Chapter 17 – The Price of Fire
The death of Bastion Rix shattered the illusion of control.
All across Kael'var, whispers turned into voices, and voices became chants. Murals of Ghost appeared on walls overnight, drawn in ash and blood.
> "The Circle bleeds."
But victory had its price.
Rayan sat inside the crumbling hideout beneath the old bell tower. His arm was stitched from shoulder to elbow, his ribs cracked from the brawl with Rix.
Kara crouched beside the forge's dying flame, her hands blackened with soot. Torren was gone—out gathering news.
> "The city's moving," Kara murmured. "Seris is missing."
> "They're rearranging their pieces," Rayan said. "But it's too late."
He stood, wincing. "We hit another tonight."
Kara blinked. "You're not ready."
> "Neither is the Circle."
Rayan wasn't thinking like a soldier anymore. He thought like a flame—one meant to spread, no matter the pain.
---
Later that night, he met with the newly awakened underground—The Drowned Blades.
A gang of ex-miners, smugglers, and broken workers, they now followed Rayan, seeing in him the first real crack in the Circle's walls.
Their leader, a barrel-chested woman named Nera, eyed Rayan with flinty calm.
> "You killed Rix?"
> "He's dead."
> "Then I'll listen."
She handed him a scroll.
> "Seris isn't hiding. She's preparing."
Rayan unfurled the scroll: shipping orders, names, and an old sigil—a black moth with glass wings.
> "Kellor's men are moving weapons into the southern district. They're going to burn the outer wards before they fall."
Rayan's jaw clenched. The outer wards were where most rebels hid—the families, the sick, the poor.
> "He wants a fire wall."
> "He wants to bury your uprising in ash," Nera said.
> "Then we take his fire first."
Chapter 18 – Glass Wings Break
The southern docks roared with movement: crates of phosphorus powder, canisters of smoke gas, and barrels of flammable oil being stacked by masked workers.
Kellor's personal seal was on every shipment.
Rayan, Kara, and a dozen Drowned Blades crouched behind a row of broken ships. Their plan was insane—strike the supply line before it left the port.
> "No one escapes this time," Rayan ordered.
They moved fast, blades drawn and faces masked in cloth.
Kara was the first to strike—cutting a rope and dropping a cargo net onto two guards.
Rayan moved like wind through smoke—fast, silent, deadly.
He reached the central barge where Kellor's men were loading the fire powder. A cloaked figure barked orders.
> "More to the cart! Quickly—Seris wants them gone by dawn!"
Rayan heard the name and froze.
> Seris. She had returned.
Suddenly, the figure turned—and it was her.
Seris, the silver-robed puppet master of the Circle. She wore no mask now. Only a dagger at her side and a cruel smile on her lips.
> "Ghost," she said, as if greeting an old friend. "I wondered when you'd show."
> "You always liked hiding in fire."
> "You always liked chasing ghosts. But here we are. One of us ends tonight."
Before he could speak, Kellor's guards attacked—ten men, armored and fast.
Rayan clashed with them in a blur, his twin blades glinting under torchlight. One fell. Then two. Then four.
But then came Seris.
She was no mere strategist—she was a dancer with a blade, fast and unpredictable.
Kara joined the fight, parrying Seris's strikes as Rayan circled to flank.
Seris spun, slashed, and sliced Kara's cheek.
> "I remember your face," Seris hissed. "You were Kael's daughter's friend, weren't you?"
Kara growled. "I was her shield."
With a scream, she lunged—but Seris dodged and hurled a flash vial.
Light exploded.
Rayan was blind for two seconds.
When his sight returned, Seris was gone.
But not the fire.
The barrels had been lit.
> "No—!" Kara shouted.
Rayan grabbed the nearest flare and hurled it into the harbor.
A massive boom shook the docks as fire erupted over water instead of homes. The flames swallowed the sea, not the people.
They saved the outer wards.
---
The next day, the people of Kael'var rose.
Not in fear—but in rage.
Seris had failed.
Kellor had vanished.
And Ghost's fire spared the innocent.
The Drowned Blades joined the uprising. Elrik's soldiers defected. Even old nobles began to send secret messages of support.
But Seris was still out there.
And the war was just beginning.