Semua Bab Sacrifice Of The Heart: Bab 51 - Bab 60

The night air was thick with the scent of damp earth and iron as Kael emerged from the shadows, Elara still cradled in his arms. The hidden passageway beneath the ruined temple had led them far from the battlefield, but not far enough.Vesper appeared behind him, his breath steady despite the chase. “How much farther?” he asked.Kael barely spared him a glance. “Not much.”He could feel Elara’s shallow breathing against his chest, each rise and fall a fragile thread tethering her to consciousness. His grip tightened. He refused to let that thread snap.They reached a clearing where moonlight spilled through the trees, illuminating a forgotten shrine—small, ancient, and pulsing with latent power. This was a place the old gods had abandoned, but their remnants still lingered.Kael strode toward the altar, kneeling as he carefully laid Elara down upon the cold stone. He brushed damp strands of hair from her face. Her skin was too pale.Vesper knelt beside them, his sharp gaze assessing t

The silence that followed was more deafening than the battle itself.Elara could still feel the lingering touch of the Unseen on her skin—an invisible weight pressing down on her very soul. She took a shaky breath, but it did little to steady the storm raging inside her.Kael’s hands remained firm on her shoulders, his expression tight with concern. Vesper stood nearby, blades still drawn, his eyes darting around the clearing as if expecting the Unseen to return at any moment.But they were gone.For now.“Elara,” Kael’s voice was strained, his gaze searching hers. “What did they do to you?”She wanted to say she didn’t know, but that would have been a lie. Something inside her had changed. She could feel it in the pit of her stomach—a foreign energy coiling beneath her skin, neither hers nor entirely unfamiliar.“I think…” She hesitated, touching her chest where the darkness had struck her. “I think they marked me.”At those words, Vesper’s head snapped toward her. “What?”Kael’s gri

The first specter emerged like smoke unraveling from the cracks in the ruins, its form shifting and flickering, neither solid nor fully transparent. Its hollow eyes burned with an eerie blue light, and its voice slithered through the air like a whisper carried on the wind.“You should not have come.”Elara’s breath hitched as a chill crawled over her skin. The ruins, once silent, now hummed with an ancient force—an energy that had been disturbed, awakened.Kael drew his dagger, but Vesper grabbed his wrist. “Steel won’t work on this,” he warned, his voice tight. “These things aren’t of flesh and blood.”The specter moved closer, its form distorting like ripples in water. More figures began to rise from the ruins, their shapes barely distinguishable from the swirling mist. The air turned dense, pressing against them as whispers overlapped—some pleading, others seething with rage.“Trespassers. Invaders. Thieves of the past.”Elara clenched her fists, fighting against the growing weight

The temple quaked as the creature dragged itself from the abyss.Elara stumbled backward, the weight of its presence pressing against her chest like a vice. Shadows coiled around the monstrous figure—long, skeletal fingers ending in curved claws, a body that seemed more smoke than flesh, and eyes like twin abysses, pulling in everything around them.“At last,” it whispered, its voice layered, as if a thousand voices spoke at once.Dain was on his feet in an instant, his power rippling through the chamber. The glow in his silver eyes intensified, sharp as a blade. “That should not be here.”Kael unsheathed his sword, his stance rigid. “Then tell me how to kill it.”Dain exhaled slowly. “You don’t.”Elara’s blood ran cold.The thing took another step forward, the air around it distorting, its presence unraveling the very reality of the chamber. The sigils on the walls flickered weakly, powerless against whatever it was.Vesper grabbed Elara’s wrist, his grip firm but controlled. “We hav

The journey to the Seer’s dwelling was grueling. The forest had never felt more hostile, its shadows stretching unnaturally, the mist growing heavier with each step. It was as if the very land knew what they were seeking and wanted to stop them.Elara’s skin prickled with an unseen force lingering just beyond her senses. She had spent the entire trek fighting the whispering presence in her mind, but it was growing stronger, more insistent.Kael remained close to her, his protective stance unyielding. He hadn’t spoken much since the incident in the clearing, but his sharp gaze never left her.Finally, they reached a clearing where the mist abruptly stopped, as though afraid to venture further. At its center stood an ancient stone hut, twisted with gnarled roots and covered in glowing glyphs. The air was thick with magic, the weight of time pressing down upon them.Dain stepped forward first, knocking once on the wooden door before pushing it open. “Seer.” His voice was steady, though t