The silence in the glass garden was broken not by a sound, but by a cold, sharp fury. Anne stood frozen, her fingers clutching the fabric of her gown so tightly her knuckles turned white. Before her, the two rulers of Aethelgard stood with smiles hidden behind the shadows of their power.
"You have made a massive mistake," Anne's voice was low, vibrating with an unusual resonance. "You view Rainnes as a hostage. To me, she is a responsibility. And to Isfellan, she is the pulse."
"Do not over-dramatize, my child," Silas stepped forward, his withered hand reaching out to touch Anne's shoulder, but she brushed him off harshly. "The girl possesses a rare talent for resonance. She is not harmed; she is merely being 'tuned' to align with the Tower's frequency."
Meanwhile, in the diplomatic district, Harold stood amidst chaos. Their suite was a shambles—not from a physical brawl, but from the scorch marks of an energy blast that had charred the carpet. Caine was kneeling in the corner, his fingers dancing across the keys of his portable mechanical device.
"The tracking circuit was severed from the inside, Harold!" Caine shouted, his face deathly pale. "They used a vibration-canceling spell. Rainnes was taken through the Tower's shadow paths."
Harold grabbed his ceremonial sword, drawing it until the ring of steel echoed sharply. "I don't care if it's a shadow path or not. Caine, give me the fastest coordinates to the Tower's dungeons."
"You can't go in there alone, General!" Caine stood up, grabbing his coat. "But The Catalyst can. I've just activated the 'Eclipse' protocol. In ten minutes, the mana distribution in the southern sector will be disrupted. That is our opening."
Back at the pavilion, Emperor Valerion looked at Anne with a gaze that almost resembled pity. "You speak of destroying Aethelgard, Anne. But look at yourself. You are trembling. Your father's blood, your mother's blood... they were not created for steam engines. They were created to rule reality."
"I am not trembling out of fear," Anne looked up, her amber eyes now glowing with an unnatural light—a reflection of the Tower's resonance beginning to respond to her presence. "I am trembling because I am restraining myself from tearing this building down right now."
Suddenly, the crystal lamps in the garden flickered. One by one, the mana flowers around them dimmed, emitting a high-pitched buzzing sound that grated on the ears.
"What is happening?" Valerion turned toward Silas.
"A distribution glitch," Silas muttered, his face tightening. "Impossible... the central system is supposed to be impenetrable."
Anne smiled, a smile that made the Emperor feel deeply uneasy. "That is a greeting from The Catalyst. Isfellan's steam engines might not be here yet, but our ideology has been crawling beneath your feet for years."
In the depths of the Magic Tower, Rainnes awoke inside a silver circle. She was not bound, yet she felt as if the world were pressing down on her chest. Around her, mages in silver robes chanted spells that sounded like a thousand swarming bees.
She closed her eyes, trying to find the frequency of Anne or Harold. But instead, she found something else—a very soft echo of a woman, whispering from behind the oldest stone walls of the Tower.
"Do not be afraid, little one... the key-holder has come to fetch you."
Rainnes opened her eyes. She realized one thing: the Tower had not kidnapped her to use as a hostage against Anne. The Tower had kidnapped her so that Anne would be forced to enter its heart and unlock the door for something that had been trapped there for a very long time.
"Anne... don't come in here," Rainnes whispered, her voice swallowed by the chanting of the mages.