The Burning Sands stretched endless under a merciless sun dunes of red-gold shifting like slow waves, heat rising in shimmering mirages that turned the horizon liquid. Elara, Thorne, Seraphine, and her five remaining warriors traveled by day on foot; the heat was too fierce for flight, the winds too erratic for sustained wingbeats. They moved in loose formation Seraphine leading, her kelp cloak now wrapped as a scarf against the sun, violet crystal staff slung across her back like a walking stick.
The resonance tugged southward deeper into the desert, toward a region marked on no living map as the Grave of Queens. The fourth fragment waited there, buried beneath dunes that swallowed cities whole.
By midday on the third day, the heat had become a physical weight. Elara's lips cracked; sweat stung her eyes. Thorne walked beside her wings tucked tight, scales dulled by dust. He offered her the last of their water skin without a word. She drank sparingly, then passed it to Seraphine.
The former rival accepted it with a small nod. "My people once ruled these sands," she said quietly. "Before the Devourer's scream dried the rivers and turned marble to dust."
Thorne glanced at her. "And now?"
"Now we survive." Seraphine's eyes scanned the horizon. "The fragment here is the Silent Queen's echo the one who refused to speak during the fourth Binding. She sealed her voice to contain a piece of the Devourer. Legend says her city still stands beneath the dunes… waiting."
Elara felt the resonance shift sharper, almost mournful. "Then we find it."
As the sun dipped toward evening, the dunes began to change ridges forming unnatural patterns, like the outline of buried streets and spires. Seraphine stopped at the crest of a particularly high dune.
"There."
Below them, wind had carved a hollow in the sand revealing the top of a massive dome, gold-flecked stone etched with faded queenly runes. A single archway yawned open, stairs descending into darkness.
The resonance sang loud, clear, edged with sorrow.
They descended.
The buried city opened before them: vast halls of white marble, ceilings painted with long-faded stars, columns carved to resemble intertwined queens. Dust lay thick, undisturbed for centuries. Echoes lingered in the air soft, wordless laments.
At the city's heart stood a sealed crypt: a sarcophagus of black glass, violet light pulsing from within. The fourth fragment had taken root here coiled around the glass like living shadow, feeding on the silent queen's preserved echo.
Seraphine approached first hand outstretched. "She was my ancestor. The last to refuse the Devourer's bargain."
The fragment stirred shadows lifting like a cobra's hood.
Kin, it whispered. You come to claim what she denied.
Seraphine's voice cracked. "She denied it to protect us. I will not let you corrupt her rest."
The fragment laughed low, echoing through the crypt. Then witness her refusal reborn.
The black glass cracked. Violet light poured out forming the silhouette of a queen: tall, crowned in shadow, mouth sealed shut with chains of light. She reached for Seraphine then for Elara.
Join the silence, the fragment urged. Speak no more. Bind no more. Rest.
Elara felt the pull tempting, peaceful. The weight of every choice, every battle, pressing down. The resonance flickered doubt creeping in.
Thorne stepped forward hand on her shoulder. "We don't rest yet."
He ignited curse-flame black fire roaring. The Silent Queen's silhouette recoiled.
Seraphine raised her staff violet energy clashing with the fragment's own. "You will not take her!"
Elara channeled Queen's Chorus golden queens manifesting around the sarcophagus, singing wordless harmony. The fragment hissed shadows lashing.
Thorne and Elara struck together chains and fire merging into a spear of molten gold-black. Seraphine added her own violet weave strengthening the strike.
The spear pierced the fragment's core.
The Silent Queen's silhouette brightened chains falling away. She bowed once grateful then dissolved into golden motes that flowed into Elara.
The fragment convulsed violet light winking out.
A fourth shard fell absorbed instantly.
[Devourer Fragment (Silent Queen) – Neutralized][Eternal Resonance Upgraded: Voice of Silence – Temporary muting of enemy abilities (short duration). Current count: 5/7 detected.]
Seraphine sank to her knees beside the empty sarcophagus tears cutting tracks through dust on her face.
"She's free," she whispered.
Elara knelt beside her. "She always was. She just waited for us to remember."
Thorne offered Seraphine a hand up. She took it.
The resonance pointed east toward mountains and storm-wracked peaks.
Two fragments left.
The end was drawing near.
[End of Chapter 7 – Volume 2]