Chapter 52 : illusion of the heart

“So...we need to reach Central Geneva as soon as possible by how?” said Kael, while searching for keys inside the pockets of a knocked out knights.
This side of the prison requires keys to open doors.
I know secret passages to go there, I just hope my body won't abandon me” groaned Eryndor in pain.It's strange, even by using both our healing magic, you're still in pain. Said Vix concerned in his voice.
He is poisoned...What ? What makes you think that?Intuition...
“we should look at your injury before departure, maybe you—” said Ryo.

“we don't have time young man, the prince is in danger, going now is safer than staying here” said Eryndor

“if only we knew where he is” think Lara aloud.

“the map !!!” screamed Aldah.

“what ? ” asked Vix looking at his courier.

“what map?” added Eryndor confused 

“the map of deliveries” answered Ryo “When we received the mission order, we knew exactly where he was because his presence was marked in the map”.

“but it vanished when the delivery was completed” sighed Lara in disbelief.

“it didn't, nobody signed the magic paper order” Aldah showed the map to everyone to see, a small blinking dot was visible in a place called ‘Amethyst obelisk’ in central Geneva “we didn't receive another order, so it's him, Keller was right...a map is important”
“we know where he is, we know where we have to go, but how are we even supposed to go there? Any idea orb? Orb ?” 
He turned off his visibility again.
---
They reached fae bridge in the south using tunnels, unfortunately Eryndor could no longer breath easily so they all decided to go to the surface.
Doors were closed and streets were empty.
"Aldah find horses or anything that can help us travel, Lara let's find food and healing herbs together, Kael and Ryo stay with Eryndor, if anything happens throw your Ember...pin  on the ground.
“huh ?” 
Ryo and Kael looked skeptical.
“you finally let us use it” smiled Aldah.
“Anyway, be careful” 
Vix tried his best to ignore Aldah's shinny eyes, she starts to jump everywhere happy that Vix finally allowed the use of merch from their friendship group.
---
Vix looked at Lara while they were looking inside of a kitchen it looks like the inhabitants just vanished.
“I wanted to ask, where are you from Lara?”
“why asking that suddenly?”
“why not just answer me”
“you think I am a spy too ?”
Vix just stared at her.
“alright then I have a question too, why a healer from the prestigious family of Azurevein, decided to be a courier's healer?”
“because I wanted”
“I don't want to answer you then”
She opens the door violently and leaves.
“Guys guess what ?” Aldah was running toward them with two guys.
“Aldah ?! Are out of your mind” Kael panicked “who are—oh...they are wearing blue wave delivery uniform”.
“ Gordon and Norton, Keller sent them to look after us” said Aldah excitedly.
“we are not the only ones looking for you actually” said Norton softly.
“but we are the only ones who found you” add Gordon proudly.
“well...something happened during the mission, for now we need to go to central Geneva to save our friend”
Norton looked at them, then calmly cleaned his glasses.“Your friend is an heir, isn’t he? That would explain why Keller sent you lot to escort him — and then dispatched thousands of couriers and healers, if only to recover your corpses.”
The group stayed silent.
“Thankfully, he gave us access to the emergency delivery routes. Turns out one of them leads to Central Geneva, but we can only use it if we’re in South Geneva — specifically in scar haven.”
“ let's go then ” 
Gordon was already running to who knows where.
“I hope you don’t mind, but since we found you, we’re coming with you. Keller promised a bonus to anyone who helps you.”
---
South Geneva was nothing like the crystal roots of Elandor, the coldness of the north, or the warmth and prettyness of the west. The sky itself felt closer here, lowered like a furnace lid over the world. Sand burned beneath their boots, the air wavering in molten ribbons. Mana crackled on the wind — not serene and structured like Elandor’s polished flow, but raw, ungoverned. Wild.
They traveled in uneasy silence across low dunes and broken stone, their steps leaving brief imprints before the wind swallowed them. Ryo walked slightly ahead, shoulders tense, the satchel at his side faintly aglow with Yel’mor’s dormant presence. The beast within him stirred with each gust of mana — restless, hungry — as though South Geneva itself was calling to it.
Ahead, the sands broke into color.
Mira Jinn.
An oasis sprawled like a mirage made solid — polished domes, flowing silks, gold banners flapping above marble courtyards. Fountains glittered like cut gems, fed by mana veins channeled through underground aquifers. Laughter rang from balconies, and stalls overflowed with fruit, jeweled trinkets, and spices thick with scent.
It was beautiful.
It was rotten.
Beneath the perfume, they smelled it — the metallic stench of bribery, of caged spirits siphoned for battery cells beneath the fountains. A caravan of chained creatures was marched past them — part beast, part humanoid, their mana-stripped bodies staggering beneath the sun. Merchants fanned themselves lazily, placing bets on how many steps each prisoner would manage before collapsing.
Aldah’s fists clenched.
Kael’s jaw twitched.
Vix stepped subtly closer to her, as if she might explode without warning.
“Don’t look,” Lara murmured, though her own eyes glistened with disgust.
“We’re not here to save Mira Jinn,” Norton reminded, voice hoarse. “Our mission is to access central Geneva. Scar Haven first. Then—”
“Then everything else,” Ryo finished.
They passed through quickly, refusing every offer of drink, company, or purchase. More than one merchant eyed Aldah with calculating interest, as though weighing how much she would sell for if bound in crystal.
Vix walked in her shadow each time, gaze daring anyone to step closer.
By dusk, Mira Jinn’s glitter faded behind them, swallowed by crimson sands.
Ahead lay Scar Haven.
At first glance, it resembled a field of frost. A vast basin stretched out before them — white, glimmering, rippling like moonlit water. But the shine was not ice. It was mana-crystal, grown from the ground in jagged, translucent blooms. Veins of violet, teal, and molten orange ran through the formations like lightning frozen mid-strike.
Every step sent shivers up their legs.
“It’s feeding on both leyline and atmosphere,” Norton observed softly. “This whole place… is alive.”
“More like decaying,” Aldah muttered.
A map materialized in front of Norton, “there we are”
The space bent around them before a road appeared.
“ let's go”
----
“why do we have to run now !?” complained Kael.
“Because the road emits mana light that can be seen on a magic map like the one you saw earlier. If someone else has the same map, they’ll know it’s been activated — and you never know who’s watching. We need to be quick.”
They were all running, except for Eryndor, who was being carried by Gordon. Nonetheless, the strong twin was keeping up at a fast pace in front of Ryo and Aldah.
After minutes of running without a single break, they finally reached Central Geneva.
---
Vix's head was spinning, he never ran that fast before.
“I'm dying”
“oh come on don't be like that” mocked Aldah. 
They moved forward — five figures against a landscape of dark sky and golden stars. The air hummed. Their reflections wavered along crystal plains — warped, stretched, uncertain.
Then the sound began.
Not from ahead, but within.
A heartbeat.
But not theirs.
Th-thump.
It came from the crystal beneath their feet. Echoed in the air. Then—
In their bones.
Kael stumbled. Vix grabbed his arm, but froze when a voice — soft, warm — bloomed in the air between them.
“…Kael?”
He turned.
And saw her.
Mira. His adoptive mother. Hair like dark river silk. Hands soft and scarred. Eyes wet with guilt.
“Kael, my son.”
His breath shattered. “No. You’re dead.”
“I was,” she whispered.
He staggered back — but the sands behind him distanced. The world tightened around him. His hands shook.
To his right — Aldah gasped.
“Ara?”
Her brother stood before her — older, taller, eyes once filled with laughter now blackened by infection. His skin shimmered with crystalline scaling, the same kind that clung to the prisoners in Mira Jinn.
“Sis,” he rasped. “Why didn’t you save me?”
Aldah fell to her knees.
“No— Ara, I tried—”
“Did you?” he asked, stepping forward. “Or did you run?”
Vix moved to reach her — but froze when Aldah’s form shifted.
Before him stood her, but beautiful. Not battle-dirty, not furious — soft. Smiling, radiant like a sunrise.
“Aldah…” Vix breathed.
Her eyes — her illusion’s eyes — wavered with tenderness. “Why don’t you say it?”
He trembled. “You’re not—”
“Say it,” she whispered. “Say you love me.”
His heart gave. “I—”
“NO!” Lara’s voice snapped. She stepped forward — only to freeze.
Before her stood a man cloaked in void and gold, crown of black spires.
The Fallen King.
“Lara.”
She didn’t speak. Her body quaked.
He reached toward her. “Daughter.”
Ryo stood apart — trembling.
The others were trapped in their illusions. He waited for his own.
And it came not as a person —
But a presence.
The beast.
Not beside him. Not within him.
But as him.
His reflection shimmered in the crystal plains — eyes glowing gold, claws replaced fingers, fangs behind lips. His voice echoed in double form — one human, one monstrous.
“Let go,” it whispered through his own mouth. “You don’t need them. You never did.”
Ryo gritted his teeth. “No.”
“You are stronger alone.”
He clutched his chest. “No—”
“If you unleash me, we never have to lose again.”
Ryo’s vision blurred.
Kael’s illusion-mother reached for him.
Aldah’s infected brother towered above her.
Vix whispered Aldah’s name like a prayer.
Lara’s father spoke softly, promising protection.
The beast purred inside his throat.
The air trembled — mana tightening like a noose.
—
Then Lara screamed.
“ENOUGH!”
The sound cracked the crystal beneath them.
All illusions turned toward her.
Breath shaking, eyes burning — she stepped between them and their phantoms.
“STOP FIGHTING THEM! They’re not real!”
Her father’s illusion tilted his head. “Are you certain?”
She glared — tears spilling. “Yes. Because the real you—” she choked, “—would never say my name, you forgot it a long time ago, you forgot who I was.”
The illusion smiled — then dissolved.
Kael froze — Mira flickering like glass dust.
“Kael,” Lara said — firm. “She’s not here.”
His breath heaved. “But—”
“She died. And she betrayed you. But this isn’t her. It’s just pain wearing her face.”
His fist lowered.
Across from them — Aldah’s hands shook as Ara’s image reached forward again.
Lara grabbed her wrist.
“That’s not your brother.”
“He—” Aldah sobbed, “—he was sick— I couldn’t—”
“That’s not your brother,” Lara repeated, steady. “Your real brother would never break you like this.”
Aldah’s knuckles went white — then she punched the illusion.
It shattered into violet dust.
Vix trembled — Aldah’s smile fading from his illusion’s lips.
He turned — saw the real Aldah, fists trembling, tears fierce.
She looked at him.
He dropped to one knee, gasping. “It wasn’t you.”
“No,” she whispered, chest heaving. “It wasn’t.”
Ryo was last.
He stared into the beast’s reflection — his reflection.
Lara didn’t touch him.
She only said — softly, “You are not a monster.”
His claws trembled.
He exhaled — and the illusion broke beneath him like water.
—
Silence.

What happened? 

I don't know man

The twins were staring at each other.

Breaths. Heartbeats.
Then —
Lara stepped back, shaking.
She looked at all of them — face pale.
“I have something to tell you.”
They stared.
She forced her voice steady.
“My father,” she whispered. “is the Fallen King.”
Kael stiffened.
Aldah inhaled sharply.
Vix’s hands curled.
Ryo stared — silent.
Lara swallowed hard.
“He is the enemy. And I—”
Her voice cracked.
“I am his blood.”
The wind howled around them like a judgment.
No one spoke.
Lara looked at each of them — eyes wet, terror raw across her face.
“You can hate me. You can leave me. But I will not hide it for you anymore.”
She stepped back, shoulders shaking.
“If I must choose between him and you—”
She raised her chin.
“—I choose you.”
A breath.
Then —
Kael stepped forward.
Aldah wiped her face and grunted.
Vix looked at Aldah, then at Lara — and nodded once.
Ryo approached — beast purring quietly in his chest.
He placed a hand on her shoulder, and hugged her tightly.
“I—We already chose you,” he said simply.
Lara sobbed — once — but didn’t fall.
The crystal plains pulsed beneath them — alive again.
Yel’mor awoke in Ryo’s satchel — humming.
“He is close,” it whispered.
“And now,” Aldah growled, eyes burning, “we kick his ass.”
Together — no illusions left — they walked toward the heart of Central Geneva, Amethyst obelisk.
And the crystal sang like war.