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Zone Eleven was not land, it was water.
Liam stood at the cliff's edge, staring into a drowned valley that stretched like a black mirror in every direction. Towers rose from the lake like the bones of a dead city, ribs of stone and glass jutting through a skin of mist. The mist did not drift, it curled, it waited, it seemed to breathe.
There was no wind.
Only stillness… and something watching from below.
Behind him, eight bonded wives spread into a loose guard. No one spoke. No one took their eyes off the water.
Kaelithra crouched near the drop, chin lifted, eyes narrowed. "Nothing about this feels right."
Kaelyn stood beside her, silent, knives already loose in her hands. Her gaze locked on the largest ruin at the lake's heart, a leaning tower wrapped in thick chains that vanished into the depths.
Rena stepped up, shoulder to Liam's shoulder. "We do not have boats."
Liam did not answer.
The system did.
> [System Notice]
Zone Eleven, Siren's Court within Nomad Fortress theater
Mobile signature, Solas's Nomad Fortress en route over water
Estimated arrival, 6 hours
Status, contested
Elyra answered too.
"This is my zone," she said, the words quiet, certain.
Every head turned.
Liam looked at her. "Explain."
"The Siren's Court," she said, stepping forward, silver eyes catching the mist. "I was born here."
Vexa folded her arms, jaw tight. "And you never thought to mention a court."
Elyra kept walking. "I ruled it… before the collapse, before the system dragged all of this into place."
Kaelithra's mouth hooked into a half smile. "So, royalty."
Ice Queen's voice slid over the stone, soft, cold. "She is not lying." Frost hissed at her feet. "Her power hums in the water."
Sarya seated a bolt with slow care. "You brought us here on purpose, did you."
Elyra glanced back at Liam, and for once there was no teasing in her voice. "There is something you need to see… something I never told you."
"What," he asked.
She did not answer.
She stepped off the cliff.
Shouts burst behind him, hands grabbed air, the lake swallowed her whole.
Silence, again.
Kaelith cursed. "She is insane."
Liam took one step, then another, then gone, a clean dive into the white.
Cold hit like knives.
Water closed over his head, heavy and endless, and the lake pulled. He kicked hard, broke the surface with a ragged breath. The world had narrowed to gray, to ripples, to echoes. The cliff was gone. The shore was gone. Only ruins, and a song.
"Liam…"
Elyra's voice, everywhere and nowhere.
He swam.
Splashes behind him, the others hitting the water. Rena surfaced first, breath sharp, eyes burning. Kaelithra came up spitting curses. Ice Queen rose last, palms open, frost flowering into a thin sheet that steadied their climb.
"There," Ice Queen said, pointing to the chained tower.
Liam did not wait.
They crossed the black mirror together, hands on cold stone, bodies heaving up onto a slick platform. The court waited at the center, a broken circle of pillars and drowned mosaics, and in that circle stood Elyra.
Not in a dress.
In silver armor that held the light like moonwater, eyes blazing bright, not soft now, not coaxing… sovereign.
"You wanted to know who I was," she said.
Liam nodded once.
"Then remember me."
The system pulsed.
> [System Alert]
Zone Eleven, Siren's Court, status, Elyra origin confirmed
Bond type, legacy bond, unlock pending
Trial objective, enter the court, uncover Elyra's past
Warning, submerged threat detected, loyalty risk moderate
Rena's fingers tightened around her hilt. "We follow."
"We follow," Liam said, and stepped into the circle.
Elyra lifted her chin. "You command many… but can you command me."
"I already do."
"Then prove it."
Mist thickened, the song bled through the stone, sweet and slow, winding into thought like silk. Sarya's stance wavered, a hitch of breath she could not hide. Kaelyn caught her forearm and squeezed. "Focus."
Ice Queen opened her hand. Cold rolled across the platform, hardening slick stone, sharpening air. "She is testing you, not us."
"Start talking," Liam told Elyra, sword in hand but low.
"This was my court," she said. "I held it by charm and decree. I was not bound by the system, I stood apart from it. When the sky broke, the court drowned, and the system taught me a new word for power." Her gaze did not leave him. "Follow."
Kaelith turned a dagger over and over, metal whispering against her palm. "And now you offer him a throne."
"No," Elyra said. "I offer him me… entire."
Kaelithra's laugh was low. "She is baiting you."
"Then take the bait," Vexa said, rolling her shoulders. "End it."
Water spiraled up around Elyra, a column that crowned and folded like a living veil. "Show them," she said. "Show me. Take the court, or I take it back."
The system struck again.
> [System Alert]
Siren Queen bond trial, initiated
Objective, prove control, subdue legacy power
Warning, charm effect active, resistance required
Reward, Queen's Bond, zone loyalty control, charm immunity, loyalty boost
Liam moved.
The spiral closed, but he cut through it, blade parting water that fought like hands. Elyra stood at the center, steady and beautiful and very, very dangerous. She cast, he caught, his palm clamped over her wrist, a twist, a pull, breath against her ear.
"You have never had a bond like me," she whispered.
"And you have never been mine," he said, and drove her to one knee.
The water stopped moving.
So did the song.
Elyra bowed her head, the silver in her eyes softening, not dimming. "Overlord."
The system answered.
> [System Update]
Bond evolution complete, Elyra, Siren Queen
Buff unlocked, Siren's Command
Buff change, Veil's Insight upgraded to Siren's Command
Effect, control zone loyalty, immune to charm based attacks
Bond loyalty, maximum
Bond count, 8 of 99
Loyalty sync, 91 percent, stable
Zone Eleven, claimed, court restored
Mist tore away from the platform, revealing black water and broken stars.
Kaelithra blew out a breath and smirked. "Tamed."
"For now," Rena said, but there was no heat in it, only a wary respect.
Ice Queen watched the lake settle. "Another zone rises, another battle follows."
Liam offered his hand. Elyra took it, stood, armor humming with a call the court seemed to know. "You lead," she whispered. "I follow."
Sarya tipped her chin toward the far horizon. "So who is next."
Kaelyn's knives spun once, then vanished. "We keep moving."
The system pulsed a final time.
> [System Alert]
Zone Twelve detected, Sky Fortress, Solas
Status, mobile stronghold lifted from Nomad Fortress
Engagement window, 6 hours
Bond trial, pending
Liam looked into the fog, into the future that refused to stop coming. "Eight down," he said quietly, "ninety one to go."
They left the court behind, the lake closing over old secrets, and the war kept breathing.