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Chapter 16 – The Path of No Return
Terakhir Diperbarui:
2025-03-08 22:21:42
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Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 17 – The Ghost of the Past
The cavern’s eerie silence stretched, thick with disbelief.Elara’s breath hitched as she stared at the figure standing in the entrance. The torchlight cast flickering shadows over his face, but she would have known him anywhere.Aerin.Her brother. The lost prince. The boy who had died.Or so she had believed.Her heart pounded. Her hands trembled. “No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “You… you can’t be real.”The man before her—not a boy anymore, but a man hardened by years in the dark—tilted his head. His silver-blue eyes, so much like hers, flickered with something unreadable. “Hello, little sister.”Elara choked on a sob. It wasn’t possible. He had been taken. He had died. She had mourned him.Yet here he stood.Vesper let out a strained groan beneath her. The sound snapped her back to reality.She gripped his bloodstained shirt tighter, panic surging through her. “He’s dying,” she rasped, her gaze darting to Aerin. “I need—”Aerin moved before she could finish. He crouched bes
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-08Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 18 – A Kingdom on the Brink
The castle loomed in the distance, its spires silhouetted against the deep purple of the evening sky. A storm was gathering—not of wind and rain, but of something far more dangerous.Elara stood at the edge of the cliffside balcony, her gaze fixed on the distant horizon. Below, the city pulsed with life, oblivious to the war that was about to unfold.Behind her, Vesper stirred. “You’re quiet,” he murmured, stepping closer. His presence was a steadying force, warm and solid despite the wounds he still carried.Elara exhaled. “I was just thinking about how everything is about to change.”He touched her arm, gently turning her to face him. “It already has.”His eyes—stormy and intense—searched hers for something unspoken. There was no fear in them, only certainty.They were in this together.Aerin’s voice cut through the air. “If we’re doing this, we don’t have time for hesitation.” He entered the room, his usual cold demeanor edged with something sharper—urgency.Elara turned to him. “H
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-08Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 19 – Into the Ruined Province
The night air was thick with the scent of damp earth and salt as Elara, Vesper, and Aerin made their way toward the eastern cliffs. A crescent moon hung low in the sky, barely illuminating the jagged path ahead.Vesper led the way, his movements effortless as he weaved through the shadows. “Stay close,” he murmured. “The tunnel entrance isn’t far.”Elara followed, her heart hammering in her chest. The Ruined Province was more than just dangerous—it was cursed. No one who ventured there uninvited returned alive.Aerin’s presence at her side was a silent anchor, but she could feel the tension in him. He didn’t trust Vesper, and he certainly didn’t trust this plan.Neither did she.But there was no turning back.As they reached the edge of the cliffs, Vesper crouched near a patch of overgrown brush. He pushed aside the tangled vines, revealing a narrow stone passage leading into the darkness. “This will take us beneath the border walls. It’s been abandoned for decades, but some of the ol
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-08Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 20 – The Weight of Fate
The journey back to the hidden outpost was silent, tense, and heavy with unspoken thoughts. Elara rode ahead with Aerin, while Vesper trailed behind them, his gaze dark and unreadable. The encounter with the wraith had changed everything.One must die for the other to thrive.The words repeated in Elara’s mind, a curse that wrapped around her throat like a noose.She had spent her life resisting the forces that tried to control her—her father’s rule, the expectations of her lineage, the magic that dictated her fate. But now, fate had given her an ultimatum.And she had no idea how to fight it.By the time they reached the outpost—a hidden fortress carved into the mountainside—Elara barely noticed the guards greeting them or the worried glances exchanged among the rebels.Aerin dismounted first, his sharp gaze flicking between her and Vesper. “We need to talk. All of us.”Vesper swung off his horse, jaw clenched. “Agreed.”Elara hesitated, then nodded. No more avoiding the truth.⸻Ins
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-08Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 21 – The Ritual Begins
The underground chamber was cold, the air thick with the scent of burnt herbs and old magic. The stone walls, slick with condensation, seemed to pulse with the energy of centuries-old enchantments. This was not a place meant for the living.Elara’s fingers trembled as she traced the rim of the silver bowl before her. Inside, dark crimson liquid swirled—their willingly given blood, the first requirement of the ritual. It had been taken just moments ago, a single deep cut on both her and Vesper’s palms, their blood merging into one.Across the chamber, Aerin worked fast, drawing intricate runes onto the floor with crushed lapis and enchanted chalk. The symbols glowed faintly under the flickering torchlight, humming with an energy that made Elara’s skin prickle.This was it.She glanced at Vesper, who stood beside her, his face unreadable. He was always unreadable. But tonight, something in his eyes burned differently—not just determination, but something deeper, something she wasn’t sur
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-09Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 22 – The Shadow Behind the Throne
The air in the chamber turned dense, charged with a power unlike anything Elara had ever felt. It wasn’t magic in the way she had known it—raw and wild like a storm. This was something older, colder… deliberate.Vesper pulled Elara behind him instinctively, his body taut like a predator ready to strike.From the darkness, a figure stepped forward.A man—no, something far worse.Tall and draped in obsidian robes, his presence alone seemed to distort the air around him. His skin was pale, almost ashen, but his eyes—black as the void itself—shimmered with the weight of centuries.Elara’s breath caught in her throat. Who was he?The figure smiled, slow and knowing. “You have done something remarkable, Princess,” he murmured, his voice silken with amusement. “I have waited a long time for this.”Vesper’s jaw clenched. “Who are you?”The man tilted his head. “A necessary part of your fate.”He stepped closer, unfazed by Vesper’s lethal presence.Elara felt it then—a distant memory surfacing
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-09Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 23 – The Ghost of the Past
Elara’s pulse pounded like war drums in her ears. It couldn’t be.She took a slow step back, her eyes locked on the figure standing in the eerie blue glow. He was exactly as she remembered—and yet impossibly different.Dark hair. Cold eyes. A presence that once made her feel safe… now laced with danger.Kael.Her breath caught. Kael, her childhood friend. Her first love. The boy who had vanished years ago—presumed dead.Yet here he stood, smirking as if he had never been gone.“Miss me?” His voice was rich with amusement, but there was an edge to it.Elara clenched her fists. “You’re dead.”His smirk deepened. “Clearly not.”She fought against the whirlwind of emotions crashing into her—grief, shock, anger. “You disappeared. We thought—”“You thought wrong,” Kael interrupted smoothly. He stepped closer, his gaze raking over her. “And you’ve changed, Princess. No longer the helpless girl who needed saving.”Elara’s heart twisted. Kael had once been her protector, her closest confidant.
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-09Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 24 – The Rules of the Veil
Elara sat by the dying embers of a fire, her mind racing as Kael stood over her. His silhouette was sharp against the dim glow, his expression unreadable. The air inside the ruined temple was thick with silence, save for the occasional whisper of wind through the cracks in the stone.She had spent the last hour watching him slowly recover from his injuries, but he was still too pale, his breaths shallow. And yet, despite his obvious pain, his golden eyes never left her.He was studying her. Measuring her.“Start talking,” she finally said. “You said I needed to learn the rules if I wanted to survive. So teach me.”Kael’s lips curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “So eager now, are we?”Elara crossed her arms. “Would you rather I sit here and wait for another wraith to come take my soul?”Kael let out a low chuckle, but there was no humor in it. He crouched beside her, resting his arms on his knees. “Fine,” he said. “Listen carefully. Because if you break these rules, you w
Terakhir Diperbarui : 2025-03-09
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Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 103: When Silence Breaks
Elara stood on the edge of the old courtyard, its stone floor cracked with time and betrayal. Her fingers twitched at her sides, heart drumming louder than the shifting wind. Dain hadn’t said a word since they left Kael behind.The silence between them was a tensioned wire. Too tight. Too brittle.“You shouldn’t have stopped him,” she finally said.Dain’s gaze stayed ahead, cold and unreadable. “He would’ve burned everything down.”“And maybe that’s what it needs,” she snapped. “Everything has already been burning. We just keep pretending it’s not.”He turned then, slow and dangerous. “Don’t confuse chaos with justice, Elara. We’re not saviors. We’re survivors.”She stepped closer, her voice low. “I’m tired of surviving.”Dain’s expression cracked just enough to show something raw beneath. “Then what are you willing to lose to start fighting?”Before she could answer, a low rumble split the air. The ground trembled underfoot, the scent of scorched air curling around them like a warnin
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 102: The Fire Crowned
The world screamed as flame devoured the air.Elara stumbled forward, Kael’s hand ripping away from hers as the inferno swallowed the frost-bound path behind them. The shrine collapsed into cinders and ash, sealing their choice with finality. The vision of peace, of quiet love—gone, like a mirage scorched under a merciless sun.She barely had time to process it before the ground shifted beneath her feet.They were no longer in the ruins.They stood at the edge of a battlefield.Above them, the sky churned a deep red, clouds forming strange sigils—magic twisting like serpents in the atmosphere. The old capital loomed in the distance, no longer crumbling, but fortified, alive, and bristling with war. Banners she didn’t recognize fluttered from towers. Symbols of her House merged with marks of ancient fire gods.“What… what is this?” she whispered.Kael turned toward her, his expression unreadable. “This is your reign.”Soldiers in obsidian armor knelt as she passed. Flames crowned her h
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 101: Beneath the Black Veil
The darkness wasn’t empty.It was alive—breathing, whispering, pulsing with a sentience that clawed at Elara’s mind the moment the light vanished. Shadows didn’t just fall around them—they devoured, unraveling the very fabric of the chamber until the three of them stood in a void that didn’t exist moments ago.Dain’s sword pulsed faintly, barely illuminating his sharp features as he stepped closer to Elara, his voice low. “This isn’t the creature. This is older. This is him.”Kael didn’t need an introduction. His hand gripped Elara’s wrist, grounding her. “We broke the seal. That voice—it wasn’t lying. This was buried beneath the seals themselves. Something worse than all of them combined.”Elara nodded, the echo of that last voice still lingering in her skull like a bruise.A slow, guttural sound rolled through the black—neither growl nor whisper but something ancient, a vibration of dread. Then, in the distance, a single light blinked to life. Faint. Crimson. Like the last heartbeat
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 100: The Tenth Seal Breaks
A hush fell over the hall—one so complete it felt unnatural. The chandeliers above flickered as if sensing the tension brewing in the air. At the center of it all stood Elara, motionless. Her breath trembled, but her eyes were fixed—locked onto the figure walking toward her through the crowd.Dain.But he wasn’t alone.Flanking him were two high-ranking members of the Inner Circle, both cloaked in crimson. Their presence meant only one thing: the Council had acted. And their decision would be irreversible.Kael stood on the opposite side of the room, near the marble staircase, a hand resting casually on the hilt of his blade. His eyes never left Dain. There was a war behind that stillness—an unreadable storm behind his icy expression.Elara could feel the pull between them, not just of fate—but of fire and chaos, of oaths made in shadows and truths left to rot.Dain reached her first. He didn’t speak at first. His eyes swept over her face like he was committing it to memory. And maybe
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 99: The Vault of Silence
Elara’s boots hit the cracked stone of the underground passage with purpose. Every step echoed like a war drum, a grim beat driving them deeper beneath the capital.The air was cold and heavy, thick with centuries-old dust and the metallic tang of suppressed magic. Only the flicker of enchanted torches lit their path.Dain walked ahead, blade drawn. Kael followed closely behind Elara, still unarmed by her order, though the tension in his shoulders told her he was ready to fight—just not against them.“According to the scroll,” Kael murmured, “the entrance to the Binding Circle is behind the Vault of Silence. It’s protected by three seals—each bound to a bloodline.”“Let me guess,” Dain muttered. “You’re one of them.”Kael didn’t answer. Instead, he stopped in front of a towering stone door, etched with symbols so old even Elara’s royal schooling couldn’t decipher them.The Vault pulsed, faintly alive.Elara stepped forward. “And the others?”Kael glanced at her, then at Dain. “You. Bo
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 98: the Crown’s Shadow
Kael stood on the ridge above the rebel encampment, wind pulling at his cloak as the soldiers behind him waited for his command. The battalion was restless, nervous even. They’d heard the rumors—of Elara’s army growing, of Dain’s ruthless tactics, and of magic long thought dormant stirring under her name.He should have been preparing for war. But Kael couldn’t stop hearing her voice from two nights ago—sharp, desperate, defiant.“You’re either with us… or in our way.”She didn’t understand. Not yet.A lieutenant approached, bowing low. “Orders, Commander?”Kael didn’t respond right away. Instead, his eyes scanned the terrain—every familiar rise and dip a reminder of the world they used to dream about together. He hadn’t come to destroy her.He’d come to save her.“Send the forward scouts around the southern flank,” Kael said. “But keep our forces here. We’re not attacking.”The lieutenant blinked. “Sir?”“I said we’re not attacking.”“But… the council—”“To hell with the council.” Ka
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 97: The Veiled Rebellion
The underground echoed with whispered plans and distant footsteps. In the heart of the old ruins beneath the capital—abandoned, forgotten, and riddled with decay—voices gathered in secret.“The throne is fractured,” a cloaked figure murmured. “Now is the time.”Candles flickered across weathered stone, casting eerie shadows over their faces. There were no names spoken here—only oaths and shared hatred. And at the center of it all, seated on a crumbling dais where the old kings were once crowned, was a woman cloaked in midnight blue.Elara.But not the version Kael had walked away from days ago.This Elara was sharp-edged, her eyes cold as glass. She had taken Selene’s loss and carved it into armor. The High Council had tried to claim the aftermath as their victory, but Elara had buried their influence with a single whispered rumor:“Selene died because of them.”And the city believed it.“What of Kael and Dain?” one rebel asked.“They gather power in the North,” Elara replied coolly.
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 96: Shattered Thrones and Silent Promises
Smoke curled through the shattered remnants of the Ruins, carrying the scent of scorched stone and ancient magic burned to its final breath. Selene stood amidst the wreckage, her sword lowered, her chest heaving from exhaustion. Kael and Dain flanked her, each bearing the bruises and bloodied scrapes of battle, but alive—still standing.Elara’s form lay crumpled beneath a collapsed archway, the darkness she once wielded now flickering like dying embers around her body. Her crown—a circlet of shadowed silver—had rolled from her head and lay forgotten at Selene’s feet.“She’s still breathing,” Dain muttered, voice hard as steel but laced with uncertainty.Selene glanced down, her heart a battlefield of emotions. “Let her live,” she said quietly, earning Kael’s sharp gaze. “Killing her now would make us no different.”Kael looked as if he wanted to argue, but stopped. Instead, he stepped back, his eyes drifting toward the fading magical storm above. “Then let her fade with what’s left of
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 95: The Final Stand
The night was thick with tension. The moon hung low in the sky, casting a cold silver light over the fractured world below. Selene stood on the balcony of the royal palace, her gaze fixed on the horizon where the last remnants of the storm clouded the skyline. She could feel the weight of her decision pressing against her chest, as heavy as the weight of her crown. Every breath she took seemed to reverberate in the hollow air, filling her with the urgency of the moment.Kael had left hours ago, assembling the last of their forces. The kingdom had been thrown into disarray, its streets filled with whispers of an incoming threat they could not fully understand. Elara had grown more powerful, her magic pulsing with a dark intensity that shook the very foundations of their world.“We need to be ready,” she murmured to herself, stepping away from the balcony and into the dimly lit hall. Every corner of the palace felt foreign now, as if the walls themselves held secrets she was just beginn
