Thorns of the Moonlit Throne
Volume 5 — Chapter 11: Into the Fractured Veil
Writer: Sabbir Ahmed
The air above Arvandor rippled like water disturbed by a stone. Lyriana watched Aryn, Shadowmark blazing, step toward the center of the northern ridge where the fractured shards floated in tense formation.
"This is it," Eryon said, shadows coiling like a living barrier. "Once you enter the network, there's no halfway. The Architect will test every thought, every choice."
Aryn's jaw tightened. "Then I'll make sure he tests the wrong ones." He closed his eyes, raising his hand, letting the Shadowmark pulse outward. The shards responded instantly, creating a vortex of floating cities, frozen moments, and shards of impossible light. Reality twisted around him as he stepped forward—and disappeared.
Lyriana's heart clenched. "Come back to me," she whispered, not just as a queen, but as someone who had given everything to stand beside him.
Inside the network, Aryn moved through a landscape that was neither solid nor void. Paths of choice stretched endlessly, twisting and merging like rivers of possibility. Each step he took forced him to confront echoes of lives never lived, decisions never made, failures he could not prevent.
The Architect's presence was everywhere, yet nowhere, observing, probing. "You cannot unravel this web," his voice echoed, metallic and distant. "You are bound by the same laws you cling to."
Aryn gritted his teeth. "No. I am bound by the living," he said, and each word caused the fragments around him to shimmer unpredictably. He reached toward the largest shard—the core of the network—and poured the Shadowmark's energy into it.
For the first time, the network resisted—not as structure, but as awareness. Cities trembled. Frozen citizens blinked, unsure if they were still paused. Light fractured violently.
And then Aryn heard Lyriana's voice—not in thought, but in heart. "We trust you. We choose you."
It was enough.
The fragments pulsed in confusion. The Architect felt it, the first ripple of uncertainty across his perfect alignment.
Outside, Lyriana clutched her crown, sensing the shift. "Hold on, Aryn," she whispered. "We're coming with you, every step."
And within the network, a single choice—made freely, intentionally—began to fracture the Architect's world.