The Tower rose like a wound against the horizon. Even broken, even silent, it commanded the forest around it. Its spires jutted from the earth like blackened ribs, jagged and skeletal, crowned in faint emberlight that pulsed with the rhythm of a dying heart.
Kael stood at the edge of the clearing, breath shallow, as though the air itself rebelled against him. Each step closer made the whispers louder, sharper, weaving through his skull in a thousand voices. They clawed at him with promises and curses alike.
Come. Kneel. Rise. Burn. You are ours. You are heir. You are the Tower's son.
He pressed his palms against his ears, but it made no difference. The words weren't sound—they were inside him, coiled like chains around his mind.
Liora strode ahead, her movements precise, unshaken. Her cloak snapped in the sour wind that circled the spires, and her hand never strayed far from her blade. She looked like she belonged here, and that thought made Kael's stomach twist.
"You feel it, don't you?" she said without turning.
Kael swallowed hard. "It's… pulling me."
Her shoulders stiffened. "It will try more than that once we cross the threshold. The Tower recognizes those who bear its mark. It sees you."
Kael frowned, though the words cut too close to the truth. "And it sees you too."
She didn't answer.
The ground shifted beneath them as they approached, the veins in the soil bleeding into blackened streaks of emberlight that converged on the Tower's base. They pulsed in unison with Kael's heartbeat, quickening as if in anticipation.
Then the System's voice thundered inside him.
> [Warning: Critical Anomaly Detected. Source of Corruption: Proximity 3.1 kilometers. Entity Resonance with Host: 94%]
[Immediate retreat advised. Entry beyond this threshold will result in irreversible system destabilization.]
Kael stumbled. The glyphs in his vision flared violently, searing symbols he couldn't understand. His chest felt as if it were tearing open.
He gasped, clutching at the staff to stay upright. "It's… it's rejecting me."
Liora turned, eyes narrowing. "Not rejecting. Fighting. The System knows what the Tower wants with you. And it fears losing its grip."
The words stabbed through him, truer than he wanted them to be. The whispers inside him swelled in response, mocking the warning.
Do not fear. The System is a leash. Break it. The Tower offers freedom.
Kael shook his head violently, but the pull only deepened. Every step closer to the Tower sent a jolt of heat through his veins, as if his blood burned to escape his body.
Liora grabbed his arm, steadying him. Her grip was iron, her gaze sharp enough to cut. "Listen to me. You are not the Tower's, Kael. You are not the Veil's. You are Kael Ardyn. Do you hear me?"
"I… I don't know anymore." His voice cracked, raw. "It's inside me. Every breath, every thought. What if I can't fight it?"
Her jaw tightened. "Then I'll fight it for you. Even if I have to cut you down."
For a moment, her words froze him. Not because of the threat, but because of the conviction in her eyes. She meant it. She would kill him before letting the Tower claim him.
And strangely, that steadied him more than the System's desperate warnings.
---
The base of the Tower loomed before them now. The spires weren't stone, but charred bone and ash fused into something harder than steel. The entrance yawned like a wound—black, endless, veined with faint red light. Chains hung across it, swaying though there was no wind, their links whispering like voices when they clashed together.
Kael's knees buckled as the chains shuddered. He saw visions unbidden—faces burning in fire, bodies dragged screaming into ash, children forged into weapons in rooms of smoke and steel.
And among them… a girl. Alone, chained, her eyes burning with defiance.
He turned sharply to Liora. Her expression was unreadable, but her hand trembled against the hilt of her sword.
"You were one of them," Kael said quietly. "The ones it forged."
Her silence was confirmation.
Before he could say more, the System surged again, panicked now.
> [Critical Warning: Host integrity compromised. Corruption Saturation: 42%. Stabilization Protocol failing.]
[Crossing threshold will result in permanent divergence.]
Kael grit his teeth, fighting to stay upright as the glyphs burned in his vision. His body shook, his veins glowing faint ember red.
The whispers overlapped the warning, louder, hungrier.
Yes. Step through. Leave the leash. Become fire, become chain, become Tower.
His pulse roared in his ears. His body leaned forward, every instinct screaming to step inside. One step, and the chains would be his. One step, and the hunger would end.
A blade pressed lightly against his throat.
Kael froze. Liora stood before him, eyes like steel, her sword's edge steady against his skin.
"Choose," she said coldly. "Right here. Right now. Are you Kael Ardyn, or are you the Tower's?"
The chains rattled behind her, their whispers sweet as a lullaby. His veins screamed. His heart thundered.
For a breathless eternity, Kael stood suspended between two worlds—between the leash of the System and the chains of the Tower, between the woman who swore to kill him and the voices that promised he would never need her again.
And then he closed his eyes.
"I'm Kael," he whispered. "I'm still Kael."
Liora studied him for a heartbeat longer, then lowered the blade. Her relief was fleeting, buried beneath hardened resolve.
"Then prove it," she said. "We go together. But the moment I see you falter, the moment I see chains take your eyes—I won't hesitate."
Kael nodded, though his insides burned with doubt.
Together, they stepped beneath the chains and into the Tower of Ash.
---
The moment Kael crossed the threshold, the world shifted.
The whispers vanished—not silenced, but absorbed, swallowed by something greater. The walls themselves pulsed faintly, veins of emberlight glowing in the blackened stone. The air smelled of smoke and rust, and every breath carried the weight of centuries.
The System screamed in his mind, a torrent of glyphs and warnings he could no longer parse. The words bled together, flickering, until finally a single message cut through:
> [Error: Host has entered a Forbidden Zone. System authority nullified. You are unbound.]
Kael staggered. The leash was gone. For the first time since he awoke in this world, he felt no pull, no guiding presence. Only silence—and the faint pulse of the Tower in his veins.
He looked to Liora. Her face was pale, her jaw tight, her eyes flicking across the glowing walls as though bracing for ghosts.
"This is it," she whispered. "The crucible."
Her voice carried a weight Kael didn't understand, but would soon.
Because somewhere in the depths of the Tower, chains stirred.
And they were waiting for him.
---