The castle hadn't known true silence in decades, but now even the wind seemed to hold its breath.
Airam stood frozen in the corridor, her pulse pounding in her ears. The word ash echoed like a curse in her mind. She pushed past the guards, Liam close behind, and sprinted toward the eastern chamber. The torches lining the hall flickered as if reacting to the turmoil.
The scholar's study door was wide open.
Inside, the room was scorched—books turned to cinders, shelves melted into twisted shapes. At the center of it all was a blackened mark on the stone floor, a perfect silhouette of a man reduced to nothing but shadow.
Liam knelt beside the mark, hand hovering over the heat still radiating from the stone. "This wasn't just fire. This was... something else."
Airam's gaze landed on the spot where the book had once rested. There was no sign of it now.
"It was locked," she whispered. "That room was sealed."
Lara entered behind them, her breath short. "We found the lockbox. Empty. The crystal's gone too."
A cold chill crept up Airam's spine.
"Someone's stolen it," Liam muttered.
"No," Airam said softly, her throat dry. "It left."
Liam turned to her. "What do you mean?"
She hugged her arms around herself. "The magic—when I touched it, it didn't just activate. It recognized me. It was waiting. What if the book and the crystal weren't just relics? What if they were a message?"
"Or a key," Liam said grimly.
Before anyone could respond, a soldier appeared at the doorway, panting and bloodied.
"Your Majesty!" he gasped. "The western watchtower—it's under attack!"
"By who?" Liam asked, rising to his feet.
The soldier shook his head. "We don't know. They came from the woods. Shadows... walking in the mist."
Airam's heart stilled. "Show us."
They raced through the corridors, mounted their horses, and galloped toward the western watchtower. Smoke billowed into the sky in twisting gray plumes. From the distance, it looked like a wound splitting the forest apart.
As they neared, Airam saw the strange figures—cloaked in darkness, gliding rather than walking. They didn't speak, didn't shout. They simply advanced, and everything in their path withered.
Soldiers fought valiantly, but their weapons passed through the invaders as though they were slicing air. One of the creatures raised a hand, and a wave of black fire engulfed a battalion, leaving behind silence and scorched earth.
"Those aren't men," Liam said, voice tight. "They're wraiths."
Airam leapt down from Rihanna, drawing her sword. It shimmered with faint blue light—the blade forged from royal iron, blessed by the temple priests. She had never truly used it in battle.
Now was the time.
She charged forward, the sword held high, and to everyone's surprise—the wraith nearest her paused. Then, it retreated.
The others hissed like steam from a crack in the world.
"They fear you," Liam said, suddenly beside her, sword drawn.
"Or they fear what's inside me," she said under her breath.
Then she heard it again. The voice. A whisper that wasn't a whisper at all.
"Awaken."
The crystal—the one from the tower—flared to life inside her mind, as though it had never left. She staggered, gasping as heat rushed through her veins.
Her vision blurred, and for a brief second, she wasn't in the field anymore.
She stood in a strange realm, dark and burning—flames dancing in slow motion. A figure cloaked in smoke stood on a stone dais, holding the crystal aloft.
The voice spoke again, deeper now.
"We were sealed by your blood. We return through it."
Airam blinked—and the world snapped back. She was back on the battlefield. Liam caught her before she collapsed.
"We have to fall back," he said.
"No," Airam whispered, her voice trembling but fierce. "I need to speak to it."
"The wraith?!"
"No—the crystal."
Lara appeared beside them, clutching a small satchel. "The rest of the castle is being evacuated. But there's something you need to see. It was left in your room. Just now."
Airam exchanged a look with Liam, then followed her.
They returned to her chambers, where the satchel sat on the desk. Inside it was a note. The ink shimmered with unnatural iridescence.
Airam unfolded it.
The writing was unfamiliar, but somehow she could read it.
> Daughter of flame, bearer of truth, last of the bloodline.
The seal is broken.
Come to the ruins beneath the Silver Spire. Come alone.
Before the others find you first.
She looked up at Liam, her hands trembling. "They want me to go alone."
Liam's jaw clenched. "Then they don't know me."
"But if it's a trap—"
"Then I walk into it with you."
Before she could argue, a gust of wind slammed against the windows. They burst open with a loud crack, and in flew a single black feather, burning at the edges, drifting until it landed between them.
Airam bent to pick it up.
The moment her fingers touched it—
A scream echoed in her mind. Liam's voice. Painful. Agonizing.
Her eyes flew to Liam—but he was fine.
For now.
But something had just shown her a glimpse of what could come.
And it had only just begun.