The Citadel was burning. The sound of crumbling stone and the crackling of flames filled the air, mingling with the anguished cries of those caught in the rebellion's wake. The walls of the once-impenetrable stronghold trembled, the weight of its centuries-old rule crumbling with every passing moment. The heart of the Citadel had been shattered by the Outcast Branded, and now there was nothing left to stop the inevitable.
Leia stood at the center of the wreckage, her body exhausted but her spirit resolute. The battle had been brutal, the Citadel's elite soldiers relentless, but the Altar—the source of their power—had been destroyed. It was the key to everything. The Bone Devouring Ceremony was over. The plague would no longer control them.
But as the dust settled, and the cries of the fa
