KESH-TOR

The corridors shook with distant rumbling, dust trickling from the ceiling as we sprinted against the marble floors. The air felt thicker the closer we got, charged with Magna until it prickled against my skin.

“There!” Verra pointed — ahead, a light spilling through the crack like molten gold.

What she pointed at looked nothing like she had explained. Most of the golden staircases were gone, shattered, melted, dangling like broken ribs over an abyss glowing faintly.

A deep boom echoed from below, followed by a distant splash. A column of water shot skyward for a moment before falling back in heavy rain.

“Thomlin!” Ariyanna shouted, peering into the abyss.

No answer.

But the noises didn’t stop. I caught flickers of motion, four figures locked in a brawl, Thomlin among them.

“What should we do?” Verra whispered.

“It’s obvious,” Lira huffed. “We go down there and crack some skulls.”

Easy to say. We couldn’t even beat the princess. How could we stand against anyone Thomlin was barely surviving?

“She has the right idea,” Callen’s voice spoke. “Just wrong execution. You and I will go down there and make them stop.”

“Stop? You think they’ll listen?”

“Not to you. To me.”

Callen‘s plan was so stupid, it even trumps mine. I mean talking at this point is just unbelievably dumb. And it’s not like they would stop long enough to listen. Still, I trusted Callen so I agreed to give him control.

I felt a quiet calmness, my vision twisted and I stepped back.

And — Callen stepped forward.

For the first time, I saw him outside the void, standing in my body. Breathing through my nose — he rolled my shoulders, stretched my neck, twirled the sword once and dived to the abyss.

We landed hard on the plated floor below.

“STOP!” he yelled slamming the sword down.

A rune rippled out under covering everyone.

They immediately stopped moving.

Velma hung mid-strike, eyes wide. Rhennmar halted, sparks clinging to her hair and Kryxx’s vines curled in the air, with him motionless. Even Thomlin blinked in surprise against a wall.

Callen lifted his sword, reality returning to normal.

“Velma,” Callen’s voice came out of my throat but deeper, carrying authority.

“…Callen?”

Thomlin let out a laugh. “Oh, thank God. Someone else can get punched for a while.”

Rhennmar snarled “Can…you just….SHUT UP!’

What Callen used was an advanced flow disruption technique. It requires a lot of Magna to use, so unfortunately we couldn’t spam the shit out of it.

“That’s impossible,” Kryxx muttered. “How are you alive?”

“That is a long story. It all begins with Draken….and ends with Arisu….”

Callen proceeded to give them the quick version of the facts. About Arisu, resonance and me. Questions were asked, some were answered, some ignore and arguments ensued but by the end, there was nothing but confusion in the air, barring the occasional quip from Thomlin.

Velma’s fists clenched but not in anger. “You’re serious.”

“As death,” Callen replied grimly. “And unless you like the idea of watching this world rip to shreds, you’ll stand with us.”

“Just like that,” Rhennmar said. “We’re supposed to follow you to stop Draken or Arisu…whatever his name is. How can we verify you’re claims? It’s your word against his.”

“I can verify that,” Thomlin said raising his hand.

“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?” Rhennmar hissed.

Velma cracked her hands, laughing out loud. Then turned and looked at Callen. “Alright, I’m in.”

“What? You can’t seriously believe this?” Rhennmar yelled lighting sparking on her eyes.

Velma laughed. “Calm down. Honestly, I couldn’t care less about destiny or saving the world. But…I owe him one.”

Kryxx’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t stop seeing it,” she turned. “Our master…when she died. I was so useless. Running when she told us to is biggest regret of my life….but Callen didn't. I can't stop thinking that if we had stayed that day, then maybe she would still be alive. That’s what I owe, not only to him, but to our master and myself.”

There was a long silence.

Kryxx exhaled, staff lowering. “Then we’re agreed.”

Rhennmar cursed under her breath, lightning sparking across her shoulders, then dissipating. “Fine. But if this turns out to be a trick, I’ll kill you again.”

“Good,” Callen said finally. “Then we have work to do.”

His grip on the sword loosened and suddenly the calmness I’d felt began to slip. My own breathing returned. Knees buckled as I took back control.

“Why’d you give me back control?” I asked gasping.

“Time…” he simply replied.

Just when I think we’re done with the hard stuff, something else shows up, crushing that little whisker of hope. Apparently, after that fight with Eliorynna, our magna reserves were disastrously low, and when they hit zero, resonance will be useless —I would be useless.

But there was some good news. A path forward. Since we didn’t know where Arisu was, we were headed to Sanctum Frollo to speak with someone who might.

Conveniently, the abyss was actually a secret entrance to the catacombs that connected all the Rings. It's what the Church uses during beast raids to hide while everyone else died. It’s also why we didn’t teleport there instead, just in case they were hiding down here. By arranging the rune patterns on the floor, Kryxx managed to get a door open from below and behold, more stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, we turned left through a long winding ramp until finally we were in the Hall of Consequence. Through a central chamber that was circular with walls of obsidian and scripture that glowed faintly, was Lucien lounging on the table in between two Leviathan horns. To his sides were three women in white robes, one fed him grape, the other apple and the third was playing a flute.

When he heard us, he glanced lazily and gestured the women to help him up. Then they all kissed his arms before leaving, their faces down.

“Well, well…well. What is all this commotion about?”

“Quit your blabbering snake,” Kryxx growled. “Tell us where your master hides.”

“My master?” Lucien asked tilting his head “And who would that be?”

Velma clenched her fists, lifting him clear off the ground. “We know about Arisu. Don’t waste our time!”

He choked, laughed, coughed then raised his hands in surrender. “Fi..ne. Fine. No need for violence, I’ll tell you. No, better….I’ll take you to him.”

Kryxx narrowed his eyes. “If this is a trick....”

“No tricks. I promise. I’m only doing what I was told.”

“What do you mean?” Kryxx asked.

“You’ll see soon enough. ”

He parted his robes, revealing a circular rune etched on his chest. “I assume one of you can perform a Kesh-Tor.”

Kesh-Tor—an old rune technique tracing back before the Summoning Gate. It was forbidden after it was deemed too dangerous. Basically, once marked, a person becomes linked to the weaver’s Magna meaning it could be used to teleport to the weaver’s location. Sounds harmless, but the reason it was forbidden was that it gave the weaver control over a person, their abilities, movement and sometimes even their minds.

“I cannot,” Kryxx admitted lowering his staff.

“I can.”

Thomlin slowly walked toward Lucien and ordered. “Hold still. I need absolute silence to utter the incantations, otherwise something really bad could happen.”

We formed a circle around them, being as quiet as we could be.

“Etha rem….”Thomlin’s voice was low, each syllable sharp and clear.

The rune on Lucien spun front then backward, like he was opening a portal, threads of purple light unravelling from his chest to his arms.

“Kesh retorr…Ael’varra kai.”

The rune blazed and then stopped, growing larger and Lucien stumbled forward clutching his chest. The spell was being rejected.

Thomlin gritted his teeth and repeated, louder.

“Etha rem, kesh retorr, ael’varra kai.”

The rune shattered like glass before collapsing inward and suddenly flames exploded from Lucien’s chest swallowing us in it. It was instant, even I hardly saw it until it happened.

Next thing I knew, we were in front of a Dungeon.

Lucien stumbled forward, laughing softly. “There. My work is done. He’s waiting for you. Now… if one of you would be so kind as to send me back?"