The Obliteration Countdown

Chapter 3 Shattered Core and Broken Oath

They blocked the passage. Sylas, the Grand Magus, looked past the blood on my clothes. Kaelen stared at the broken Vance crest behind me and tightened his grip on his sword.

“Your jealousy has curdled into poison, Elara.” Arcane power carried Sylas's words down the hall. He pointed at my chest. “I gave you that Light Core to guide you and purify your spirit. You used it to feed these tantrums. I will reclaim it before you ruin your soul.”

Kaelen spoke next. “I swore an oath to protect the daughter of House Vance. You gave up that name. You hurt everyone who cares for you, and you are unworthy of a knight's protection.”

Blood loss pulled me sideways. Kaelen moved before he could stop himself and reached for my elbow.

“Stand back, Kaelen,” Sylas commanded sharply. “Do not let her weakness manipulate you.”

Kaelen withdrew his hand. He had caught me after every training fall for ten years, yet now he watched me brace against the wall.

I laughed until it turned into a cough. Sylas meant to reclaim his gift. Kaelen wanted to strip me of an oath already broken. Both still expected me to wait for their verdict.

My throat was raw, but I made him hear me. “You don't get to take anything from me, Sylas. Not anymore.”

I drove my fingers into the old scar on my chest. Pain erased the corridor. When my hand closed around the Light Core Sylas had implanted years ago, I pulled until it tore free.

The core came out in a rush of blood.

It pulsed in my hand, bright enough to shine through the blood. Sylas reached for it.

I closed my fist first. The core broke into glittering fragments and went dark.

Sylas screamed and clutched his chest. The gift had been a fragment of his own power, joined to his soul. Destroying it left the same fracture in him, and there was nothing left for him to reclaim.

I faced Kaelen.

“Kaelen.” I wiped blood from my mouth and spoke the ancient counter-oath, words only the person under his protection could use. “By my blood and my breath, I release you. Your promise is broken. Your service is done.”

The silver crest on his breastplate cracked. Metal struck the walls, and the backlash threw him to his knees. He folded over as the forsaken oath tore itself from his soul.

Caspian arrived with the Imperial Guard. He found Sylas clutching his chest, Kaelen on his knees, and me covered in blood between them.

Caspian pointed at me. “She's gone completely mad. She attacked a Magus and her own knight! Seize her! Take her to the Purification Tower. Let the ice cleanse the madness from her bones!”

The guards closed around me. I let them drag me away, my heels leaving two broken streaks of blood on the stone.

The iron door of the Purification Tower shut behind me. Darkness swallowed the cell, and the cold tightened my lungs until I could only take shallow breaths. I fell on the frozen floor.

Magic would not answer inside those walls. Frost gathered on my wet sleeves, stiffening the cloth against both wrists while the guards' footsteps faded down the stairs.

The System's countdown glowed in front of me.

*24 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds.*

I dipped one finger into the blood under my chest and drew the first line of a circle on the ice.

The tower would kill me. The array would decide who paid for it.