Lady in Dark laughed, the sound light and amused, as if he’d just told her a clever joke.
"Oh, Noah," she said, shaking her head. "I really hoped I could trick you. Even just a little."
He didn’t smile, and he definitely didn’t relax. He t her gaze, unblinking. "You still haven’t answered the question. What do you gain from all this?"
She tilted her head, studying him from beneath her hood. "Isn’t it obvious?"
"Destruction," she said plainly.
Noah scoffed. "I don’t believe that."
Her grin widened. "Of course you don’t. People always imagine destruction as sothing loud, stupid, and pointless. Fires for the sake of fire. Screams for the sake of screams."
She stepped closer, her shadow stretching along the floor. "That’s not ."
"No," Noah said quietly. "You’re not mindless."
Her smile widened. "Exactly."
She folded her hands behind her back, pacing slowly. "Just because I don’t pursue destruction for its own sake doesn’t an I don’t desire it. Destruction is... useful. Necessary."
She glanced at the frozen queen beside him. "It clears the rot. It breaks systems that have calcified beyond saving."
Noah clenched his jaw. "So it’s a ans to an end."
She stopped pacing and turned to him, eyes gleaming beneath the hood. "Good. You are paying attention."
"Then tell ," Noah said. His voice was cold. "What is the end?"
Lady in Dark stared at him for a few seconds, her expression hidden under her hood. She was getting closer, bringing Noah to the decision she wanted him to make.
And she could see his thoughts running in real ti. He knew she was manipulating him and could also see his thoughts. All his cards were laid bare before her.
"Why should I tell you that, Noah Webb?" she asked softly. "What if you decide to oppose when you learn of it?"
"Would it matter if I know the end?" Noah asked.
"No, it won’t." She leaned in just enough for him to feel her presence. "It won’t change your decision anyways."
She chuckled at that.
"Then tell ." Noah said.
"Alright." She straightened, laughter dancing in her voice once more. "I’ll tell you. Because whether you like it or not... you’re standing right at the center of it."
She turned away, the amusent draining from her posture as the tone of the daydream shifted.
The frozen air seed to tighten around them, as if the world itself understood that what ca next mattered.
"The academy is protected," she said calmly. "Not just by the rather... obvious wards that everyone sees and knows about. There are layers, old ones, sitting atop it."
"Defensive structures woven into the land, the ley lines, the very bones of the place. They are designed to keep people like out."
Noah said nothing, but his mind was already making the connections.
"There is sothing inside the academy that I need," she continued. "Sothing I cannot reach as long as those protections remain intact. I’ve tried. Subtly. Patiently. They are... persistent."
She looked at him then, truly looked at him. "Which is where you co in."
Understanding crept in, cold and unwelco.
"All you need to do is summon the monolith," Lady in Dark said. "Reach into the folds of reality that stands beneath the faculty building and pull."
"And when the monolith erges, it wouldn’t simply arrive. It’ll tear its way into reality."
She spread her hands, as if demonstrating fabric being ripped apart.
"That rupture will shred the academy’s protections. Every ward, every barrier, and every failsafe will collapse in an instant."
Noah’s breath felt shallow.
"A dragon monolith," she went on lightly, "in the heart of the academy. And while everyone scrambles for what to do next, while teachers, guards, and heroes are distracted, I’ll walk in through the front door."
The image ford unbidden in his mind. Students screaming. Dormitories burning. The academy, a place that had beco familiar, reduced to a battlefield.
"How many would die?" Noah asked quietly.
Lady in Dark smiled. Not cruelly. Almost apologetically. "Hundreds," she said. "At least."
His fingers curled into the sheets beneath him.
"It’s unavoidable," she added. "Dragon monoliths are not... gentle. And the academy, stripped of its protections, will be exposed. Vulnerable."
She stepped closer, her voice dropping into sothing intimate, coaxing. "But you get to live."
Noah looked up at her sharply.
"Six months," she said. "That’s what Calot is offering you. Six months as a weapon, a scapegoat, a convenient corpse when the ti cos."
She tilted her head. "Or you can take my offer."
"A long life," she continued softly. "Your mana restored. Your power intact. Your future reclaid."
"At the cost of a few hundred lives," she finished, almost gently.
The words hung in the air like a blade.
She circled him slowly, her presence pressing in from all sides. "So tell , Noah Webb. What is a few hundred lives weighed against your own?"
"Or will you tell that you’re a hero of love and justice? A man who is willing to kill himself for the world?"
"So which is it? Die in six months’ ti as a pawn of Calot," she murmured, "or live... truly live... at the expense of others."
She stopped behind him, her voice brushing his ear. "Heroes like to pretend this is a difficult choice. But you’re not a hero, are you?"
Before he could answer, she stepped back, her form dissolving into shadow.
"Think about it," her voice echoed, fading. "I’ll wait."
The color rushed back into the world. Ti lurched forward. The frozen air thawed.
Queen Ines shifted beside him, leaning closer, concern etched into her face.
"Noah?" she asked softly. "Are you okay?"
Noah blinked rapidly, shaking his head. A bout of vertigo swept through him in a second, before clearing.
He raised his head to stare at Queen Ines.
Her expression was soft and filled with sympathy. As if mourning his death.
Then she spoke.
"What is your choice, Noah?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)