LOGINheir silence was answer enough.The realization settled heavily in my chest. Whatever history bound these two together, it reached far beyond the fragments I'd uncovered in the Hall. This wasn't the first time they had stood on opposite sides of a battlefield. Judging by the sorrow in Lyra's eyes and the cold satisfaction in the stranger's smile, it wouldn't be the last.Lyra finally broke the silence."You've come for the relics.""I've come for what belongs to me."His gaze drifted to the Sword of Dawn resting in my hands. The crimson glow reflected in his eyes, but there was no awe in his expression—only the quiet confidence of someone reclaiming stolen property."You've spent centuries guarding my inheritance."The words landed like a blow.My inheritance.Not the kingdom.Not the Hall.The relics.Lyra's face hardened."You forfeited that claim long ago.""So you keep telling yourself."He took another measured step, and the pressure inside the chamber intensified. The air grew h
The woman's footsteps echoed through the shattered chamber with quiet certainty.Around her, fragments of broken crystal hung motionless in the air, refusing to fall. Dust drifted without settling, suspended in the crimson glow that filled the Hall. Even time seemed to hesitate as she approached.At first, only a silhouette emerged from the shifting shadows, the darkness clinging to it like a living veil. With every measured step, the shadows loosened their hold until she stood fully revealed beneath the crimson light.She wasn't what I had imagined.The First Dragon Queen wore no jeweled armor and no sweeping royal cloak. A simple crimson gown flowed around her, embroidered with silver thread that caught the light like dragon scales beneath clear water. Her dark hair rested over one shoulder, and a narrow circlet crowned her brow.She looked barely older than I was.That alone should have been impossible.What unsettled me most was her face.She could have been my sister.The resembl
I looked away, my thoughts racing."My mother died before I became Luna. She never witnessed my execution. She never knew I would return."Argos watched me without interrupting."If she recognized me..." I murmured, "then someone must have told her.""Perhaps.""Or she learned something she was never supposed to know."Again, he offered no confirmation.His silence felt deliberate."You know the answer.""I know many answers.""Then tell me.""The Hall is not a place where knowledge is handed to those who seek it."His golden eyes met mine without wavering."It is a place where truth is earned."Frustration rose in my chest."I've survived your trials.""You survived one." Argos's voice never changed. "There are many."I forced myself to exhale.Arguing with him wasn't going to reveal anything.Instead, I looked around the Hall more carefully.Only then did I notice something strange.The floating memories weren't drifting at random. Every glowing sphere followed the same invisible cu
The voice lingered in the darkness long after the final word faded."Come home, my daughter."Every muscle in my body tightened. It wasn't simply that the voice sounded like my mother's. It was my mother's, down to the warmth that had soothed childhood nightmares and the quiet affection that always made the world feel a little less frightening. I'd watched her die. I'd stood beside her grave until everyone else had gone home. I knew she was gone.So why did my feet still want to carry me toward her?I caught myself leaning forward before I realized I'd moved. One more careless step and I would have walked straight over the edge of the black crystal staircase without thinking."Do not follow the voice."Argos's warning echoed through the vast chamber, cutting cleanly through the fog clouding my thoughts. I forced myself to stop and tightened my grip on the Sword of Dawn until the worn leather pressed into my palm."You heard it too?" I asked, unable to keep the strain from my voice.Th
Crimson light swallowed the world.One moment Kael was forcing his way toward me through the invisible pressure holding everyone else back, his hand stretched out as he shouted my name. Rowan was somewhere behind him, barking orders over the chaos consuming Blackridge. Then the light closed around me, and every sound vanished.The pressure disappeared so suddenly that I stumbled forward. When my vision cleared, the ruined fortress, the mountain, and everyone who had come with me were gone.An endless plain of polished black stone stretched in every direction beneath a crimson sky with neither sun nor moon. Veins of glowing red light pulsed beneath the smooth surface like the slow heartbeat of something unimaginably ancient. Each pulse sent a faint vibration through the soles of my boots.The place felt impossibly old. It didn't carry the lifeless silence of abandoned ruins. Instead, it possessed the quiet patience of a place that had waited centuries for someone's arrival.The Sword o
The old man's words lingered in the cold mountain air, refusing to fade even after the echo died. No one spoke. The ruined valley seemed to settle into an uneasy silence, broken only by the occasional groan of fractured stone shifting somewhere deep inside the crater.Blackridge Fortress no longer looked like a battlefield. It looked as though the mountain itself had been torn apart from within. Half the cliff had collapsed into a vast hollow choked with mist, while broken towers leaned against jagged rocks at impossible angles. The smell of damp earth mixed with crushed stone, and every breath carried a fine layer of dust that scraped against my throat.Kael stepped forward first, placing himself slightly ahead of the others without making it obvious. His hand rested lightly on the hilt of his sword, not in threat but in readiness."You've made a remarkable claim," he said evenly. "Now explain it."The old man regarded him with quiet amusement, as though he'd heard the same demand co







