The nonexistent wind swept across the ruins.
Bringing only echoes of lost eras.
—
Kael stood before the broken monolith.
The decision already weighed heavy on his chest before it was even made.
— If we destroy it, — Helena said, — we sever the connection to the First League forever.
— If we preserve it, — Nikita finished, — the Abyss may use these anchors against us.
The dilemma was clear.
And cruel.
—
Otrho stepped closer, solemn.
— Sometimes, protecting what we love means letting it go.
Kael said nothing.
His gaze fixed on the shattered towers, the nearly erased symbols.
The dead hopes of a civilization that had tried to master time... and failed.
—
The witches waited in silence.
They knew the choice belonged to him.
To the Stone.
—
Kael closed his eyes.
He heard the echoes whisper in his mind:
> "Choose permanence... and repeat the fall."
"Choose rupture... and walk alone."
He drew a deep breath.
And made his decision.
—
He opened the containment capsule he carried.
Inside it lay a temporal seed — a League artifact, capable of collapsing atemporal spaces with surgical precision.
Kael walked to the center of the broken plaza.
Kneeling, he planted the seed into the corrupted ground.
Without looking back, he activated the device.
—
A white light tore across the cracked sky.
The ruins began to tremble.
The forgotten city... started to dissolve.
No screams. No rage.
Only acceptance.
—
Otrho, standing beside Kael, murmured:
— We honor... by not repeating their mistakes.
Kael simply nodded.
And led the group back across the fading bridge of light.
They knew:
They were leaving behind what could never be saved.
But they carried the memory.
And the promise not to fail in the same way.