Kael's whole body jerked.
The instant Lord Caeron's withered hand touched his chest, every stream of Vitae inside him seized like iron slammed shut in winter frost. His Crucible turned numb. The fire roaring through the Sevenfold Shroud guttered all at once, trapped inside his own flesh.
Pain hit a heartbeat later.
Not sharp. Not clean.
It was the feeling of his own blood and power turning against him.
"Give it back." Caeron's pale face twisted into a monstrous grin. "That belongs to my house."
His clawed hand shot toward the Sevenfold Shroud covering Kael's face.
Kael tried to move.
Nothing answered him.
His limbs lay dead. His fingers would not twitch. Even his jaw locked tight beneath the mask. He could only stare helplessly as the gaunt ruler leaned over him like a starving corpse digging into a grave.
Then Caeron suddenly grunted.
A heavy impact struck his abdomen.
The pale lord flew backward as though a battering ram had smashed into him.
Kael dropped through the air at the same time, barely able to focus through the haze boiling behind his eyes. He saw a round white sphere buried against Caeron's stomach, glowing with cold corpse-light.
A Voidbreaker pearl.
Greymantle's.
Both of them crashed into the forest floor almost together.
The ground slammed the breath from Kael's lungs. Grass and wet soil filled his mouth. He sprawled facedown in the undergrowth, limp as a broken puppet.
A second body hit somewhere nearby.
For a moment neither moved.
Then Elder Greymantle drifted down from above, robes fluttering softly through the blackened forest air.
The old hermit was just about to land when a massive streak of blue light dropped from the sky.
It engulfed him instantly.
Greymantle snarled. His sleeve whipped outward.
The white sphere embedded in Caeron's belly shot away like lightning toward the nearby trees.
A muffled cry rang out from the canopy.
Branches exploded into violent rustling.
Then silence.
Greymantle raised one sleeve again. The glowing sphere flew back from the darkness above, spinning rapidly in the air. It shrank from the size of a melon down to something no larger than a longan fruit before vanishing into the gray-green gourd hanging from his waist.
Silence swallowed the forest.
No wind.
No insects.
Only the distant groan of shattered trees and the lingering smell of burned flesh from Kael's wildfire inferno.
A strange blue sheen spread slowly across Greymantle's skin.
The old man swayed once.
Twice.
Then abruptly sat cross-legged on the ground.
For several breaths, nobody moved.
Verdis Morcroft remained standing alone among the wreckage.
She stared at the two fallen men in the grass.
Then at Greymantle.
The old hermit was already watching her.
His narrowed eyes carried no warmth whatsoever.
Verdis shivered.
Not from cold.
Fear.
Real fear.
Slowly, cautiously, she stepped toward Lord Caeron and lifted him onto her back. The ruler of the Sevenfold Dominion looked horrifyingly frail now, pale arms dangling loosely around her shoulders like dead branches.
Then she fled into the forest without another word.
Kael lay unmoving in the grass.
At first he thought the paralysis was fading.
Then he realized something far worse was happening.
His Vitae had started moving again.
But not under his control.
Every current inside his body surged violently toward his chest.
Toward the Forge.
Toward the channels surrounding his heart.
The flow became faster.
Harder.
Hotter.
His body could not endure that amount of force. The channels around his chest swelled painfully. His heart began hammering so violently he could actually see it pulsing beneath his ribs.
Faster.
Harder.
Each beat felt ready to burst through bone and flesh.
The Sevenfold Thunder.
This was the second strike.
Kael clenched his teeth so hard blood ran from his gums.
Still the scream tore itself from his throat.
Greymantle's eyes snapped open.
The old man surged halfway to his feet before collapsing weakly back down.
"Hold on, little fox!" he barked hoarsely. "I'll save you yet!"
He shut his eyes again, forcing himself back into meditation.
Then the distant bushes shook.
Something enormous was moving through the trees.
Greymantle's face darkened instantly.
"Well. Damnation."
The thing did not approach immediately.
It seemed wary of the sea of dead branches and scorched debris littering the battlefield.
Greymantle silently prayed for more time while poison-suppressing sigils flickered weakly across his fingers.
But the newcomer soon began advancing again.
Heavy footsteps trembled through the ground.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Each vibration shook dirt loose from the roots nearby.
Greymantle let out a bitter breath.
"Looks like I'll have to burn my own foundations to drive this one off."
His left hand quietly formed a complicated sigil beneath his sleeve.
The massive figure finally emerged from the trees.
It stood over ten feet tall, its entire body carved from deep blue crystal. Jagged muscles bulged beneath translucent stone skin. Its face resembled some savage giant dredged from the bottom of the sea.
And seated casually upon one shoulder—
A woman.
Snow-pale skin.
Lush crimson lips.
Eyes bright as moonlight over dark water.
Even amid blood and ruin, her beauty struck like divine madness.
Lyra Farrow.
Greymantle froze the instant their eyes met.
Then Lyra suddenly leapt from the giant's shoulder.
"Brother Greymantle!" she cried in delight. "I finally found you!"
She rushed toward him immediately.
"Don't touch me!" Greymantle snapped. "Poison!"
Lyra halted at once.
Only then did she notice the strange blue glow spreading across his skin.
Shock crossed her face.
"What happened?"
"Elder Venrath's Soul-Eroding Light," Greymantle answered grimly.
Lyra inhaled sharply.
"The Sevenfold Dominion found this place?"
Greymantle ignored the question.
Instead he stared at her carefully.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came looking for you."
"What for?"
Lyra bit her lower lip.
"For someone."
Greymantle said nothing.
"An old friend of yours," she continued quietly.
The old hermit's eyes narrowed.
"Which one?"
"The man who climbed Phoenixspur alone all those years ago." Her voice softened. "The one who broke into the Hall of Ten Thousand Delicacies and rescued you."
Greymantle's expression flickered for the first time.
Only briefly.
"You came for him?"
Lyra nodded.
A faint blush rose across her flawless face, almost girlish despite everything around them.
"He left a bloodline behind," she said excitedly. "Brother Greymantle… he has a son. I found his descendant."
Greymantle merely grunted.
"And?"
"The Primordial Sigil is inside him." Lyra's eyes brightened further. "And when he smiles… gods, it's the same look. The same eyes. The first time I saw him, I nearly thought the dead had returned."
Greymantle remained expressionless.
"What does that have to do with me?"
Lyra frowned at him.
"I came to ask for your help."
Still silence.
"He has enemies everywhere now," she pressed on. "People are hunting him already. I thought if anyone could hide him safely, it would be you."
Greymantle sighed softly.
"This place may not be safe anymore either."
"You can still protect him."
"Not necessarily."
Lyra stared at him.
"You refuse?"
"I'm speaking truth."
Her face flushed hot with anger.
"You—"
She pointed at him furiously.
"I can't believe this! He risked everything to save you back then! He defied his own Order! He turned half the world against himself for your sake!"
Her voice trembled.
"And now his child is in danger and you won't lift a finger?"
Greymantle winced slightly.
"You ungrateful old rat," Lyra snapped. "You cold-hearted bastard. You called each other brothers once. You swore you'd face fortune and disaster side by side."
Greymantle suddenly laughed dryly.
"So you're the one who brought him here."
He tilted his head toward the nearby grass.
"Go look at him first."
Lyra blinked.
Then her gaze followed his.
A body lay half-hidden among the weeds.
The moment she recognized the black-haired youth, the color drained from her face.
She ran.
Dropping to her knees, she gathered Kael into her arms.
"Kael!"
His body burned with feverish heat. Violent tremors wracked his limbs beneath the ruined robes.
"How is he here?" she cried. "What happened to him?"
"He took a strike from Caeron's Sevenfold Thunder," Greymantle said heavily. "The Dominion breached the Lostford."
Lyra's face went white as ash.
She immediately pressed trembling fingers against Kael's wrist.
"Is he breathing?" Greymantle asked.
"Yes! Yes, he is!"
Tears had already filled her eyes.
"And his pulse?"
Lyra checked again.
Then horror overtook her expression.
"Oh gods… everything's in chaos. His Vitae is surging upward into the chest channels. The Forge routes are flooding completely—"
Greymantle fell silent.
Lyra's composure shattered.
"What do I do?" she cried. "Tell me what to do! He can't survive like this!"
She clutched Kael tightly against her chest as tears spilled down her cheeks.
"Don't interfere blindly," Greymantle warned sharply. "The Sevenfold Thunder isn't ordinary poison or injury. One mistake and the backlash will kill him instantly."
Lyra shook violently.
"But I can't just watch him die!"
Her voice broke completely.
Normally she was calm. Controlled. One of the most feared women in the Mortal Realm.
Now she looked like a terrified girl.
Greymantle slowly pushed himself upright again.
This time he managed to stand.
The poisonous blue sheen across his skin had faded somewhat.
He crouched beside Kael and began carefully examining the youth's channels with two fingers pressed against his chest and throat.
His face shifted constantly as he probed deeper.
Confusion.
Thought.
Disbelief.
Lyra watched him desperately.
Finally she could not endure the silence anymore.
"Well?"
Greymantle frowned.
"Little fox's cultivation should never have endured this long." His eyes drifted toward the Sevenfold Shroud covering Kael's face. "Could that damned mask be stabilizing him somehow?"
He muttered to himself briefly before shaking his head.
"No. Impossible. The Sevenfold Shroud was never known for healing."
Lyra suddenly remembered something.
"He swallowed the Deepwater Heartstone before," she said quickly. "And he also consumed…"
Her words stopped abruptly.
A deep blush spread across her face.
She bit down hard on the rest.
Greymantle looked at her strangely.
Then understanding slowly entered his eyes.
"I see."
The old hermit nodded once.
"That explains how he's survived this long."
At that exact moment Kael's body suddenly convulsed upward from Lyra's arms.
His back arched violently.
A ragged animal howl burst from his throat.
Veins bulged across his neck beneath the edge of the black mask. His teeth ground together hard enough to crack.
Lyra nearly lost her mind.
She grabbed him tightly.
"Kael! Don't scare me like that!" she sobbed. "Hold on! You have to hold on!"
Greymantle abruptly turned away.
"Come with me."
He shot into the forest at once.
Lyra stared after him in confusion.
"Where?"
"To a place that might stabilize his injuries."
His voice echoed faintly between the trees.
Lyra immediately lifted Kael into her arms and sprang onto the shoulder of the towering Stone Colossus.
"Follow him!" she ordered.
The blue crystal giant thundered forward through the dark forest after Elder Greymantle.
The cavern was enormous.
Its ceiling vanished high overhead into layers of black stone, split by long natural cracks where pale light filtered through from the world above. The glow spilled down in silver shafts across the underground hollow, soft and dim and strangely peaceful.
At the bottom of the cave lay a broad spring like a hidden underground lake. The water shone blue-green and crystal clear. Tiny fish drifted lazily beneath the surface. Shrimp crept among swaying strands of moss and hanging vines that dangled from the cavern walls into the water below.
At the center of the spring rose a massive pale stone shaped like a blooming lotus. Its curved edges spread outward from a hollow middle, petals carved by nature itself. Seen from a distance, it looked almost alive.
It should have been beautiful.
Instead the cave felt heavy with fear.
Kael lay motionless atop the lotus stone, unconscious beneath the black edge of the Sevenfold Shroud. His face had gone ghost-pale. Sweat soaked his hair. Every so often his fingers twitched violently.
Lyra Farrow knelt beside him while Elder Greymantle stood nearby with folded sleeves and furrowed brows.
"At least he's calmed down," the old hermit muttered. His voice echoed through the cavern. "This place really is helping."
Only then did Lyra finally glance around at their surroundings.
"What is this place?" she asked softly. "It feels... strange."
Greymantle looked toward the glowing pool.
"Do you feel it?" he asked. "Your mind's calmer. But your Aether won't rise properly."
Lyra tested it at once. The result startled her.
"My Vitae's almost completely suppressed."
"This is the heart of the Bewildering Wood," Greymantle said. "I named it the Hidden Spring. It shares the same source as the Crystal Basin beneath Vessel Town. The spring naturally suppresses spiritual force. I used that property to build the Lostford restriction around the forest. The entire Wood draws power from this place."
Understanding immediately flashed across Lyra's face.
"That's why Kael's condition stabilized."
Greymantle nodded.
"The Sevenfold Thunder is still lodged inside his heart. Outside this cavern the force would already be tearing him apart."
Lyra's expression turned pale again.
"Can you heal him?"
Greymantle fell silent for several moments.
"I don't know."
Her chest tightened.
"You must have some way," she pressed urgently. "You're Elder Greymantle. Once, he told me himself how capable you are."
The old hermit snorted.
"Flattery won't save him. Do you think I don't want the little fox alive?"
Lyra lowered her eyes. The rims had already gone red again from worry.
Greymantle studied Kael's body for a long while before speaking again.
"Driving out the Sevenfold force itself isn't difficult," he said slowly. "The problem is where it settled."
Lyra's heartbeat quickened.
"His heart?"
"Yes."
Greymantle sighed.
"The Sevenfold Thunder invaded directly through the Forge routes around his chest. His own Vitae and Aether are still too weak. If I forcibly purge the corruption, there's a good chance I'll destroy his heart along with it."
Lyra immediately shook her head.
"No. Absolutely not. The heart's too fragile."
Her voice turned firm despite the fear in it.
"We can't gamble his life on that."
Greymantle spread his hands helplessly.
"Then I'll need time to think."
"But how long can he stay like this?" she asked.
"I honestly don't know."
The old hermit peered at Kael's unconscious face.
"He's sleeping deeply enough. Maybe the Hidden Spring can suppress the damage for a while longer."
Lyra clenched her hands tightly.
"Then please hurry and think of something. I'll stay here and watch over him."
Greymantle stared at her strangely.
Then he let out a long sigh.
"Different," he muttered bitterly. "Completely different treatment."
Lyra blinked.
"What?"
"I'm injured too," the old man complained. "I'm practically dying myself. Elder Venrath's Soul-Eroding Light hit me squarely. Yet nobody's fussing over poor old Greymantle."
Despite everything, Lyra's face flushed faintly.
"Elder Brother," she snapped, half embarrassed and half exasperated, "how can you still joke around at a time like this?"
Greymantle only shook his head with theatrical misery before wandering deeper into the cavern.
Lyra turned back immediately toward Kael.
In the dim blue glow of the spring, he looked younger than usual. Fragile. Nothing like the reckless loudmouth who constantly swaggered through danger with a grin on his face.
A faint crease sat between his brows even in unconsciousness.
Lyra's heart ached painfully.
She could do nothing for him.
Nothing at all.
All she could manage was gently brushing damp strands of hair from his forehead, wiping the sweat from his neck with her cloth, touching his face every few breaths as though reassuring herself he was still alive.
Suddenly Kael groaned.
Lyra nearly jumped.
"Kael?"
His eyelids trembled.
"Kael!"
Slowly, painfully, he opened his eyes.
For several seconds he only stared blankly at her.
Then recognition hit.
"Shreve Lyra?"
His voice sounded weak and rough.
"You're awake." Relief flooded her so hard her entire body nearly went limp.
Kael blinked again, then abruptly tried to sit upright.
"Shreve Lyra! What are you doing here?"
"Don't move!"
She hurriedly wrapped an arm around him before he could rise fully.
"You're badly hurt."
Kael stared at her in disbelief for another second.
Then suddenly he grinned like a fool and grabbed her tightly around the waist, burying his face directly into her chest.
"This is amazing," he mumbled against her robes. "I thought I was dreaming."
Lyra's expression softened instantly.
"No dream," she whispered, stroking his hair gently. "How do you feel?"
"Fine."
"You're certain?"
"Completely fine."
Even as he spoke, his brows abruptly tightened.
Lyra's stomach dropped.
"What is it?"
"My chest feels weird." He pressed a hand against himself. "Heavy. Like I can't gather strength properly."
Hearing that hurt Lyra more than if the pain had been her own.
Then Kael suddenly froze.
"Oh right..."
His eyes widened.
"I remember now. That bastard hit me here."
His expression darkened.
"The skinny corpse-looking one. Lord Caeron the Pale."
Lyra nodded grimly.
Kael slowly explained everything that had happened after he became separated from the others. Hadrian Corvel's pursuit. His desperate wandering through the Bewildering Wood. Meeting Elder Greymantle. The ambush by the Dominion forces.
He carefully skipped over certain encounters involving two flirtatious spirit girls in the forest.
Lyra listened quietly.
"So it really was the Sevenfold Dominion," she murmured. "I never imagined they could penetrate the Lostford restriction."
Kael snorted.
"This forest's insane. I wandered in circles for an entire day. And that old Greymantle's a hidden monster. He drove off dozens of Dominion killers by himself."
"Watch your mouth," Lyra said sharply.
Kael blinked.
"Do you know who he really is? Elder Greymantle—the White-Browed Shadow Rat. His name shakes half the realms. He and your father's generation were old companions."
Kael's mouth slowly fell open.
"What?"
"I brought you to Vessel Town specifically to find him," Lyra continued. "Right now he's one of the only people alive who can protect you."
Kael looked genuinely stunned for once.
Lyra poked him lightly in the forehead.
"So show him proper respect from now on. He saved your life. And your recovery depends entirely on him."
Kael muttered under his breath.
"My father's old friend..."
Naturally, he immediately began trying to pry information out of her about the Wandering Fox.
Lyra skillfully dodged every question.
The more Kael asked, the vaguer her answers became.
Time slowly passed.
Eventually the dim light filtering through the cracks above vanished entirely. Darkness swallowed the cavern whole.
The Hidden Spring became little more than a faint blue glow beneath black stone.
Yet Elder Greymantle still had not returned.
Kael shifted uneasily.
"We can't see anything in here anymore," he complained. "Let's leave."
"No."
Lyra's refusal came instantly.
"You suffered the Sevenfold Thunder. Staying here is the only thing stabilizing your injuries."
"I'm already fine."
He slapped his chest loudly.
"That skinny freak couldn't kill me."
Lyra's voice turned firm.
"We wait until Elder Greymantle comes back."
Kael groaned dramatically.
"And if he never comes back? Are we supposed to stay here forever?"
"Behave."
Her tone softened again.
"It's dark outside anyway. We'll rest here for the night."
The moment Kael heard the word we, his heart lurched pleasantly.
In the darkness he reached out and found her hand.
His grin returned immediately.
"Fair enough. This cursed forest probably won't let us out at night anyway."
So they lay together atop the massive lotus stone.
Kael quickly found his way against her body by touch alone.
Lyra did not stop him at first.
She rested her head lightly against his arm while the two of them talked quietly in the darkness about nothing important.
Her body was warm.
Soft.
Every brush of skin filled Kael's head with heat.
Before long his breathing had already changed.
He answered her absentmindedly while his hands slowly began wandering across her body.
Touching.
Exploring.
Testing boundaries.
Then suddenly Lyra stopped speaking.
Kael swallowed.
"Why'd you go quiet?"
His voice had already gone hoarse.
Meanwhile his hands were becoming bolder by the second.
"I'm sleepy," Lyra murmured softly. "Going to sleep now."
"Mhm."
Kael's hand slipped inside her robes.
Lyra instantly caught his wrist.
"No."
"I missed you."
The words came out rough and needy.
"Not now." Her voice stayed gentle. "Wait until you're healed."
"I am healed."
He stubbornly pushed deeper.
"Kael."
She tightened both hands around his wrist.
"The Sevenfold Thunder is no joke."
"I'm perfectly fine."
He continued forcing his way forward.
Suddenly Lyra shoved him backward.
"Enough."
Her tone sharpened instantly.
Kael froze.
"Half a moment of carelessness could kill you right now," she said firmly.
But Kael was already burning.
The warmth of her body.
Her scent.
The softness pressed against him in the darkness.
After everything he had suffered today, desire crashed through him like wildfire.
He lunged back toward her and pinned her beneath himself.
"Kael—"
"Just a little," he muttered desperately.
Lyra struggled to block him as best she could.
"Be good. Listen to me."
Kael ignored every word.
One hand slid down toward her waist sash, already trying to untie it by force.
"Get off."
Her voice cracked through the darkness like ice.
Kael stiffened instantly.
For a second he stayed frozen atop her body like a statue.
"If you keep acting up," Lyra said coldly, "I'll go wait outside."
Kael immediately rolled away and flopped flat onto the cold stone with all four limbs spread wide.
Silence filled the cavern.
Kael lay there breathing angrily through clenched teeth.
Inside his head he cursed Lord Caeron and the entire Sevenfold Dominion for ruining his life roughly ten thousand times.
After a long while Lyra slowly moved closer again through the darkness.
Then she leaned down and kissed his forehead softly.
"Be good," she whispered. "Once you're healed... you can have all you want."
Kael made a tortured sound.
Lyra smiled faintly despite herself.
"Now sleep properly. And stop thinking dirty thoughts. I'm right here beside you if you need anything."
Then she deliberately moved farther away again.
Kael nearly died on the spot.
I already need something!
His entire body burned miserably with frustrated heat.
By the time exhaustion finally dragged him into sleep, his mind had become a chaos of feverish dreams.
Lyra's beautiful face.
Selene's cold eyes and flushed cheeks.
Verdis' wicked smile.
Soft bodies twisting beneath him.
Breathless moans in the dark.
One woman becoming another in endless maddening succession while desire burned hotter and hotter through his veins until even his dreams felt like torture.