Chapter 794: Rune Piece 2 (Ch.795)
The throne room had never felt colder. Even when snow from the northern ridge drifted in through the stone windows, or when the ancestral spirits swept through, leaving a chill behind, it had never gotten this cold.
This cold was deeper. Heavier. The kind that crawled inside Keila’s bones and whispered lies she was beginning to believe.
The marble beneath her bare feet pulsed with the unease of Aloria. Even the magic that held the forest sacred trembled.
Outside, she heard it. Panic blooming like fire across the outer courtyards. Whispers of dragons. Of wings blotting out the sun. Of dragon riders erging from between the trees like ons.
Keila stood before the throne, one hand clutched to the curve of her abdon, the other fisted at her side. Her gown, embroidered in silvered leaves and blood-colored vines, hung like a skin she no longer recognized. Around her, the Fae council shifted in anxious silence, watching her as though she were the one who’d brought this fate upon them.
Because she had.
"My lady, your command..." One of the Fae royal guards stepped forward. A tremble in his voice. His hand on the hilt of his blade.
She didn’t answer. Didn’t move. Her eyes were fixed on the sealed archway across the throne room. Her heartbeat stuttered, then spiked when the air shimred.
A ripple in the air, and then a tear opened. Swirling with dark energy.
The portal hissed to life, and from its depths staggered the figure she had summoned a hundred tis in secret. Cloaked in torn rags stained with dried blood, his steps were uneven. He leaned heavily on a staff of blackened bone, his skin ashen, eyes sunken but burning with unnatural light.
The dark sorcerer, Beoruh had returned.
Keila exhaled slowly. Relief warring with rage. She stepped down from the dais, the whisper of her gown trailing behind like a slow curse. The chamber stilled.
The unease of the Fae council in the presence of the dark sorcerer was palpable.
"You lied to ," she said, voice too soft to carry but still it echoed. "You told
Jian would never return. That the dinsion would collapse with him inside. That was the agreent."
Beoruh chuckled, low and hoarse. A sound like sand dragging over glass. "And he did not return the way you expected."
Keila stopped two paces from him. Her eyes locked onto his. "You promised
finality."
He leaned closer, and for a mont, Keila slled the rot of ruined realms on his breath. "What I promised," he said slowly, "was that the dragon king would never escape unchanged. I kept my word."
A flicker of magic sparked between them. Her own power flared in response. The Arcane in her rose like a tide under her skin. It made her feel brittle. Unstable.
"Then why is he leading a siege on Aloria as we speak? Why are his dragons setting fire to my barrier wards? Why are my people screaming outside these walls?"
His smile twisted. "Because he’s walked right into his death. And this ti, you’ll get to watch."
Keila froze.
The throne room had quieted again, though she could still hear distant horns, Fae alarms calling from the higher branches.
"Explain."
"Wouldn’t it be more satisfying, my queen," Beoruh murmured, "to look into his eyes when he falls? To see the fear in him before he’s consud?"
She didn’t answer. Her mind reeled, struggling to hold onto the thread of control. She had betrayed everything...her court, her sister, her dragon, herself, all for power. For revenge. And now this madman was speaking in riddles, asking her to trust him again.
No. Not again.
"If Jian overruns Aloria," she said coldly, "I swear to you, I will not die alone. I will burn this forest to the roots and take you with ."
Beoruh didn’t flinch. "No one will die. Not today. Because the Fae won’t be the ones they face."
A pause. Keila blinked. "What are you saying?"
He stepped back, gesturing to the northern mural carved into the wall. An old depiction of the harmony between Aloria and the Dragon Empire. Dragons and Fae standing side by side after the sundering.
"I’m saying your enemies believe they are fighting the Fae. But they are walking into sothing else entirely."
Keila’s blood chilled.
"What have you done?"
"What you asked
to do. Break the rules. Shift the balance. Call upon the things buried too deep for mory."
Her throat dried. She looked at him, truly looked, and for a flicker of a mont, she saw the vastness of the being she had allied herself with. The scars on his skin were not battle wounds...they were runes trapping souls.
"I have a way out for Aloria," he continued, voice low and dangerous. "But I need your cooperation. You must trigger the inner barrier, seal the forest. And give
what I ca for."
Keila’s breath caught. "I don’t know what you’re talking about."
"Oh no, I think you do." Beoruh countered.
"It’s not safe in your hands," she whispered. "You swore to help Aloria. Not to awaken what should remain forgotten."
"And yet here we are, exactly where we planned to be. You summoned
to rewrite fate. You called
when your people turned from you. When your own sister fell by your hand. When the Arcane awakened and the forest began to speak again."
Her vision blurred.
She saw Adrienne’s face, soft and startled, blood blooming through her lips. She saw Jian’s eyes, filled with wrath and the intent to kill. She saw Lodenworth...silent, gone. Her child kicked in her womb.
Everything was slipping.
"The rune, the Fae has a piece of it." the sorcerer whispered again. "Give it to , and I will make Aloria unassailable. Just like before. Just like in the old days."
Keila didn’t move. For a mont, it was as if the room was a painting, every noble frozen in breathless terror, every torch flickering with unnatural wind.
Finally, she turned.
She walked back toward the dais. Each step felt heavier. Slower. At the base of the throne, carved beneath the seat, was a lock of bone and crystal. She knelt, pressing her palm against it.
The stone clicked and a pulse of light flared.
Behind her, Beoruh smiled.
She took the rune piece.
Held it between trembling fingers.
Then she looked back.
"If you betray ," she said, "I’ll make sure you’re buried where even ti won’t rember you."
His grin widened. "Darling, I already was."
Keila closed her eyes.
And handed him the rune piece.
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