CHAPTER 26:Elara’s PerspectiveThe world was eerily silent in the aftermath of Malakar’s fall. The Nexus chamber, once a swirling mass of shadows and corruption, was crumbling. The energy that had fed the darkness for so long was finally dissipating, leaving behind only ruins and echoes of battles fought.I swayed slightly, exhaustion slamming into me like a tidal wave. My body ached from the strain of wielding the Guardian’s crystal, and my mind still reeled from the things I had seen in Malakar’s domain.But we had won.Damian’s grip on my hand was the only thing keeping me grounded. His knuckles were bruised, his expression hard but… relieved. We had barely survived, but we were still here.“Is it… over?” Niko asked, rubbing the back of his head as he staggered to his feet. His usually cocky demeanor was subdued, his eyes scanning the ruins with caution.Lena groaned from where she sat slumped against a broken pillar. “Feels over,” she muttered. “Though I wouldn’t be surprised if
CHAPTER 27:Elara’s PerspectiveThe chamber was cold despite the soft glow of the crystals embedded in the stone walls. The Keepers moved in eerie silence, their white robes flowing as they led us deeper into the heart of the Guardian’s Temple. My fingers clenched around the Guardian’s crystal, its warmth a sharp contrast to the chill that had settled in my bones.Damian walked beside me, his presence grounding. His expression was unreadable, but I knew him well enough to sense the tension in his frame. He didn’t trust the Keepers, and truthfully, neither did I—not yet.The lead Keeper finally stopped before a massive stone door adorned with intricate carvings. At its center was a symbol I had only seen once before—in the ancient texts my mother had hidden from my father.A circle split into two halves. Light and shadow intertwined.The Keeper turned to me. “This is the Vault of Echoes,” he said. “The answers you seek lie within.”I exhaled slowly. “And what exactly am I seeking?”The
CHAPTER 28:Elara’s PerspectiveFear coiled in my gut like a living thing, but I crushed it down. I had seen the past. I had felt the weight of my failures from another life. But this time—this time, I would not lose.Damian held me steady, his grip grounding me as the ancient Keeper’s words echoed in my mind."The one who destroyed her before is already awake."The darkness in the Vault of Echoes thickened as if it had heard the warning, shifting around us like unseen eyes watching, waiting. The book on the altar was still open, its pages rustling though there was no wind. My mind was still reeling from the visions—the golden towers, the war, the woman who had carried this very crystal before me. The woman who was me in another time.I forced myself to stand, shaking off the last vestiges of the vision. “Who is he?” I demanded, my voice stronger than I felt.The Keeper studied me with something that might have been pity. “You know the answer,” he said softly. “You have always known.”
CHAPTER 29:Elara’s PerspectiveThe Vault’s doors groaned open behind us, the ancient stone grinding against the floor as we stepped out into the cold night air. My lungs burned as I inhaled, grounding myself in the present, away from the memories that still clung to me like a second skin.Ravik.The name alone was enough to send an involuntary shiver down my spine. I could still feel his hands around my throat, the mocking gleam in his eyes as he promised my failure. But this time, I wasn’t just a lost soul wandering through forgotten history.This time, I had Damian.His presence was solid beside me, unwavering. He hadn’t said much since I’d woken from the vision, but he didn’t have to. His grip on my arm before I nearly collapsed, the way he had anchored me back to reality—that was enough.Lena and Niko were waiting just outside the ruins, their hands on their weapons, their eyes scanning the darkness. The air felt different, heavier, as if something unseen was pressing against the
CHAPTER 30:Elara’s PerspectiveThe journey back to Damian’s estate was tense, the weight of what we had learned pressing down on all of us. The wind howled through the abandoned streets, carrying whispers that felt like echoes of the darkness we had encountered. The ruins of the old city stretched around us, broken towers and shattered monuments bathed in the cold light of the moon.Ravik was awake—or close to it.The memory of his voice still clung to my skin like ice. His words haunted me."You always come back, but you never win."I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms as I forced myself to keep moving. Not this time.Damian walked beside me, silent but watchful. He hadn’t said much since we left the Vault, but I could feel his presence—strong, steady, unwavering. It was strange how much I had come to rely on him, how much his presence anchored me when everything else felt like it was slipping away.Lena and Niko moved ahead, scanning the ruins for any signs of moveme
CHAPTER 31:Elara’s PerspectiveThe halls of Damian’s estate felt colder than usual, despite the fire roaring in the grand hearth. Shadows stretched along the marble floors, flickering against the ornate walls as the chandelier above cast a dim golden glow. I stood in front of the massive window overlooking the city, my hands pressed against the cool glass.Below, the streets bustled with life, unaware of the storm brewing above them. Unaware of the war coming.It had been days since the attack in the ruins, but the weight of it still clung to me. I could still hear the whispers in the wind, still feel the echoes of Ravik’s voice creeping into my thoughts."You cannot run from me, little Guardian."A shiver crawled up my spine.I wasn’t running. Not anymore.Footsteps behind me drew my attention. Damian. His presence was unmistakable—commanding, steady.“You haven’t slept,” he said.I didn’t turn to face him. “Neither have you.”Silence. Then, “I spoke with Niko. He’s still gathering
CHAPTER 32:Elara’s PerspectiveThe night air was thick with anticipation, the weight of what we were about to do pressing against my chest. From the rooftop of Damian’s estate, I could see the city stretching out before me, a web of power, corruption, and secrets. Ravik was somewhere out there, moving his pieces across the board.But we weren’t going to wait for him to strike first.Damian stood beside me, his gaze fixed on the distant skyline. Below us, in the underground levels of the estate, our forces were gathering. Weapons were being distributed, plans finalized. The time for hesitation had passed.“We move at dawn,” Damian said, his voice low but firm.I nodded. “Are the teams ready?”“Niko is leading the infiltration unit. Lena is handling the supply routes. We cut off Ravik’s resources first. No fuel, no weapons, no reinforcements.”It was a smart plan—starve the enemy before the real fight begins. But I knew Ravik. He wouldn’t just sit back and let us dismantle his empire.
CHAPTER 33:Elara’s PerspectiveThe city never slept, but tonight, it felt like it was holding its breath. After the explosion at the warehouse, Ravik had gone silent. Too silent.And that terrified me more than an open war.I stood in Damian’s office, the massive windows overlooking the skyline. The distant glow of fire still flickered where Niko had destroyed Ravik’s weapons shipment, a warning sign burned into the night. But instead of retaliation, there was nothing.No attack.No threats.Just an unsettling quiet.“Something isn’t right,” I murmured, arms crossed.Damian leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled. “He’s waiting.”“For what?”He met my gaze, his ice-blue eyes unreadable. “For us to make the next move.”A chill ran down my spine. Ravik always had a plan.Niko and Lena entered the room, their clothes still singed from the explosion. Niko’s arm was bandaged, blood staining the fabric.“Warehouse is gone,” he reported. “But it was a trap. He knew we were coming.”Damia
CHAPTER 55:Elara’s PerspectiveThe wind howled through the skeletal remains of the Vasiliev estate, rattling loose beams and cracked tiles like bones clinking in an unmarked grave. The scout’s words still echoed in my mind, louder than the gunfire dying off in the distance."She said: Tell Elara I raised her once in silence... now I’ve returned for what was promised."My mother.Dead for over a decade.Buried in a sealed tomb I had wept beside, clutched Katya’s trembling hand at, cursed the gods over.And now she was standing at the edge of the woods?Luka and Damian flanked me, but I walked ahead, past the scorched gardens and ash-filled courtyards, toward the tree line.The air shifted.And then I saw her.Clad in midnight black, a long cloak dragging through the dirt, hair pinned high in a crown of braids. Her face was older—sharper—but I’d know that gaze anywhere.Those eyes had once read me stories.Had watched over me from across crowded rooms, whispered instructions in languag
CHAPTER 54:Elara’s PerspectiveThe garden fell into silence, but my mind roared louder than the fires that had reduced our home to smoldering rubble.The key.That’s what Damian had called me.Not just a Vasiliev... but the key.My gaze flicked between the two men standing before me—Luka, bloodstained and shaking, and Damian, calm as ever, but his eyes were storm-dark. For a split second, neither of them seemed real. Everything I thought I knew had just been shattered in the space of one sentence.“What the hell does that mean?” I whispered.Damian stepped forward, holding the phone tighter, like it was the last thread holding everything together. “The recording… it’s from fifteen years ago. Buried in a vault Viktor had under lock and kill order.”“Kill order?”He nodded. “Anyone who accessed it... died. But I didn’t go in blind.”“And you waited until now to tell me?” I hissed, rage beginning to claw its way up my throat.“I needed proof,” he said. “And time. Neither came easily.”L
CHAPTER 53:Elara’s PerspectiveThe air was thick with gunpowder and smoke, screams ricocheting off the marble walls like echoes from a nightmare. Damian pulled me down just as bullets shattered a chandelier above us. Shards of crystal rained down, catching the flicker of fire in the distance as the east wing of the estate began to burn.I couldn’t breathe.Not from the smoke—but from the weight of what I’d just learned.Luka. Alive. Fighting. Betrayed. And now... he had returned with vengeance in his eyes and war in his blood.Damian’s arm wrapped protectively around me, dragging me into the hallway. The alarms kept screaming, but louder than that was the chaos unraveling around us. I could hear Viktor barking orders in Russian, trying to rally what was left of his men.“He planned this for months,” Damian growled, kicking open a hidden panel in the wall that revealed a steel door. “That wasn’t just revenge. That was strategy.”“And you knew,” I said, breathless. “You knew he was ali
CHAPTER 52:Elara’s PerspectiveThe man in the mask stepped into the room, and instantly, the air shifted. Thick. Heavy. Charged.Even Damian tensed—a rare crack in his perfect composure. Viktor straightened slowly, like a man who’d seen a ghost. Whatever—or whoever—this was, they hadn’t expected him. And that unsettled me more than anything.“You’re too late,” the masked man repeated, voice low, smooth, but laced with something deadly.“Who the hell are you?” I demanded, swallowing the chaos swirling in my chest.He turned to me.And then I saw them—his eyes.Familiar.No, impossibly familiar.Silver-gray, like storms caught between twilight and fury.I staggered back, my pulse racing.No.It couldn’t be.Damian spoke first, but his voice was quieter than usual, as if even he was calculating how far this stranger could push him. “You shouldn’t be here.”The man’s gaze shifted to him, and there was nothing friendly in it. “You should’ve burned the evidence, Volkov. But you never were
CHAPTER 51:Elara’s PerspectiveMy heart pounded in my chest, my body frozen in place as I tried to process the sight before me.Viktor—alive—stood beside Damian, his face as cold and impassive as ever. But there was something different about him. Something off. He had always been a man of power, a master of the shadows, but now, his presence seemed... hollow.I couldn’t speak. My mouth was dry, my mind reeling with a thousand conflicting thoughts. This couldn’t be real. There was no way my father, the man who had been buried in the ashes of his empire, could still be alive. No way he could have survived everything we had gone through.But there he was, standing before me like a ghost, his dark eyes locking with mine, filled with an unreadable emotion.“I see you’ve figured it out, Elara,” Viktor said, his voice low and steady, like nothing had ever changed.I shook my head, the weight of the revelation pressing down on me like a suffocating force. “How? How are you alive? I—I saw you
CHAPTER 50:Elara’s PerspectiveThe darkness felt heavier now, as though the walls themselves were closing in on me. My breath came in shallow, erratic bursts, and my hands trembled as I pressed them against the cold stone of the wall, trying to steady myself. My mind raced with a thousand questions, each one more confusing than the last.What had the figure meant? No true allies?And what was all of this about Viktor being a pawn? Was there someone pulling strings behind the scenes, orchestrating everything? My father had always been the most powerful man in the room, the one who made the decisions, who controlled everything. How could he have been a pawn in some larger game?I swallowed hard, my throat dry as the weight of the realization pressed down on me.I was utterly alone.The sudden thought struck me like a bolt of lightning, sending a tremor through my body. This entire time, I’d thought Damian was my ally, that our shared struggles and our growing bond were enough to secure
CHAPTER 49: Elara’s Perspective I woke to the sound of my own heart pounding in my chest, a dull ache that reverberated through my entire body. The world around me was pitch-black, thick with an oppressive silence that seemed to swallow every sound. For a few seconds, I wondered if I had died. If the bullet I had prepared to fire had finally been the one that ended everything. But then the familiar scent of blood and smoke filled my nostrils, and the sharp metallic taste on my tongue grounded me in reality. I opened my eyes—only to be met with more darkness. My head throbbed with pain, a deep, pulsing ache that clouded my thoughts. Where am I? I tried to move, but my limbs felt heavy, restrained. Panic surged through me as I realized I was no longer in the grand hall, facing Viktor. No longer in control of the moment. The last thing I remembered was raising my gun, ready to pull the trigger, then— Nothing. “Damian?” I whispered, my voice weak and hoarse. There was no a
CHAPTER 48:Elara’s PerspectiveThe gun in my hand felt heavier than it ever had before, its cold metal surface a stark reminder of what I was about to do. My heart was pounding, adrenaline surging through my veins. I had crossed a line—a point of no return—and there was no going back now.I could feel Damian's presence beside me, his hand steady on my arm, his breath quick and shallow. But I didn't turn to him. Not now. Not when my eyes were locked on Viktor, the man who had manipulated me for years, the man who had built me into something I despised."Do you really think you can kill your own father, Elara?" Viktor's voice was low, taunting, as if he found my defiance amusing.I clenched my jaw, my finger hovering over the trigger. “I don’t think I have a choice anymore.”The room seemed to hold its breath. The world outside the chamber no longer existed. It was just me and Viktor, and the crushing weight of the choices I had made. Every step I had taken had led me to this moment, a
CHAPTER 47:Elara’s PerspectiveThe air inside the chamber grew heavier the moment the stasis chamber cracked open. Every part of me screamed to run, to leave the monster who had been hiding in the shadows for so long—but my feet were frozen in place, my body refusing to move. I was seeing him again. The man who had been the center of my universe for as long as I could remember.Viktor Vasiliev.He blinked slowly, his gaze fixing on me with a chilling precision. The weight of his stare felt like an iron grip on my chest.“Elara,” he said, his voice smooth and familiar, but colder than I ever remembered. “I knew you’d find me eventually. I always knew.”“You—” My voice broke, the words sticking in my throat. “You’ve been alive this whole time?”He smiled, a faint, cruel twist of his lips. “Alive, yes. But more importantly, I’ve been waiting. For you.”Damian stepped forward, his stance protective, eyes hard. “This is where it all started, wasn’t it? The manipulation, the game. You made