Lira Valenti's breath caught, the storm tearing through Sarn's ruins, sand and lightning swallowing the air. Sixth-nation runes pulsed on shattered stones, their silver glow faint under a sky fractured by violet cracks. Five beasts roared, their scales gleaming like molten iron, claws ripping through the rubble. The spectral army—sixth-nation warriors with glowing blades—pressed closer, their chant deafening: "Blood seals the Accord."
Kael's ship loomed, its crystal blazing with Lira's stolen runes, his possessed figure a silhouette in the chaos. Veyra stood rigid, her eyes glistening with regret, her betrayal—summoning the fifth beast—binding her to the Silent Council. "I thought I could save him," she whispered, her brother's fate a chain. Mira, barely alive, clung to a broken pillar, her crimson cloak drenched in blood, her dark energy flickering as she faced the fifth beast. "Lira, keep fighting," she rasped, her eyes heavy with regret—a silent "I should've protected you" before her dagger struck.
Elias gripped Lira's wrist, his sea-glass eyes blazing, blood dripping from his wound. "We're not done," he said, his Veyran pendant glowing, a lifeline in the storm.
Lira's chest burned, her runes dim, the parchment in her pocket cold as death. Her Echowriting, sixth-nation rune-magic, flickered under the specter's grip, its voice—her voice—snarling: "You're mine." Her body shook, possession clawing her mind, her muteness a cage.
Koren, the traitor, stood by a rune-etched sphere, his staff dim, his blade stained from the orb's destruction. "Kael was the Accord's blade," he said, his treachery raw. "I hid the truth to save the sixth nation." Lira's heart sank—Koren and Kael, architects of her curse?
Her runes flared, resolve burning. I will break the Accord, she thought, her vow a fire. Even if it kills me. She scratched a star-circle into the stone, her nails bloody, silver light surging. The spectral army faltered, blades dimming, and the specter screamed, its hold weakening.
Lira stood, the storm raging, ruins trembling. Elias pulled her close, his breath warm. "You're unstoppable," he whispered, his lips brushing hers—a kiss, fierce and electric, her heart pounding.
But Koren's taunt echoed: "He's tied to Kael." Lira froze, Elias's touch warm but his eyes shadowed. Could I trust him? Kael's shadow lingered in his gaze, a secret he wouldn't speak. Her doubt gnawed, a heartbeat of fear in the storm.
Mira's dagger sank into the fifth beast, her energy fading, blood pooling. "For you, sister," she whispered, her face pale, regret flickering—a silent "I should've protected you" as she collapsed. Lira's heart shattered—Mira, her betrayer, now her shield?
The fourth beast charged, and Lira scratched a jagged star into the air, light exploding, shoving it back. Pain seared her, the specter clawing deeper, her breath ragged. "Your voice is ours," it hissed, her runes faltering.
Koren kicked a third artifact—a rune-carved shard—from the rubble, its glow matching her parchment. "The lost city holds the Accord's heart," he said, his blade raised. Lira touched it, and a vision struck—crimson sands, a sixth-nation city burning, a Voicekeeper chained, Kael's blade at her throat. "Your blood rewrites the Accord," her echo whispered, light surging.
Lira woke, gasping, her vow solid: I'll rewrite it.
Veyra's hands trembled, her regret raw. "I betrayed you for him," she said, her brother's fate her chain. Lira's runes flared, shattering a dozen spectral warriors.
The fifth beast roared, Kael's crystal pulsing. "Your blood awakens the curse," his voice boomed. Koren's blade struck the shard, summoning a sixth-nation deity's shadow—its eyes glowing, voice shaking the ruins: "The Accord binds all." A rune-message glowed brighter: "Toren comes, Voicekeeper." Lira's heart raced—her ally, near?
The storm tightened, the deity's shadow towering, a sixth beast rising from Kael's crystal, its claws etched with her runes. Elias pulled her close, his kiss desperate, but his eyes flickered—guilt, tied to Kael. He helped him bind me, the beast whispered.
The ruins quaked, a catastrophic curse waking, Lira's blood the key.