Day 34 After Eralthar | Loryan – Inner Courtyard of the Stone Stronghold
Valerian walked alone through the stone courtyard at dawn.
Sunlight touched his face, but darkness lingered inside him.
With every passing day, another oath faded, another glance turned into suspicion.
The Oathbound Seven—now six—no longer looked at one another the same way.
Unity was slowly turning into a hunt.
That morning, Valerian summoned the morning assembly.
Civic leaders, scout commanders, the remaining Oathbound…
All gathered before him.
"I don't ask for your loyalty," Valerian said.
"Loyalty cannot be demanded.
What I ask… is truth."
He placed a seal in the center of the stone table.
"This belonged to my father.
It symbolized the throne.
But I chose to burn it."
Silence.
"So I ask you now:
If someone among us…
is the one who steals fire from within—
step forward."
No one moved.
But everyone watched the ones who didn't move fast enough.
After the meeting, Helvar approached Valerian.
"Wars begin outside, but they end within," he warned.
"If you fight inside alone… you fall."
Valerian stayed quiet.
"We swore oaths not just to a cause, but to each other.
If trust breaks… this fortress will fall from the inside."
That night, Valerian didn't look at the stars.
He stared at the flames of the courtyard torches.
Shadows shifted.
Footsteps murmured.
But the loudest sound was within him:
"Who will you sacrifice?"
By morning, he would make a choice.
Someone would be named.
But would it be the right one?
Or would it be the moment trust could never return?
Day 35 After Eralthar | Loryan – The Oath Room / Vornath – Black Hunt Encampment
Morning came with judgment.
Valerian opened the heavy doors of the Oath Room himself.
He stepped inside, locking eyes with Rathen.
No words.
Only a gesture, a ring, an order:
"The trial of loyalty begins."
Rathen was seated at the Oath Table.
The remaining Oathbound and Helvar stood around him.
Valerian faced him.
"One signal post failed.
During your shift.
Two days later, intelligence lines were struck.
Tell me this:
If it wasn't you…
Then who?"
Rathen lifted his head.
"I am no traitor.
But someone here stayed silent long enough…
to put me in this seat."
A hush spread across the table.
Valerian looked at them, one by one.
No one answered.
Because silence had become suspicion.
Outside, the people of Loryan gathered.
No sound came from inside, but rumors spread like fire.
"Valerian will choose a scapegoat…"
"One of his own…"
Helvar whispered to him later:
"Sometimes blaming the right one… only feeds the wrong."
Valerian spoke quietly:
"But if I do nothing, everything crumbles."
That night, Rathen remained under watch.
But someone else had vanished—
Lira, the village's courier.
Her body was found at dawn.
Marked with the Black Hunt's symbol:
A broken eye crossed by twin slashes.
And a note pinned to her chest:
"While you question the wrong,
we take what's right."
Valerian returned to Rathen.
His eyes were heavier now.
"I won't apologize.
Because sorry doesn't bring back the dead."
Rathen bowed his head.
"Don't apologize.
But stop striking at your own.
Because this time…
the war inside will break into the open."
Back in Vornath, Morn Velk made a new mark on his map.
Loryan was surrounded.
Trust inside was shattered.
The outer circle was nearly complete.
And he whispered one final phrase:
"A leader dies…
most often by doubt."