Chapter 39– A Month of Dust and Ash
Part 2: Blades That Never Rest
Ziraka slept lightly.
Its windows closed early. Its alleys whispered. Even its wind made detours around the cathedral now.
But Ashern never slept.
Not once.
Each night, after the tavern emptied and the barkeep grunted his way to bed, Ashern climbed to the flat rooftop over the back room. He'd cleared it weeks ago—pushed aside broken crates, patched the leaking stone with melted wax and dust. No one looked up here.
The perfect place for a ghost to train.
Tonight, the moon was thin. The stars were dull. And the city below muttered in its sleep.
He stood still for a long time. Then closed his eyes.
[Skill: Shadow Blade – Summon Initiated]Binding glyph sequence… complete.
From the air beside him, two narrow, floating blades bloomed into form—thin as obsidian glass, edges rippling faintly like heat off stone. They circled him slowly, reacting to each subtle shift in his fingers, his breath, his thoughts.
He opened his eyes.
And moved.
The blades danced in the air, slicing through the dark with surgical grace. Not wild, not fast.
Precise.
They mirrored his steps, twisted with his feints, snapped outward when he shifted his weight—extensions of intention, not just tools.
He pivoted, and one darted across the rooftop, slicing through the top of a clay jar fifty paces away.
The jar didn't fall.
It shivered apart two seconds later, cut so clean the pieces didn't realize they were separate.
[Skill Mastery – 31%]➤ Shadow Blade Sync: Stable➤ Twin-Path Reflex Channeling: Initiated
"One mind. Two knives. Endless outcomes."
He breathed slowly.
Each night was like this.
No monologues. No sparring partner. No imagined enemy.
Only blades.
Only silence.
Only the same question repeated in every movement:
"Are you ready?"
And the same answer, whispered with every strike:
"Not yet. But soon."
By dawn, he was gone from the rooftop.
Back behind the bar. Cleaning. Invisible.
But something had shifted.
The bartender blinked at him more than once. A regular customer squinted, as if sensing a presence that wasn't there the day before.
Even the wind felt sharper.
And Seréya?
She returned the next evening.
For the first time in days.
She stood outside the tavern, didn't enter, didn't knock. Just watched through the dusty window, gold eyes narrowing—searching for something.
Then turned and walked toward the cathedral.
Like a woman still trusted by the very gods she served.
Unaware that the floor beneath her feet had already begun to crack.
[System Notice: Seal Disruption Clock – 2 Days Remaining]➤ Shadow Blade Training Level: Adequate➤ Ghost Identity Integrity: 96%
"The blade is ready.The city doesn't know it yet."