📖 Chapter Nine – Part One
The Citadel's bells tolled backward, a sound like mountains collapsing into the sea. Candidates gathered in the central amphitheater — a perfect circle carved into the fortress's heart, its floor inscribed with spirals of glowing runes. Above them, black-veined stalactites shimmered like frozen lightning.
Alexander stood among the others, hands clenched at his sides. The Ashborn Heart pulsed in rhythm with the runes beneath his feet. Around him, murmurs rose:
"Guardian time…"
"No one survives the first challenge…"
"This is where alliances break…"
Lira adjusted the straps on her sonic gauntlets. "Stay clear of me when it starts," she murmured. "Sound doesn't care who it kills."
Jareth smirked, drawing a curved blade forged from vampire bone. Tovak rolled his shoulders, gravity coiling around him in shimmering arcs.
Then Cael appeared, as though he'd been standing there all along. "Hope you slept well," he said. "The Citadel doesn't like late bloomers."
Alexander glared. "Why are you here?"
"To watch," Cael said with a grin. "And to see whether you're the Heart's master or its next meal."
High Overseer Zeryn drifted down from the ceiling like a spider descending its thread. Their mirrored mask reflected all of them at once. "Candidates," they intoned, "today you face the Guardian of the Ashborn Heart. Defeat it or be consumed. Its essence will determine which of you is worthy to advance."
They raised both hands. The runes on the amphitheater floor ignited. The stone trembled, cracked, and fell away.
From the chasm rose the Guardian.
It was not a beast so much as a shifting landscape of crystal and ash, its body a massive centipede-dragon of obsidian plates shot through with rivers of fire. Dozens of eyes opened along its spine, each one a mirror of the Citadel above. When it roared, the air itself trembled.
"Move!" Lira shouted, sound waves blasting outward to scatter the first barrage of ash shards. Tovak slammed his foot, increasing gravity to pin some of the Guardian's limbs. Jareth blurred into a mist of crimson, reappearing behind one of the Guardian's eyes with his blade poised.
Alexander hesitated. The Heart inside him pulsed, wanting out. Use me, it whispered. Break the chains. Show them all.
He gritted his teeth. Not yet.
The Guardian lashed out, a claw of crystal and ash sweeping the amphitheater. Several candidates were flung into the void, their screams cut off as the mist swallowed them. Zeryn did not move to intervene.
Alexander darted forward, catching Lira as she staggered under a sonic rebound. "You okay?"
"I told you to stay clear," she hissed — but didn't push him away.
Another candidate stepped into the fray — a lithe figure cloaked in living shadows. Twin daggers of darkness curved in her hands. "Nyx Ardent," she called, spinning the daggers in a salute. "Try not to die, hybrid boy."
Alexander blinked. "Not planning on it."
They dove together under a lashing tail. Nyx's shadows struck at the Guardian's joints, slicing through the runes that held its limbs together. The beast screamed, a sound like collapsing temples.
Above, another newcomer — a tall figure with scaled cheeks and molten-gold eyes — muttered complex formulas as he traced runes in the air. With a flick of his clawed hand, beams of energy anchored themselves into the Guardian's body. "Eryndor," he shouted. "I've mapped its weaknesses! Hit the third plate on its left flank!"
Alexander sprinted across the battlefield, sliding under a wave of ash. He slammed his palm against the glowing plate, feeling the Heart inside him surge in answer. Power exploded from his arm, cracking the plate open.
The Guardian recoiled — but instead of striking Alexander, it paused. Its eyes turned toward him, thousands of mirrors reflecting his face. It let out a low, almost mournful sound.
"Why's it looking at you like that?" Nyx hissed.
"I… don't know," Alexander said, shivering.
Then the Guardian roared again and surged at him, faster than before.
"Because," Cael's voice drifted from somewhere in the mist, "you're not fighting the Guardian. You're fighting its chains."