he even opened his eyes—a hum beneath the stone floor of the barracks, like the world itself was clearing its throat after a long silence. A low, pulsing resonance thrummed through the city of Argentward, subtle yet unmistakable, as if the continent had begun breathing again.
He swung his legs off the bed, running a hand through his hair.
"Great," he muttered. "Now even the floor is vibrating. What next? The sky starts whispering—"
It might, a quiet voice answered from the doorway.
Aeryn jolted. Lysette was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, expression unusually tense.
"You felt it too?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Oryn felt it first and woke me. Then Eresh felt it. Then practically every mage in the damn city felt it. Aeryn… something's happening beneath the capital. Beneath the entire continent."
Aeryn exhaled sharply. "And I'm guessing we don't get a day off."
"We barely get minutes off with you around."
He opened his mouth to retort, but she cut him off.
"Get ready. The Council has called you. And it's… urgent."
---
THE SUMMONING
The Argentward High Spire was awake before dawn.
Dozens of robed figures hurried through the crystalline hallways, carrying stacks of documents, enchanted maps, glowing slates of compressed mana. The air smelled like dust, parchment, and panic.
Aeryn entered with Lysette at his side, Eresh following quietly behind. Just inside the Council Chamber, Oryn approached them with a grim expression.
"You're late," Oryn said.
Aeryn blinked. "It's been four minutes."
"Exactly. Late."
"You—"
Lysette elbowed both of them. "Not now."
They stepped inside.
The Council Chamber—usually loud, argumentative, and filled with the bickering of powerful mages—was silent.
Every member was seated. Every gaze was heavy.
A map floated above the center table—three-dimensional, spinning slowly. Glowing lines marked the continent's major mana veins: the Ley Threads.
They were shaking.
Flickering.
Some even snapping.
A saw-like crack split across the projection, running from the northern glacials all the way to the south coast.
Aeryn's jaw tensed. "What is that?"
Councilor Vahleron stood. "Aeryn. You felt the resonance earlier, yes? That was not random. The entire network of the continent's Ley Threads has destabilized."
Lysette let out a sharp breath. "All of them?!"
"Not all," Eresh murmured. "But enough that the effect cascades into the rest."
Councilor Vahleron nodded. "Precisely."
Another elder added, voice trembling, "The Heartsteel Convergence's activation caused a ripple—no—a shockwave through the Ley system. It reacted to the dormant Heartsteel essence inside your body, Aeryn."
Aeryn froze.
"So it's my fault."
"No," Eresh said immediately, stepping forward. "The artifact chose him. This reaction was an inevitability."
"But a dangerous one," Councilor Kaelith said. "We must understand this quickly."
The floating map flickered again, and this time the cracks deepened. A hissing sound filled the room.
Oryn inhaled sharply. "This is accelerating."
Councilor Vahleron turned stiffly toward Aeryn.
"We need you to follow the resonance. Trace it. Locate the source of the destabilization."
Aeryn frowned. "Source?"
Silence.
Then—
Councilor Kaelith whispered, "The Ley Nexus is waking."
Aeryn's blood ran cold.
Lysette looked at him sharply. "Wait. The Ley Nexus… that's the origin point of all mana in the continent, right?"
"Not just the origin," Eresh corrected. "The central artery. If it collapses—"
"The continent collapses with it," Councilor Vahleron finished.
Oryn stared at the unstable map.
Lysette clenched her jaw.
Eresh bowed her head slightly.
Aeryn swallowed the rising lump in his throat.
"And you want me to find it before…" He gestured at the flickering model. "…before everything breaks."
"We do," the elder replied.
"And we trust you," Eresh added softly.
Aeryn's resolve hardened.
"Then let's move."
---
THE VEINS BENEATH ARGENTWARD
The entrance to the Ley chambers was deep under the capital—far deeper than any normal mage could access. Aeryn, Lysette, Oryn, and Eresh descended the spiral path for nearly an hour.
The air thinned.
The temperature dropped.
The walls shifted from carved stone to raw crystal that glowed faintly with blue-white veins.
Aeryn felt the resonance growing stronger. It pulsed against his ribs like a second heartbeat.
When they reached the end of the path, Eresh placed her hand on a sealed archway.
"Ley Channel access: granted."
The archway split open.
A blast of pure mana wind hit them, so dense and unfiltered it almost felt liquid. Aeryn staggered back. Lysette gritted her teeth.
Oryn's eyes widened. "Damn. This much raw pressure should not be leaking out."
"Another sign it's breaking," Eresh whispered.
They stepped inside.
The Ley Chamber was a colossal cavern carved by the Ley energy itself. Thousands of crystalline roots extended in every direction—glowing threads of magic thicker than trees, pulsing with fractured light.
Some flickered like dying embers.
Some had split entirely.
Some sparked wildly like overloaded wires.
Aeryn took a shaky breath.
It was beautiful.
And terrifying.
Lysette placed a hand on his back gently. "You okay?"
"Yeah," he said. "Just… overwhelmed."
Oryn pointed ahead. "Look."
At the far end of the cavern, a single Ley Thread—twice as thick as the others—pulsed violently, its light unstable, flashing between bright azure and pitch black.
The resonance was strongest here.
Aeryn stepped toward it. Slowly. Carefully. Heart pounding.
When he placed his palm on the crystalline surface—
The world exploded.
---
THE VISION OF THE NEXUS
Aeryn's consciousness was ripped out of his body.
A blinding flash swallowed everything.
Then—
He was standing in a vast white void.
No ground. No sky. Just endless luminance.
A figure formed before him, made of pure silver light. Not human. Not shapeless. Something in between.
Its voice echoed without sound.
"Bearer of Heartsteel. The continent awakens."
Aeryn clenched his fists. "Who are you?"
"A memory. An imprint. A fragment left before the Nexus fell dormant."
"Nexus… You mean the Ley Nexus? Where is it?"
"Hidden beneath the fractured root. Buried in the world's deepest cradle."
"Fractured root… deepest cradle… That's not helpful!"
"You will understand."
"No! I need answers! The Ley system is collapsing—"
The light flickered.
The figure started dissolving.
Aeryn reached out. "Hey—HEY! Don't—"
"Awaken the Nexus. Mend the veins. Or all will return to silence."
"What silence?!"
The figure whispered—
"The silence before creation."
Then everything shattered.
And Aeryn was slammed back into his body.
---
THE RETURN
Aeryn gasped, collapsing to his knees. Lysette grabbed his shoulders.
"AERYN! Talk to me!"
Oryn crouched beside him. Eresh placed a stabilizing spell on his back.
"I'm fine—" Aeryn managed, "—I'm fine. Just… vision overload."
Lysette glared at him. "That didn't look fine."
He didn't argue.
Instead, he pushed himself up and looked at the massive Ley Thread in front of him.
"I know where we have to go."
Oryn raised an eyebrow. "You do?"
Aeryn nodded.
"Beneath the fractured root. The world's deepest cradle."
Lysette blinked. "That sounds like—"
"—the Abyssal Underforge," Eresh finished quietly, dread in her voice.
Oryn's face drained. "The… the place even dragons avoid?"
Lysette rubbed her temples. "Fantastic… So we're heading into a bottomless subterranean death maze."
Aeryn breathed out slowly.
"Yeah."
Eresh finally spoke, voice steady.
"Then there is no time to waste."
Aeryn placed his hand on the unstable Ley Thread again—this time gently.
And the resonance pulsed back, warm and fierce, like the heartbeat of the world.
He whispered, almost silently:
"I'll fix this."
Lysette heard him anyway. "We will."
Oryn smirked. "Obviously."
Eresh nodded. "Together."
Aeryn exhaled.
A new arc had begun.
A descent into a place older than nations.
Deeper than light.
A path toward the hidden heart of the continent—
The Ley Nexus, the cradle of mana, the core of creation itself.
And something was waiting there.
Something that had awakened.
Something watching.