Chapter 27: Death Riddle
Aric Blackthorn’s eyes did not stray. He watched every twitch in Kael’s limbs and every breath from Garrick's chest with the studied calm of a predator circling prey.
Crude form, Aric thought. No finesse. But the pressure he exerts… that’s the real threat.
Then, a flicker in his peripheral vision. Thane.
His eyes narrowed.
That one is the sharper blade.
While Garrick swung heavy and wide, Thane moved like the edge of a surgeon’s scalpel. Precise, efficient. Every strike whispered along the axis of tendon and artery, aiming for collapse.
Thane’s lineage from the Lucerna bloodline wasn’t just for show. His muscle control was eerie, almost mechanical. His timing, ghostly perfect.
Dark creatures born of blight slipped past them, black shapes stitched together b
