Chapter 53
705 Words
Morning did not bring calm.
It only made the damage clearer.
The palace grounds were still being repaired, though no one pretended things were back to normal. Guards moved in tighter formations, mages worked in quiet urgency, and the usual rhythm of the capital had been replaced with something more cautious.
Prepared.
Diana stood at the edge of the courtyard, watching as soldiers gathered in formation below. Their armor was marked, some still bearing signs of the previous night’s clash, but no one hesitated.
They were ready.
Or at least—ready enough.
“You’re thinking too much again.”
Diana didn’t turn. “I’m planning.”
A pause behind her.
“Same difference.”
She allowed herself a small exhale before glancing back. Dylan stood a few steps away, already prepared for battle. There was no trace of last night’s softness in him now—only focus.
“…They’re not going to stop, are they?” she asked.
“No.”
Simple. Certain.
Diana looked back at the soldiers.
“Then we don’t wait for them to come again.”
That got his attention.
Dylan stepped closer. “What are you thinking?”
“We track it,” she said. “The one that broke through—it didn’t come from nowhere. There has to be a point where the barrier is weakest.”
“And you want to go there.”
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation in her voice.
For a moment, Dylan studied her.
Then he nodded once. “Then we don’t go alone.”
The council didn’t argue for long.
There was no time.
Within the hour, a strike group had been assembled—small, precise, and fast. This wasn’t an army. It was a response unit.
Diana stood at the front now, no longer observing.
Leading.
Kaelen and Theon took position behind her, both already armed, their presence steady and grounding in different ways. Dylan stood at her side, silent but watchful.
Around them, a handful of elite warriors prepared to move.
“The barrier breach point was traced to the outer forest,” one of the mages explained. “Residual corruption is still active.”
Diana nodded. “Then that’s where we start.”
As they moved out, the shift was immediate.
The closer they got to the forest, the heavier the air became. The usual sounds of nature had thinned into something quieter—uneasy.
Diana felt it again.
That pull.
Kaida stirred first.
“It passed through here.”
Diana’s steps slowed slightly.
“…You can feel it?”
“I can smell it.”
A faint tension curled in her chest.
Nyxara followed, calmer.
“Do not rely on instinct alone.”
Diana resisted the urge to respond out loud.
“I’m not,” she muttered under her breath.
Dylan glanced at her briefly. “You said something?”
“Nothing.”
But it wasn’t nothing.
They reached the first mark not long after.
The ground itself had changed.
Deep clawed impressions carved into the earth, far too large and irregular to belong to any natural creature. The trees nearby were scarred, bark stripped away in jagged patterns.
One of the warriors crouched slightly. “This wasn’t just movement. It was unstable.”
Diana stepped closer, her gaze narrowing.
There was something else.
Something beneath the physical damage.
“…Magic residue,” she said quietly.
Not clean.
Not controlled.
Corrupted.
Nyxara confirmed it.
“This is not natural magic.”
Kaida added, sharper:
“It’s spreading.”
Diana’s chest tightened slightly.
She turned to the group. “We move carefully from here. Stay close. No one separates.”
No one questioned her.
Not anymore.
The deeper they went, the worse it became.
The air thickened, pressing against their lungs. The ground felt uneven, like something beneath it was shifting slowly, unseen.
And then—
A sound.
Low.
Unfamiliar.
Wrong.
Everyone stopped.
Dylan’s hand moved slightly, ready.
Kaelen shifted his stance, already prepared to strike.
Theon’s gaze sharpened, scanning ahead.
Diana didn’t move.
She didn’t need to.
Because she felt it before she saw it.
Kaida’s voice dropped.
“It’s here.”
Nyxara followed:
“Be ready.”
From the shadows ahead—
Something moved.
- Writer
