Author: [writers hub]
The silence that fell after Ragnar disappeared into the hidden passage was more terrifying than the fight itself. The remaining Shadow Wolves were still engaged in a brutal skirmish with the last of Mae-Yeon's guards, but Zara was no longer the focus of the melee. She was alone in the center of the chamber, her gaze locked on the pristine figure of Grand-aunt Mae-Yeon.
Mae-Yeon surveyed the wreckage—the sparking wires, the unconscious guards, the defeated Keepers—with a detached disdain, as if observing a messy public transit station. The two elders from the traditional council stood beside her, their faces grim, their eyes wide with a mix of fear and dawning horror. They had signed on for a political coup, not a ritualistic war and a brutal massacre.
"He chose the Ledger," Mae-Yeon said, her voice a soft, venomous purr. She was not disappointed; she was amused. "He chose the legacy over you, my dear. Just as I predicted. The Botermet men are all the same. They will always protect what they believe is theirs."
Zara's heart, still pounding from the adrenaline and the receding effects of the serum, felt a sharp, hollow ache. Was Mae-Yeon right? Had Ragnar truly left her as a pawn, a discarded piece in a larger game? The thought was a bitter poison.
"He chose to stop you," Zara retorted, her voice regaining its strength. "He chose to protect his family from a fanatic. A lunatic who would sacrifice them all for a broken, ancient ideal." She looked from Mae-Yeon to the elders, her gaze challenging. "You thought you were a part of a restoration," she accused, her voice rising. "But she isn't restoring anything. She's a monster who would bleed the family dry to get what she wants. She's already tried to steal your Trust!"
The elders' faces, pale with shock, shifted. One of them, a man with a stern, wizened face named Elder Kim, took a step back from Mae-Yeon, his eyes filled with a new, horrified understanding. "The Keepers… the Trust… this was not our agreement, Mae-Yeon," he said, his voice trembling slightly.
Mae-Yeon's smile vanished, replaced by a cold, murderous glare. "Silence, you fool! You are a part of this now. The blood of the Botermet legacy is on your hands as much as on mine."
The shift in the room's dynamic was palpable. Mae-Yeon had overplayed her hand. The elders had supported her coup, not her fanatical war against the family itself. Their loyalty was to the Botermet name, not to Mae-Yeon's crazed vision.
Taking advantage of the discord, Zara scanned the chaos for an escape. The Shadow Wolves were still fighting, but they were outnumbered. Director Ahn was battling furiously, but he couldn't protect her. She needed to get out, and she needed to help Ragnar. Her mind, now free from the serum's haze, began to work, racing to find an opportunity.
As the fight continued to rage, Zara saw an old, heavy metal server rack, toppled by the earlier fight, partially blocking the entrance to the service passage she had taken. With a burst of strength she didn't know she had, she lunged towards it, pushing and pulling until she created a narrow gap.
"Stop her!" Mae-Yeon shrieked, her control unraveling.
But it was too late. Zara scrambled through the gap, ignoring the stinging pain in her arm. She didn't look back. She knew Mae-Yeon's fury was a living thing, and it was hot on her heels. She plunged back into the dark passage, running on pure adrenaline.
She had escaped, but now she was alone, in the bowels of the convention center, miles from the ancestral grounds, with no car, no allies, and a new, desperate mission. Ragnar was racing against the Keepers, a powerful, organized force who now had a direct map to the most devastating secret in the Botermet world. He had entrusted her with his life, with his empire's survival, and she had fulfilled her part by delaying their plan and uncovering their ultimate goal. But now, Zara knew she had to do more than just escape. She had to find a way to get to the ancestral grounds, to get to Ragnar, and to provide him with the one thing the Keepers couldn't take from her: her knowledge. Her mind, now a steel trap of information from both journals, began to process the deeper secrets, realizing with a cold certainty that there were traps in the ancestral grounds that the Keeper's knowledge of the Ledger would not protect them from. And she was the only one who knew about them, a last, desperate ace to play, if only she could make it to him in time, her every step a frantic, terrifying race against an enemy far more ancient and ruthless than she could have ever imagined.