Chapter 28 - Chapter 28: Ashes and Allegiances

Lysara's PerspectiveThe night air bites when the first wave hits the city walls. The fleet's siege engines thunder like drums, each impact sending shards of stone raining down. I stand within the warded chamber, the crystalline shard glimmering at the heart of the circle, blue light weaving through the air as if it were a living thing.A cry goes up from the outer line—a shield buckles, a defender falls, and then another takes their place. The warded ring holds, barely, but the price flashes behind my eyelids: a memory I cannot quite name, a echo of laughter I once shared with someone dear. The memory is there, close enough to touch, and I force it away. Not yet. Not while the city needs me.I tilt the shard, pushing more power into the rune lattice. The wards pulse brighter, a lattice of frost-blue heat that swallows the enemy's flame and spits it back with a sting. The air thickens with the sound of magic colliding with magic, metal meeting magic, hope meeting despair. The first breach stalls, then collapses, smeared by our counterspell.The commander's voice rings through the comms, hoarse with strain. "Hold the outer ring at all costs!" I answer with a breath of resolve, "We hold. We endure. We bend fate, not break it."Rhea's PerspectiveThe encampment beneath the city walls becomes a living machine of purpose. Soldiers move like gears in a great wheel, civilians shepherded to safety with practiced calm. I ride along the perimeter, shouting orders that cut through the clamor, a steady pulse guiding the chaos toward order.The coastal gate becomes a focal point tonight—a critical choke point the council aims to use to flood the city