Morning broke over the shattered province like a blade through smoke.
The sun rose crimson, stained by the lingering fires that still smoldered across the hills. The enemy had fallen back to their final bastion—a fortified cliffside fortress known as Holdreath's Spine, once a noble outpost, now warped into a Velcras stronghold pulsing with black wardlight.
Kael stood at the front of his assembled forces.
Behind him, the Lion's Teeth waited in silence.
Lyra adjusted her gloves with methodical tension. Rin flipped through a field journal, eyes darting between pages and the fortress's strange architecture. Serentha mounted a ridge to coordinate the flanks.
Kael looked up at the dark stone structure. Its towers had been etched with the broken-circle insignia, and a large spiral rune glowed across the entrance gate.
This was it.
The final stronghold.
The last pocket of the rebellion.
---
Command Briefing – Strategy of Severance
Rin outlined the structure on a large scroll.
"Two entrances. Both sealed by blood wards. The main gate is rigged to siphon mana—any spellcaster trying to breach it gets drained. There's a rear cavern path that's narrower but less protected."
Kael pointed to the rear path.
"We'll split. Ives leads the main charge—create chaos, draw attention. I'll take a vanguard unit through the back."
Lyra immediately raised a hand. "I'm with you."
Kael didn't protest.
Rin rolled her eyes. "I guess I'm going too."
Kael's tone was calm.
"No casting near the glyph rings. Let me handle the main seal."
Serentha stepped up. "And if they have a third monolith?"
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"Then I'll destroy it."
---
The Assault Begins
The siege launched just past noon.
From the cliffs, fire and steel rained down as Ives led the front assault, battering against the corrupted gates with magic-drenched ballistae and suppression runes. Screams echoed, steel clashed, and the air was thick with arcane heat.
Meanwhile, Kael, Lyra, Rin, and a select squad moved through the ravine path.
They reached a hidden breach in the rear wall, once a supply tunnel now overgrown and rotting. The stone wept sap-like blood where Velcras wards had warped it.
Kael touched the wall—and the dagger pulsed, guiding his hand.
He whispered a Thornline phrase under his breath, and the wall shimmered.
They entered.
---
Inside Holdreath's Spine
The interior was wrong.
Not just corrupted—transformed.
The floors were coated in a carpet of roots that pulsed like veins. The air tasted metallic. Every corridor bent slightly, like the fortress had been reshaped to fit a ritual geometry.
And at the center: the final chamber.
A circular room filled with thorns of black crystal, and at the center—a half-formed monolith, glowing violently.
Kael stared at it, and the dagger at his side began to scream.
"SEED. ROOT. BLOOM."
The whispers became thunder.
Kael stepped forward—but stumbled.
Lyra caught him.
"Kael?"
He looked pale. Breathing heavy.
"I'm fine."
He wasn't.
---
The Battle Within
Velcras cultists appeared from the roots—cloaked figures with thorn-masks, chanting. Blades drawn.
Lyra didn't wait.
She launched forward, glaive sweeping through the first attacker. Rin flanked behind her, casting barrier spells to block the incoming barrage of energy bolts.
Kael tried to draw his sword.
His hand shook.
One cultist hurled a spear of molten root toward him—he raised the dagger, and instinct took over.
The world warped.
The spear froze midair, then shattered into petals of black flame.
But Kael screamed.
His knees buckled.
Rin shouted, "He's bleeding—!"
---
The Backlash
Kael fell.
His vision darkened.
The dagger pulsed again—and blood poured from his palm, eyes, nose.
Rin ran to him. "You're hemorrhaging mana—your body's rejecting it!"
The cost had arrived.
All the power he'd drawn. All the seals he'd disrupted. The bloom that had not been meant to begin.
It had built up.
And now it demanded recoil.
Lyra turned, eyes wide. "Kael!"
She fought her way to him, cutting through the remaining cultists with wild, precise fury.
"Rin—what do I do?!"
Rin laid Kael flat. "I—I don't know! I've never seen this! The dagger is feeding on him, but it won't let go!"
---
The Monolith Reacts
The unfinished monolith pulsed.
Cracks began to form across its surface—glowing with internal runes matching the dagger's blade.
"HE RETURNS."
Kael's lips moved unconsciously, whispering in a voice not his own.
"You cannot bind the root."
The monolith began to rise—hovering above the ground.
Lyra turned.
And made a choice.
She raised her glaive—and hurled it with everything she had.
The weapon spiraled, crashing into the monolith's center.
It shattered.
A wave of force exploded outward—ripping through the roots and collapsing the chamber ceiling.
---
Silence
Dust.
Stillness.
And then—a faint cough.
Lyra crawled from the debris, bruised, bleeding—but alive.
"Kael?" she shouted.
No answer.
"Kael!"
She found him—collapsed, unconscious, but breathing. The dagger lay beside him, its glow extinguished for the first time.
Rin limped over, panting.
"He's stable. I think… I think you stopped the reaction."
Lyra sank beside him.
Then whispered, "You idiot…"
And smiled.
Just a little.
---
Return to the Camp – The Victor Sleeps
When Kael awoke, it was dark.
He lay in a medical tent, bandaged and exhausted.
His limbs ached. His head throbbed. The dagger had been sealed in a box beside him—wrapped in silverthread cloth.
Lyra sat at his side, dozing.
He blinked. Tried to speak.
She opened her eyes instantly.
"…You're awake."
He nodded weakly. "The fortress?"
"Gone. We won."
Kael closed his eyes.
"…Good."
She leaned forward. "You almost died."
"I know."
She punched his arm—not hard, but enough.
"Don't do that again."
"I'll try."
Pause.
"Lyra…"
He looked at her.
"I heard you. In the dark."
She blinked.
"What did I say?"
Kael smiled faintly.
"You called me an idiot."
She rolled her eyes.
"Then you definitely weren't dead."
---
Final Scene – The Vault Stirs
Beneath House Vaelthorn, the sealed figure stirred.
One of the thirteen chains snapped.
The walls shook.
And the voice spoke again:
"He opens."
"He bleeds."
"He becomes."
---
End of Chapter 66