Chapter 39 Broken Descent
Broken Descent
The stairwell trembled under Kailorien’s boots as he descended into the chamber of the Oathgate.
The heat from the battle above followed them—thick with ash, veiled with blood.
He held Auryn close, one arm steady beneath her knees, the other cradling her back.
She’d gone limp against him at some point. Black veins crawled up her neck.
The braid pressed between them—Thessia’s braid. Still warm from Auryn’s palm.
The entry gate groaned shut behind them as they crossed into the chamber—the stone heart of the old fortress.
A wide hall carved into the mountain’s ribs, where Mirror Shafts once turned with crystalline precision and where, in times of siege, the Veinroads could be sealed.
Violet veins pulsed faintly through the walls like a weak heartbeat, leading toward the massive stone door at the far end.
The Veinroads seal loomed from the dark—black stone, towering, alive with searing runes. At its center, a star-sigil blazed cold and blue. Moss clung to its edges, but the Wards still burned bright, whispering a warning only he could silence.
Only him. Only the Resh’Agar.
He pressed his palm to the ancient column.
Blue fire rippled across his rune-branded skin.
The mechanism hissed awake—crystal plates shifting, arcane channels sparking to life along the floor.
The Shield conjuration responded; ancient gears turning with the creak of slumbering giants.
The runes screamed as he activated the core sigil, unraveling in a cascade of furious light.
The air cracked open. Radiance poured outward, then inward, as the Veinroads door split like a ribcage forced wide. Behind it spiraled darkness and light in equal measure.
The path home—if home still existed.
The moment the locks sealed into place, a howl shattered the chamber’s brief silence.
Behind the upper gate, the battle had turned.
Warning horns split the air—first one, then three in rapid succession. Perimeter breach.
The monsters had reached the inner fortress.
A chorus of shrieks echoed down the stairwell. Something slammed against the metal gate. Then again. The ground quaked. Dust rained down from the vaulted ceiling in trembling waves.
In his arms, Auryn stirred. Her eyes were distant. Glazed. Barely there.
“Stay awake. We’re almost there.”
Her brow creased. Her eyes fluttered open just as another tremor shook the chamber.
A pulse of energy vibrated through the floor. A surge of runes flared somewhere overhead. Then came a voice like thunder, full of fury and fire, raised in a cry he knew as intimately as his own heartbeat.
Zarrek.
Auryn’s eyes snapped open.
“That’s Zarrek,” she whispered, voice catching. “He’s fighting. Still fighting.” Her head shook wildly. “No, I can’t—we can’t—this isn’t right—”
“Auryn—” He caught her as she started to slip from his arms. “Stay still.”
She pushed against his chest, weak but desperate. “Where is he? We have to go back!”
“We can’t, Auryn,” he said—firm, but breaking.
She fought him, tears streaking her silver-dusted cheeks. “No—no, I can help—I can seal the rift—let me go—I have to go!”
He held her still, drawing her closer, arms caging her trembling frame. “You can hardly stand, let alone fight.”
“You’re not even asking me,” she hissed, fury flaring through the fog. “Again! Again! You’re just doing what you want—”
He lowered his forehead to hers, shielding her from the rumbling above with his body, breath shaking.
“I’m doing what I must,” he said, catching her wrists. His voice dropped to a growl, heavy with the old, terrible intimacy of the chamber around them. “The Oathgate is built for vows, Auryn. You swore once your path was with me. Swear it again—before the world takes you from me.”
She choked on a breath, body quaking.
Another explosion rattled the fortress. The far gate groaned, warped metal bending under pressure.
“I am choosing!” she cried, trying to wrench herself free. “I choose him! And Thessia! I choose all of you!”
Kailorien caught her before she could stumble back toward the sound of dying. He gathered her in, holding her tight as the chamber shook again.
“Then hate me for it later,” he whispered harshly. “But I won’t lose you now.”
He turned to the Veinroads’ entrance. The stone seal stood cracked open. Runes flickered, waiting—hungry for his step.
Auryn tried to run again. Her legs buckled. He lifted her easily, gathering her into his arms as she wept, barely resisting now.
With one burst of motion, he carried her through the archway and into the spiral of light beyond. The Veinroads swallowed them.
Auryn’s sobs echoed in the dark. The severed golden braid shook in her fist as she wept. His nape itched. Vargrún burned hot, sensing every fracture in her heart.
Behind them, the portal sealed with a final, echoing boom—cutting off the thunder of battle.
For one suspended heartbeat, one sound lingered.
The muffled roar of Reskala voices, chanting as they died.
Resh! Resh! Resh!
And then nothing at all.