Elara sat at the central table in the Obsidian Crypt, surrounded by ancient, dusty Varr texts. The only light came from the glowing ceiling runes, which hummed with steady, stabilizing Aether. She hadn't slept, having spent the long night poring over the family's arcane library, searching for the key details to the "tainted runes."
She finally found the relevant information in a brittle, leather-bound journal: 'The Shadow of the Blood Moon: A Treatise on Corrupted Aether.'
"Gideon's Dark Aether Runes," she muttered, reading the archaic script. "They don't use ambient Aether; they draw their power from localized corruption—a cluster of runes tainted by forbidden blood magic and buried deep."
She confirmed the location: The Weeping Stone Crossing, a riverbed near the estate's south boundary. The tainted energy cluster was a powerful, subterranean generator that Gideon tapped into to fuel his paralyzing, Purple Rank spells.
The journal confirmed Elara's memory: the runes needed not to be destroyed, but transfigured back to their original, inert state using a high concentration of White Aether—an energy state Kaelen could only reach momentarily with great effort.
The Transfiguration requirement is too high for Kaelen, even at Blue Peak. He needs an anchor, Elara thought, scanning the diagrams.
Suddenly, the wards around the Crypt shrieked—a high, unnatural whine that indicated a hostile presence was near the surface.
Elara froze. Kaelen was not due back for another two hours.
The ground shuddered, and dust rained down from the ceiling. A deep, heavy impact followed, followed by a terrifying, prolonged silence.
Gideon. He was here. He must have been shadowing Seraph or sent immediately after Valerius received Seraph's report.
Elara's mind raced. Gideon was Purple Level Intermediate, a Master Arcanist and a specialist in silent entry and paralyzing magic. He was moving toward the Crypt entrance now.
She had only one asset: the knowledge that his power source was geographically restricted. The Weeping Stone Crossing was forty minutes away on foot, but Gideon's influence was far-reaching.
Elara scrambled, grabbing two vital items: the heavy journal containing the anti-corruption ritual, and a small, inert training sphere from the table—a smooth, glass orb used for Aether focusing.
She had zero magic, but she had the truth of the future. She rushed to the Crypt entrance—the narrow staircase that led up to the outside. She didn't dare go out, but she had to prepare a distraction.
She pulled the sphere from her pocket and used a shard of broken rock to scratch two simple lines onto its surface. Not runes, but crude directional markers.
Gideon never anticipates an opponent who can't cast spells.
She focused her fear into pure, sharp concentration, remembering the assassin's established methods. Gideon would use a debilitating Shadow Bind spell the moment he breached the inner perimeter, then wait for the victim to collapse.
A heavy crunch sounded from the staircase above—Gideon had broken through the final seal.
Taking a deep breath, Elara threw the glass sphere up the stairs with all her strength. It shattered a few feet from the entrance.
The noise alone was enough. Gideon, accustomed to stealth, paused. His detection array would instantly analyze the shattered glass, expecting magical residue.
Elara didn't wait. She used the momentary silence to activate the central control hub, flooding the entire Crypt with a non-hostile, high-frequency Aether pulse—a temporary, chaotic distraction that would overload Gideon's initial sensory probes.
As the cavern pulsed with a blinding silver light, Gideon's voice—deep, smooth, and laced with menace—drifted down the stairs.
"A clever misdirection, little thing. But distractions will not save Lord Varr's companion. I smell the residue of the Obsidian bloodline on your cloak. Tell me where he has gone with the Key, and your death will be swift."
Elara backed away from the pulsing light, her hands empty but her eyes determined. She had bought perhaps thirty seconds.
She took the heavy journal and hurled it into a dark corner, then used the sharp shard of rock to carve a single, critical symbol onto the nearest obsidian pillar: the stylized Rune for Fire-Mirror—the first rune Kaelen had cast to open the Key compartment.
If Kaelen returned now, he would see the explosion, recognize the symbol of his final action, and know that his secret was compromised.
Elara waited, breathing hard. There was no escape. She had run out of chapters to rely on. All she could do was stall the Master Arcanist until Kaelen returned.