LightReader

Chapter 116 - Chapter 116: The Night of Ash and Fear

The quiet sanctity of the Inventor's Wing was shattered by the unholy shriek of burning parchment and the acrid scent of smoke curling through stone corridors. A single errant gust—a careless open window—had tipped the candle on Eren's cluttered desk. A heartbeat later, flame devoured his sketches, notes, and models. Panic ignited like kindling.

Apprentices screamed, bumping into each other as buckets of sand and water were tossed with little aim. Desks were overturned. The precious prototype of the miniaturized aqua conduit was reduced to smoldering slag.

Sharath burst in, barefoot, smoke curling around his shirtless torso. His breath caught not from running—but from the image before him: Eren, his brightest apprentice, curled on the floor, hair half-scorched, cheeks streaked with ash and tears.

He knelt beside the boy.

"It's gone," Eren whispered. "All of it."

Sharath reached out, brushing soot from the boy's trembling fingers. "Your ideas are not ashes, Eren. Only your method burned. Ideas rise again."

But inside, Sharath's stomach churned. The fire was a symptom—a failure of a larger system. The castle still relied on flame to chase darkness. And now a boy bore the scars.

More Chapters