The silver light of the Aether pulse died down, plunging the Obsidian Crypt back into a cool, ominous shadow. The only sound was the scrape of heavy, armored boots on the stone stairs.
Gideon, a man whose reputation was as dark as the magic he wielded, appeared in the doorway. He was a tall, imposing figure, cloaked in deep grey, his face half-hidden by a dark cowl. His eyes, the only visible feature, glowed with a faint, malevolent purple light, the sign of his Purple Level Intermediate mastery over Dark Aether. He was every bit the terrifying, silent assassin Elara remembered reading about.
He glanced at the ruined staircase, the shattered glass sphere, and the quickly fading chaotic Aether signature, then dismissed them instantly as clumsy distractions. His gaze locked onto Elara, who was pressed against the massive central pillar.
"You," Gideon's voice was a low, resonant rumble that seemed to vibrate the very air. "The civilian. The companion to the Archmage's disobedient son. I admire your effort at resistance, but it is futile. Lord Varr has the Aether Key. Tell me where he is taking it, and I will grant you a clean passing."
Elara forced herself to stand tall, refusing to show the paralyzing fear that threatened to buckle her knees. She had to hold him here.
"You won't kill me, Gideon," Elara stated, her voice surprisingly steady, despite the cold sweat on her palms. "Not yet. Valerius needs to know where Kaelen went, but more importantly, he needs to know how Kaelen achieved Blue Peak so quickly. You are here for interrogation, not execution."
Gideon tilted his head slightly, intrigued by her sudden insight. "You speak with the confidence of knowledge, yet you possess none of the signs of the Art. Are you a familiar? Or perhaps a pet sorceress?"
"I know the truth of your allegiance, Shadow Hunter," Elara pressed, leaning into the lie of her knowledge. "You are bound to Prince Valerius, but your loyalty runs deeper—to the resources he promises. Resources drawn directly from the Weeping Stone Crossing."
The Purple light in Gideon's eyes flickered. He stopped moving toward her. That location, the site of his deepest, darkest power source, was known only to Valerius and his most trusted inner circle—a circle he believed was impenetrable.
"A bold guess," Gideon sneered, but the doubt was palpable in his tone.
"It's not a guess. I know that your current power relies on the stability of those Tainted Runes buried beneath the riverbed," Elara continued, her voice gaining strength as she channeled her memory of the novel's exposition chapter. "Valerius feeds that corruption to you. If that power source were to be neutralized, you would be reduced to a common brute, unable to cast anything higher than a low-level Orange Rank illusion."
Gideon took a sudden, aggressive step forward, dropping his facade of patience. His hand began to glow with corrosive purple Aether—the signature preparation for his paralyzing Shadow Bind spell. Elara knew the moment he cast it, she would be frozen, completely vulnerable.
"Silence!" he roared, his voice laced with venom. "You have crossed the line, witch. You reveal yourself as the true intelligence threat. Your knowledge is dangerous, and I will extract it from your dying mind."
Just as Gideon raised his hand to cast the spell, a loud, concussive Aether Discharge ripped through the Crypt entrance above them.
Meanwhile, Kaelen Varr had reached the knoll above the Crypt. He saw the pulverized stone around the entrance—the clear, terrifying sign of a high-level magical assault. He didn't need to see the body to know the situation was critical.
He moved to the large stone that concealed the entrance. There, etched hastily onto the stone, was a single, newly carved rune: the Fire-Mirror Rune.
Fire-Mirror. The first rune in the sequence to unlock the Aether Key. It's Elara's message.
She wasn't telling him where she was; she was telling him where he had been. Someone tracked him to the Tower and followed him back here. Kaelen's mind immediately connected the dots: Seraph tracked the Aether signature, and the assassin Gideon was sent for the clean-up.
He tucked the Aether Key securely into his cloak. He was two hours from the Weeping Stone Crossing, and Gideon was already inside. He couldn't risk a direct confrontation against a Purple Rank Master Arcanist while carrying the key.
I cannot fight him. I must eliminate his anchor.
Kaelen placed his hand on the ground, channeling his Blue Rank Peak energy. He pulled the Aether Key from his pocket, holding the obsidian feather in his palm. The Key was pure White Aether—the opposite of Gideon's corruption.
He didn't have the time or the power to destroy the distant runes normally, but the Aether Key contained ancient teleportation wards used by his ancestors. Kaelen channeled his power into the Key, visualizing the corrupted cluster he knew was buried at the Crossing.
He used the Key not for transport, but as a Transfiguration Anchor, using its White Aether purity to breach the distance. He forced his Blue Rank Aether through the feather, creating a sudden, massive surge of anti-corruption energy.
This surge was the concussive Aether Discharge that just rocked the Crypt.
Kaelen's face was strained, his energy reserves plummeting, but the spell hit its target. Four miles away, the Tainted Runes beneath the Weeping Stone Crossing were instantly overwhelmed by the tidal wave of purifying White Aether and Blue Rank force. They didn't explode; they simply reverted—transformed from dark generators back into inert, worthless stones.
Inside the Crypt, as the Aether Discharge slammed into the cavern, Gideon staggered. The Purple glow around his hand vanished, and his eyes dimmed to a dull, mortal grey. His connection to the subterranean power source was severed. His strength, his speed, and his Purple Rank spell-casting ability were instantly curtailed.
"The runes… he destroyed them," Gideon whispered, the shock replacing his fury. He was still a Green Rank fighter, but against a Blue Rank Archmage, he was utterly compromised.
Elara seized the split-second advantage. She didn't have magic, but she knew how to use the terrain. She darted away from the pillar, kicking up a cloud of dust that was still settling from the discharge.
"He is here, Gideon!" she screamed, pointing wildly toward a darkened passage. "And he just stripped you of your power! Run!"
Gideon, driven by instinct and the sudden, terrifying loss of his anchor, didn't hesitate. He knew the danger of engaging a Blue Rank Varr Archmage who had just performed such a complex spell.
He activated a simple Green Rank dash rune and vanished up the staircase, no longer an implacable hunter but a panicked survivor.
Seconds later, Kaelen dropped down from the Crypt entrance. He was pale and shaking from the energy drain of the remote Transfiguration, but alive.
He saw the dust, the fading Aether pulse, and the single, stunned civilian standing in the middle of the cavern.
"Gideon," Kaelen rasped, leaning heavily on his staff.
"Gone. He knows you disabled his power," Elara said, rushing to him. "He knows everything."
Kaelen nodded, his gaze distant. He held up the Aether Key—the obsidian feather—now pulsing with stable, beautiful white light.
"We have the key, Elara," Kaelen said, forcing a breath. "And we have crippled Valerius's most valuable assassin. The time we bought is now. The Codex is next."