The city of Velryn stood like a wound in the land.
What once had been a thriving trade hub was now wrapped in silence. Buildings leaned like drunks, shadows pooled unnaturally at corners, and the sky above churned—not from weather, but from something far more intentional.
Kael stood at the gate with Sera, Lira, and the newly joined Aeris. The moment they passed the city's perimeter, all noise died.
No birds. No wind. No breath.
"A deadzone," Aeris murmured. "The Choir's doing. They've siphoned the air of sound. Only high-grade entropy casters can manage this on a city-wide scale."
"Which means they've begun," Kael said.
"Begun what?" Lira asked.
He didn't answer. He was already walking forward.
Whispers in the Dust
They moved through the city like ghosts. Every so often, they'd pass a statue—only these weren't statues. They were people—frozen mid-scream, mid-run, or mid-prayer. Caught in a stasis spell, yet aged like they'd been there for centuries.
"What the hell happened here?" Sera asked, her voice unusually low.
"Time loop distortion," Aeris said. "They're alive. And not. It's a Choir signature meant to test ritual durability."
Kael clenched his fist around the staff. "They're trying to rewrite reality again."
In the Choir's Shadow
They found the cultists at the city's heart.
A cathedral turned inside-out, its walls twisted into screaming spirals of stone and bone. Choir members in dark, tattered robes stood in a circle around a floating orb of collapsing light. Their leader wore a jagged mask and a robe of stardust and rot.
"The Rite of Hollowing has begun," Aeris whispered. "If they finish it, this city becomes a permanent wound in the world."
"We stop them now," Kael said.
"I can take the left flank," Sera said, blades already out.
"I'll suppress their time distortions," Lira added.
"Leave the sky to me," Aeris grinned.
Kael nodded.
"I'll take the leader."
The Battle at Velryn
It began with a storm.
Aeris raised her hands and summoned wind that roared like dragons. Lightning sliced the air, scattering cultists.
Sera blinked through space, her twin daggers dancing in crimson arcs. Each flash of metal dropped a robed figure without a sound.
Lira's runes exploded along the ground, canceling ritual glyphs with mathematical precision.
Kael charged straight into the eye of the storm.
The Choir leader turned, raising a hand of black bone.
"You are late, Balance," the figure rasped.
"You always say that," Kael muttered—and struck with the staff.
Their battle was pure chaos. Gravity warped. Fire twisted into ice. Reality blinked in and out like a sputtering flame.
Kael remembered this rhythm. This dance. Not just from this life but from a thousand forgotten wars.
The Leader Revealed
With a final blow, Kael shattered the masked figure's defenses. The mask cracked, revealing a face underneath—
—young. Human. Barely seventeen.
Eyes wide with fear and pain.
"You…" the boy gasped. "I was told you'd save us…"
"What?" Kael asked, stunned.
The boy coughed, blood slipping from his lips. "The Choir… they said you'd abandoned us. That the Balance broke the world. They showed us visions—how you let it burn…"
Kael froze.
"They twisted truth into worship," Aeris said softly, stepping beside him. "They're using your past, your failure as fuel."
The boy died with a smile.
Kael looked away, jaw clenched.
Aftermath
They buried what was left of Velryn in flame and silence.
Only ash remained.
Sera stood beside Kael as they watched the city smolder.
"Still think we can fix this?" she asked.
"No," he said. "But we can fight back."
Behind them, Aeris gazed toward the distant north—toward a mountain peak that shimmered with ghostlight.
"Then we'll need the next Aspect," she said.
"And who is it this time?" Lira asked.
Kael turned, voice low.
"The Forge."