Chapter Four - The Cost of Being Seen
The ruins did not collapse.
They settled.
Dust drifted through the air like falling ash as the ancient Lucian structure quieted, its runes dimming slowly, reluctantly, as though displeased at being disturbed after centuries of silence. Cracks spiderwebbed across stone pillars, but none fell. Whatever magic had awakened had done so with purpose-and restraint.
Lucius lowered his sword.
His arms shook.
Not from exhaustion alone, but from the delayed recoil of power he had held back too tightly. His breath came slow and controlled, yet his chest burned faintly, like embers pressed beneath skin.
Around him, Dragonian retainers lay scattered-some unconscious, some groaning, none dead.
That fact mattered.
Jak noticed.
"You pulled the strike," he muttered under his breath, axe still raised.
Lucius nodded once. "They weren't monsters."
Lucy approached cautiously, eyes scanning the walls, the floor, the fading sigils. "The ruin responded to you," she said. "Not me. Not the magic."
"I didn't cast anything," Lucius replied.
"That's what frightens me."
Alicia stood near the retainer who had given the order. His sword lay a few steps away, his pride farther still. He tried to rise when he saw her watching him-and failed.
"Who sent you?" Alicia asked.
The man laughed weakly. "You know the answer."
"Say it."
He hesitated.
Lucius felt the presence stir-not urging violence, but expectation. As though truth itself was a thing to be demanded.
"The First Prince," the man said at last. "He wanted confirmation."
"Of what?" Mike asked.
"That the rumors were real," the retainer replied, eyes flicking toward Lucius. "That someone had survived the Abyss... and changed."
Silence pressed in.
Lucy exhaled slowly. "So now we're past coincidence."
The retainer smiled despite the pain. "You were never in hiding. You were simply... unannounced."
Jak growled and stepped forward. Alicia raised a hand.
"No more," she said. "Bind them."
Lucius turned to her sharply. "You're giving orders?"
She met his gaze evenly. "Someone has to."
For a moment, something unspoken passed between them-recognition, perhaps, or mirrored restraint. Then Lucius nodded.
Jak tied the retainers efficiently. Mike searched them for documents while muttering about hazard pay and premature death.
Lucy remained near Lucius.
"You felt it again," she said quietly.
"Yes."
"Did it cost you?"
Lucius considered the question.
"I don't know," he said honestly. "That's what worries me."
---
They left the ruins before nightfall.
The retainers were escorted-disarmed, bruised, but alive-back toward the outpost under a binding contract mark. The Mercenary Guild would decide their fate, and Dragonia would not like that.
But that was the point.
The road felt narrower now.
Not physically-but in possibility.
Lucius was aware of every passerby, every distant rider, every bird that took flight too suddenly. He felt like a mark etched into the world, visible to things that hadn't noticed him before.
That night, they camped beneath a rocky overhang.
No fire.
Lucy insisted.
"The less attention we draw, the better," she said, drawing a containment circle with powdered stone. "Residual Abyss energy attracts things we don't want."
Mike swallowed. "Like what?"
Lucy didn't answer.
Lucius sat apart from the others, sharpening his blade more out of habit than necessity. The rhythmic scrape of whetstone against steel helped quiet his thoughts-until footsteps approached.
Alicia stopped beside him.
"You didn't have to step forward," she said.
Lucius didn't look up. "Neither did you."
A pause.
"They weren't supposed to find you yet," she admitted.
Lucius finally met her eyes. "So you did know."
She exhaled. "I suspected."
"Of what?"
"That someone like you would exist eventually," Alicia said. "Dragonia doesn't rule for a thousand years by accident. It plans. It watches. It prunes."
Lucius felt something cold settle in his chest. "And the First Prince?"
Alicia's jaw tightened. "He doesn't prune. He burns."
They sat in silence for a moment.
"You're not just a wandering noble," Lucius said.
"No."
"Alicia isn't your real name."
"No."
Lucius nodded. "That's enough."
She studied him. "You don't want answers?"
"I want them when they won't get us killed."
For the first time, Alicia smiled-small, genuine. "You're wiser than most men with power."
Lucius returned his attention to his blade. "I don't want power."
Alicia's smile faded. "None of us do. At first."
---
Lucius dreamed again.
This time, the fire was closer.
He stood before a vast gate of black iron, its surface etched with symbols that hurt to look at directly. Chains thicker than towers wrapped around it, glowing faintly with divine light.
Behind the gate, something stirred.
Not rage.
Patience.
"You are late," a voice said-not aloud, but everywhere.
Lucius clenched his fists. "I didn't agree to this."
"No one agrees to blood," the voice replied. "It agrees to you."
Lucius woke with a sharp inhale.
Dawn crept over the hills.
His chest felt heavy-not painful, but... aware.
Equivalent exchange had taken something.
He just still didn't know what.
---
They reached the guild outpost by midday.
Chaos greeted them.
Riders came and went at speed. Notices were being posted. Mercenaries clustered in tense groups, voices low and urgent.
Lucy grabbed a passing runner. "What happened?"
"Abyss rift," the young man said breathlessly. "North road. Three villages gone. No survivors."
The world tilted.
"How recent?" Lucius asked.
"Last night."
Mike's voice cracked. "We were right there."
The clerk from before spotted them and waved sharply. "Inside. Now."
They followed her into a private chamber reinforced with sigils.
"Dragonia is mobilizing," the clerk said without preamble. "Officially, it's 'aid.' Unofficially, it's a purge."
Lucy stiffened. "Of worshippers?"
"And anomalies," the woman replied, eyes flicking to Lucius. "You've become a category."
Jak slammed a fist into the table. "They caused this mess!"
"They control the narrative," the clerk said flatly. "And the gods won't contradict them."
Lucius felt anger rise-hot, dangerous.
"Why?" he asked. "Why let villages burn?"
The clerk met his gaze. "Because fear is cleaner than truth."
Alicia straightened. "Then we leave."
Lucy nodded slowly. "South. Toward the old Thakanan border."
The clerk hesitated, then slid a sealed document across the table. "If you're going to survive what's coming... you'll need this."
Lucius broke the seal.
Inside was a map-old, detailed, and marked with symbols that made Lucy's breath catch.
"A Lucia-era dungeon," she whispered. "Untouched."
Lucius closed the map.
Outside, horns sounded-long and deep.
Dragonian.
The empire had arrived.
Lucius felt the presence within him stir-not with pride this time, but warning.
This was no longer about monsters.
It was about crowns.
And once crowns noticed you... they never forgot.
---