đź“– Chronicles of the Watchers
Chapter 12: Ash and Water
Cold.
That was the first thing Kairo felt. The river had spat him out onto a bank of black stone, his body wracked with shivers. Every breath stung his lungs like knives.
When he opened his eyes, night still hung heavy overhead, though the stars were wrong—tilted, scattered, as if the heavens themselves had been rearranged.
"Easy," Selene's voice murmured. She was beside him, soaked to the bone, lantern guttering but still alive with faint blue light. Her hands pressed firmly on his chest, steadying his breathing.
Kairo croaked, "Where's… Liora?"
A shadow moved nearby. The giantess sat hunched, her greatsword driven into the earth. Water streamed from her armor, and her lip bled, but her gaze was sharp.
"Here. Still breathing. Can't say the same for my pride."
Kairo tried to rise, but his arm burned again—the mark was swollen, glowing faintly through his soaked sleeve. He hissed, clutching it.
Selene caught his wrist. Her eyes darkened.
"The fracture is spreading faster than I thought. You're slipping deeper into Azariel's chain."
"Then cut it off!" Kairo snapped, panicked. "I don't want this—I didn't ask for it!"
Liora snorted, though her voice was gentler than her words.
"If it were that simple, boy, I'd have hacked the arm off myself already."
Selene ignored them both, studying the faint light inside her lantern. At last, she spoke, low and certain.
"We can't linger. The Hunters will rise again. This river… it doesn't exist in the same hour as where we entered. The Bell is chasing us."
Kairo swallowed hard. "So where are we?"
Selene's gaze lifted to the horizon.
There, jagged spires of black crystal pierced the sky, faintly glowing with a sickly red light. Between them drifted fragments of stone—entire islands hovering in the air, connected by chains that groaned like wounded beasts.
Her voice trembled despite herself.
"We've fallen into the Shattered Vale. A wound in time itself. No map, no sun, no mercy."
Liora rose, dragging her blade free. "And no friends. If we're here, we walk carefully. Things crawl in the Vale that even the Hunters avoid."
Kairo's stomach twisted. "Things?"
Neither answered.
Above them, the chains groaned again—
and in the red glow of the crystal spires, something vast stirred.
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⚡ End of Chapter 12 .