🎉 Bonus Chapter! 🎉
This chapter is a special gift to celebrate 12k views! Thank you so much for your support and for following the story this far. I hope you enjoy every moment of this extra read.
Happy reading!
Kael felt first, before any common perception. The energy that Ereon had raised resonated throughout the barony, a vibration so intense that made the ground tremble under his feet. He remained in an isolated room of the castle, meditating, when the air suddenly changed, heavy and dense, loaded with the despair of Thalia and the oppressive strength of the Inverted World.
The laments crossed walls and stones, pulsing directly into his seismic vision. Each scream of Thalia turned into waves on the ground, translating pain, fear and suffering into clear patterns that only Kael could interpret. His whole body vibrated, anticipating the chaos that spread throughout the barony.
What Ereon had done was not only a manifestation of power — it was an inversion of the very world, a force capable of breaking defenses and hearts. Kael felt the urgency: he needed to act before the abyss of pain consumed everything and everyone around him.
Without hesitation, Kael advanced through the corridors of the castle, guided by the vibrations of the ground. Upon reaching the room where Thalia was, he felt the intensity of her suffering almost as if it were his own body. Doros was beside her, trying to embrace her and calm her, but even he seemed powerless before the strength that consumed her.
"What happened?" asked Doros, the voice loaded with despair while staring at Kael. "Until now she was fine!"
Thalia continued to scream, begging that it stop, each lament a brutal wave of suffering that echoed throughout the barony. Kael felt each fragment of pain and, finally, spoke firmly:
"Doros… you need to make her unconscious."
"If we do this…" he began, the voice trembling "we will be vulnerable…"
"There is no choice" answered Kael, the serenity in his voice masking the steel of his determination "Thalia is about to be consumed."
"Thalia said that those are only scouts. A bigger army will arrive at any moment" retorted Doros, the voice loaded with concern.
"Choice: save her from being consumed or expose the barony" said Kael, firm, each word echoing with authority.
Doros frowned, the body rigid, feeling the weight of the decision that fell upon him: to sacrifice Thalia's consciousness to save her or risk the entire barony being consumed. The silence extended for an instant that seemed eternal. Finally, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes and, with firm but careful hands, made Thalia unconscious.
Kael walked slowly to the door, feeling the atmosphere around him change at each step. He stopped for an instant and, with serene but relentless tone, spoke:
"Take her to a safe room. Afterwards, you will need to assume command of the soldiers."
Doros nodded, positioned to fulfill the order, and asked, still apprehensive:
"Where are you going?"
"There are matters of eras to resolve" answered Kael, without turning, the firmness of his voice making clear that there was no space for doubts.
Kael crossed the hall of the castle and finally stopped at the center, between the barony and the forest. Each vibration of the Inverted World traveled through the ground to him, carrying the omen of what was to come. The silence around seemed heavy, almost suffocating, and the air vibrated with a tension that no sound could break. He remained motionless, feeling each crack of the ground as if the whole world breathed for him.
A few instants passed that seemed like minutes. The shadows of the trees swayed softly, until two figures emerged from the dense darkness between the trunks — moving with the predatory naturalness of those who know the place.
In a blink, one of the figures advanced towards him; the movement was so sudden and supernatural that it seemed to tear the very air. Ereon was already with the katana in position when the blade was stopped in the void: a hand raised, motionless, as if an invisible wall held the steel.
"How long has it been, Gaia…" murmured Ereon, the eyes fixed on her, the voice low like a lash.
Gaia smiled, calm and cold, and the phrase cut the air like blade:"I see that you will not listen to me. Then you leave me no choice but to face you."
The clash was immediate. Ereon advanced as if the very night pushed him — short steps, precise, the katana drawing fast arcs that seemed more dance than attack. The blade streaked the space, now a flash, now a continuous line; each movement was calculation, a music of steel.
Gaia did not aim with the eyes: she felt. The earth under her feet sang to her the direction of the feet, the weight of the wrists, the scrape of the scabbard. Like a deaf drummer, she read the rhythm of combat by the vibration of the ground and responded with blows that were born from the ground — roots that burst, protrusions that arose, small crests of earth that held, diverted, launched. Her defense was a living wall; her attacks, hammers that came from the belly of the forest.
Ereon did not despise her. Each of his strikes sought to probe her pattern: a cut to test the ground, a spin to force the seismic reading, a retreat to create false rhythm. When he attacked, it was as if the katana spoke for him — fast, deadly lines; when he defended, he transformed the dance into wall. The fight was an intertwining: blade against earth, human rhythm against pulse of the world.
In a risky step, Ereon forced an advance that demanded from Gaia an instant contraction of the terrain — stones exploded at his feet, trying to trap him. Ereon slid between the crater, the blade finding gaps, moving so fast that it seemed to bend the wind. She reacted by inclining the field, creating an imbalance that demanded from him a spin of hundredths of a second not to be thrown.
In an instant of pause between blows, Ereon closed his eyes and, with the blade pointed like accusation, asked, the voice cutting the air:
"Why did you betray us, sixteen centuries ago?"
Gaia held the smile for a breath and answered, the ancient voice scraping like stone:
"You do not understand what was necessary."
That justification inflamed Ereon. Without warning, he accelerated; the katana spun in a whirlwind of cuts conceived to force Gaia to err in her seismic reading. The earth reacted in retaliation: protrusions exploded under his feet, stones jumped like fists and sparks of soil flew at each meeting of the steel with the earth.
In the middle of the whirlwind, Ereon raised his voice again, the threat measured and cold:
"Why did you betray us, sixteen centuries ago? Depending on what you answer me, I will decide: if I will kill you quickly or make you suffer like you made my people suffer."
Gaia did not get disturbed. Instead of closing herself, she opened the answer in a voice that sounded like wind moving leaves:
"There were choices that I was forced to make. You would not be able to understand the weight of that."
The exchange resumed, fiercer. Ereon used the blade as dance — short, precise movements, each strike calculated to pierce the cadence that Gaia extracted from the ground. She, on her part, was pure geography in movement: upon feeling the direction of the wind, she arched a counterblow that came from the ground, surprising with a hammer of stone where before there was nothing.
Médea still remained close to the forest, watching the fight from a distance. The sounds that came from inside echoed strong, when a voice — soft like a whisper — sounded behind her:
"Run."
Before she could react, an oppressive force began to spread. Ereon felt immediately the Inverted World being forced to close, compressed by a powerful and precise energy. The air became dense, heavy, each vibration of the ground transmitting imminent danger.
It was in that instant that he realized what was approaching: a being of superhuman speed advancing from the forest towards MĂ©dea, ready to deliver a mortal blow. The fight with Gaia needed to be interrupted; Ereon, in an almost instinctive movement, swapped places with MĂ©dea using Reversum, absorbing the impact with the katana. The force was so crushing that it cracked the ground when his body was thrown against the earth. Lying down, fists firm on the katana that he had used to cushion the attack, Ereon raised his eyes to the adversary.
Before him was the Viscount, a man of imposing presence: hair silver as the mist that surrounded him, thick beard, penetrating look. His long leather coat, reinforced by buckles and metallic brooches, and the black gloves completed the image of absolute threat.
"When they sent me to deal with the barony, I was informed that there would be no one capable of facing us here. But I see that we were… misinformed" said he, the voice deep and loaded, while pressing the fist against Ereon, the strength emanating from him still reverberating through the ground and the air around.
After the Inverted World was forced to close by the crushing strength of the Viscount, the sun of the late afternoon began to bathe the forest, dyeing the trees orange and purple. Between the trunks, appeared some knights with silver armors, displaying the coat of arms of Mist, sign that they served the Viscount.
Gaia, still watching Médea — confused with everything that had happened — spoke firmly:
"Run towards the wall!"
In a quick movement, she forced the earth to bring Ereon before her. Her presence, intense and almost maternal, radiated a strange tranquility. With a slight smile, she commented:
"The past was kindly relocated to the waiting list. Do not worry. He will survive; after all, he has already survived everything, hasn't he?"
Ereon remained motionless for an instant, evaluating each gesture of hers, the heavy air of power and control making the pulse accelerate. He rose slowly, the voice low and firm:
"This guy… is dangerous."