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Chapter 79: Aethermoor’s Hollow Heart
Last Updated:
2025-04-18 03:39:58
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Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 80: Whispers of the Bloodstone Pact
Aethermoor had never known silence like this.The city’s soul felt bruised—its streets dimmer, its sky overcast with more than just weather. It was as if the land itself held its breath, anticipating what would come.Elara stared out from the tower balcony of their temporary safehouse, her thoughts a storm of uncertainty and dread. Kael and Dain hadn’t said much since their return, each man lost in his own thoughts. Celene’s brief appearance had shifted the scales, and now, the game they were playing was no longer just between factions.It was blood against blood.Below, movement stirred. Dain had gathered the rogue Sentinels—those who had broken free from the High Circle’s leash. Their loyalty to Elara was growing, but not without friction. Not everyone trusted her. Especially now that she had stood before the Obsidian Altar and walked away changed.Kael stepped in quietly behind her, setting a hand on the railing beside hers. “You didn’t sleep.”Elara didn’t glance at him. “I couldn
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The blood-red runes flared, casting long shadows across the chamber, and the ground beneath their feet trembled like a beast awakening from a centuries-old slumber.Elara stood motionless, her gaze locked with the figure cloaked in darkness. He said he was her ancestor. The one who began the Bloodstone Pact. And now… now he wanted her to claim it.Kael’s voice cut through the thick silence. “We’re leaving. Now.”“No,” Elara said softly, still transfixed. “I need to know the truth.”“Elara—” Dain stepped forward, but the shadowed figure raised a single finger, and a wall of dark energy burst forth, slamming into the stone floor between them. Dust and debris flew, separating Elara from the others.She didn’t flinch.“Elara Blackthorne,” the man said her name like a curse and a coronation. “Do you feel it now? The altar… the blood… it remembers you.”Elara’s breath came in shallow pulls as her fingers brushed the stone again—this time without hesitation. A searing pulse rushed up her arm
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The journey to the Oracle’s domain was unlike any Elara had faced. The forest grew darker the farther they went, its trees ancient and twisted, branches clawing at the sky like they were trying to pull it down.Mist clung to the ground, not soft but sharp—slicing through warmth and numbing her skin. The path bent unnaturally, and time seemed to stretch and bend with it. Even Kael looked unsettled.“She’s warded this place with soul magic,” Dain muttered. “It’s meant to unravel the mind before you reach her.”Elara pressed forward. “Then let’s make sure we get there before ours fall apart.”When they reached the mountain pass that housed the Oracle’s sanctum, a sudden stillness blanketed the land—no wind, no birds, not even breath. Just silence… and waiting.A rusted gate blocked the way, though no wall stood with it. A single phrase was etched into the arch in bloodstone: Only the Bound May Pass.Kael stepped forward, but the gate didn’t move.Elara’s fingers brushed it, and the metal
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The forest was a breathing thing now—every tree pulse-thick with secrets, every shadow threatening to speak. Elara tightened her grip on the dagger Dain had given her, its obsidian blade humming faintly against her palm. The air buzzed, the kind of charged silence that preceded a scream.They had barely made it a mile from the Oracle’s chamber before the forest began to shift.“Stay close,” Kael muttered, his voice low and taut.Dain moved like a phantom beside him, eyes scanning the edges of the overgrown trail. “Something’s stalking us. It’s not trying to hide.”“I know,” Kael replied, his golden eyes flashing. “It wants us to know it’s coming.”A branch cracked behind them. Then another—closer. Elara turned just in time to see a blur—too tall for a man, too twisted for a beast.“Down!” Kael shouted.The creature lunged, and the clearing erupted into chaos. Steel clashed, magic flared—Kael’s blade igniting with golden fire, Dain moving in a deadly dance of precision. Elara ducked, s
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Rain lashed against the ruined chapel like an army of ghosts, drenching the cracked stone and filling the silence with its endless rhythm. Elara’s body trembled from the visions still echoing in her mind—flashes of fire and bone, a broken crown, a bloodstained vow whispered in the dark.Kael hadn’t let go of her. His arms were firm around her, grounding her. But in his eyes, she saw it—the fear he couldn’t speak. He’d recognized the man, the power, and what it meant.“You saw the Vault,” Dain said, stepping closer. His voice was low, controlled. “Tell me what you saw, Elara. All of it.”She didn’t speak for a moment. Her gaze drifted to the altar, its glow now dimmed but still pulsing faintly, like a heartbeat buried deep beneath stone.“I saw a war,” she began slowly. “One that never truly ended. A woman—she wore my face, but older, tired. She held something… a key, shaped like flame and shadow. She locked something inside the Vault and whispered that it must never be opened.”Kael s
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The undercity of Vareth was a place forgotten by light. Dain moved through the crumbling ruins with practiced ease, each footfall muffled on moss-slick stone. The lantern in his hand flickered with violet flame—a warded fire that revealed magic, not shadow.His father’s notes had been precise. Three levels down, past the drowned catacombs. Look for the gate that bleeds light.He hadn’t expected the air to hum.It wasn’t sound exactly—more like the echo of a scream that had never stopped.Dain pressed forward, ignoring the dread slithering along his spine. Every instinct screamed at him to turn back. But he didn’t. Not when he was this close.A vault that could reshape destiny.A girl with magic in her blood.And a war older than the kingdoms above.He reached the third tier. The stones beneath his boots were blackened—scorched in a perfect ring. Old magic. Forbidden magic. The kind that didn’t just kill—it devoured.And then he saw it.The gate.An archway of stone, wrapped in thorned
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Elara’s cloak billowed behind her as she stepped over the scorched stone, her boots echoing through the ruined council chamber. Smoke curled from broken walls, and the stench of magic still lingered—wild, untamed, and angry.Kael stood near the shattered throne, his silhouette tense, shadowed by moonlight that pierced through the fractured ceiling. He didn’t move as she approached.“You broke the barrier,” Elara said, voice low, steady. “The one that protected the last of the neutral lands.”His jaw clenched. “I had no choice.”“There’s always a choice.”“And yours?” he snapped, stepping forward. “Was it a choice to trust Dain after everything?”Her heart stammered. Not at the accusation—but at the truth laced within it. Dain’s absence since the betrayal had been deafening, and part of her feared what his silence meant. Part of her feared… he was no longer on her side.Kael’s voice softened. “I didn’t come here to argue. I came to offer something we’ve never had—honesty.”She stared a
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The Cradle of Thorns loomed ahead, jagged and ancient—a fortress carved into a ravine of bramble-covered stone. The moon hovered low, pale and watchful, as if wary of the path Elara, Kael, and Dain now tread.Elara paused at the ravine’s edge, staring down into the yawning maw below. It was a place spoken of in whispers, where blood once soaked the roots and screams still echoed if you dared listen.“This place is cursed,” Dain muttered, stepping beside her. His cloak shifted with the breeze, revealing the twin blades strapped to his back. “I can feel it in my bones.”Kael crouched by the crumbling stone ledge, running a gloved hand over the ancient carvings. “These weren’t made by mortals. Not recently.”“No,” Elara said softly. “The crownless flame the oracle spoke of—it’s tied to this place. Buried beneath centuries of silence.”They moved in silence through the thorn maze, every step drawing blood or breath. The deeper they went, the more time unraveled. Shadows writhed unnaturall
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The first rays of dawn barely kissed the horizon when Elara stood at the ancient altar hidden deep within the cliffs.The place reeked of old magic, of broken promises and shattered souls. Dark vines twisted through the stone, pulsing faintly as if remembering every curse ever whispered here.Dain arrived silently, his cloak trailing ash behind him. He carried a small obsidian blade — the kind crafted not for battle, but for sacrifice.“This is your last chance to turn back,” he said, voice low.Elara shook her head, her fingers curling into fists. “Kael wouldn’t give up on me. I won’t give up on him.”A brief flicker of emotion crossed Dain’s face — admiration, maybe grief. Then he drew a circle of salt around the altar and motioned for her to kneel.The ritual began with a chant — low, guttural words that made the very air vibrate. Shadows lengthened unnaturally, coiling around them like curious serpents.Elara pressed the blade to her palm without hesitation. Her blood spilled onto
Sacrifice Of The Heart Chapter 104: Ashes of Trust
The world was not the same.Elara staggered to her feet, coughing through the settling dust. Dain pulled her up roughly, his face bleeding from a cut above his brow, eyes burning with rage—and something worse. Fear.The ruins around them groaned and cracked. Whatever Kael had awakened, it was spreading like a sickness, bleeding through stone and earth alike. The once-familiar walls now felt hostile, every breath of air tasting of metal and ruin.“We have to move,” Dain barked, dragging her forward.“But Kael—” Elara tried to turn back toward the shattered altar, the spot where he had disappeared.Dain shook her hard enough to rattle her teeth. “He made his choice. Now we have to survive it.”Behind them, the ground caved in completely, swallowing the last remnants of the altar in a deafening roar. Dark vines slithered from the abyss, twisting and coiling like living nightmares.Elara didn’t realize she was crying until she tasted the salt on her lips.Kael.She had seen him—truly seen
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.
