The fog clung to Serena's skin like a second shroud as she crouched in the ruins, the map fragment clutched so tightly her knuckles whitened.
The word "Ashspire" glimmered faintly in Kaden's scrawl, the ink still fresh enough to smell of iron and oak.
Behind her, the smoldering coals popped, as if the forge itself were whispering.
Ashspire, she mouthed silently.
She'd heard the guards mutter it earlier—"Ashspire's black market deals in souls," one had slurred over ale.
Now, with Kaden taken, this was her thread to pull.
Her breath hitched when a shadow flickered at the edge of the wreckage.
Not a guard—too slight, too silent.
She froze, then relaxed as a stray cat slunk past, its tail brushing a bent horseshoe.
Focus, she told herself, tucking the map into her tunic.
Kaden had mouthed "Run," but running meant nothing if she didn't find him.
And Ashspire, with its labyrinth of back alleys and hidden doors, was where men like Samuel traded secrets.
By dawn, she'd tracked the name to an old tailor's shop on the town's northern edge.
The bell above the door jangled as she entered, and a hunched woman with silver hair looked up from her needlework.
"Lost, girl?" Her voice was gravel, but her eyes sharpened when Serena produced the map.
"Ashspire, eh?" The tailor's fingers trembled as she traced the frayed edges.
"Your master… he saved my son's life once, when bandits raided the caravan. Broke a sword hilt to plug the boy's wound. Said, 'A smith's metal serves more than killing.'"
Serena's throat tightened.
Kaden never spoke of his past—of the people he'd helped.
"We need to get into the Black Bell Tavern," she said, voice hoarse.
"They say you need a hollow copper bell to enter."
The tailor's gaze darted to the window, as if expecting spies.
"Samuel's men wear those bells. Their sound's not just metal—it's a spell, woven into the copper. Mimicking it… risky." She rummaged under her workbench, producing a lump of unpolished metal.
"But your master left me this—star-iron, from the old mines. It hums like a live thing." She held it out.
"Might resonate with the bell's magic. If your… system," she added, nodding to Serena's empty palm (where Kaden's hammer sometimes glowed), "can help."
Serena's pulse quickened.
The system—Kaden's secret, the one that whispered in his ear when he forged.
She'd seen it glow when he hammered, seen the blue light seep into the metal.
"I'll try," she said, closing her hand around the star-iron.
By dusk, they stood at Ashspire's western gate, the forged bell heavy in Kaden's pocket.
He'd been silent since Serena found him—no, since they let him go.
The guards had dragged him to the town square, then… released him?
"Your debt's paid," Samuel had sneered, tossing the map fragment at his feet.
"But Ashspire's no place for a smith. Unless you want to end up like your master."
Now, Kaden's jaw was set as they approached the Black Bell's hidden entrance—a rotting plank in an alley, marked by a chipped stone gargoyle.
The air reeked of stale wine and blood.
A guard stepped from the shadows, his face half-hidden by a cowl.
"Bell," he grunted.
Kaden's fingers brushed the star-iron bell.
The system's voice, a low hum in his mind: Simulating resonance.
87% accuracy.
Duration: 3 minutes.
He handed it over.
The guard's eyes narrowed as he shook it—once, twice.
Then he stepped back, the bell clinking as he returned it.
"Go."
The basement was a cave of flickering torches, the air thick with the scent of burning incense.
Whispers snaked through the crowd: "Dragon scales…" , "A soul-bound dagger…" , "The darksmith's blood." Kaden's chest tightened.
They know, he thought.
About the bloodline.
Then he saw him—Finne, leaning against a stone pillar, the uncompleted soul weapon in his hands.
The sword's eye, a hollow gem, now swirled with a face: a man with a beard, eyes like smoldering coals.
His Master?
Kaden's breath caught.
Finne was speaking to a man in a black cloak, his voice a low rumble.
"The blood's closer to boiling. The old fool thought sealing it would save him, but every strike of his hammer woke it. Now the boy…" He glanced up, and his gaze locked onto Kaden.
A smile. Slow, knowing.
Then the smoke bomb—thick, acrid, stinging Kaden's eyes.
He lunged, but Finne was already gone, the weapon a blur in his grip.
Serena, though—Serena darted forward, snatching a sliver of the sword's hilt as Finne vanished into the chaos.
They fled through back alleys, the sound of pursuit fading.
Serena pressed the sliver into Kaden's hand.
"It… it hummed when I touched it," she panted.
Kaden's fingers closed around the metal.
A vibration, low and deep, like a bell tolling from the earth's core.
The system flared in his mind: Resonance detected.
frequency matched.
Unlocking: Soul Forge Tier 2.
He stared at the sliver, then at Serena.
My Master... he left a letter In the royal archives. It's about the blood, about the Dark Iron Council. If we can get it…"
Serena nodded, her eyes bright in the moonlight.
"We'l