Thorns of the Moonlit Throne
Volume 5 — Chapter 15: Ripples of Retaliation
Writer: Sabbir Ahmed
The victory was real—but fleeting.
Arvandor's people moved, breathed, and chose freely again, yet the night sky trembled with unease. The Architect had retreated, but his absence was not surrender. It was calculation.
Lyriana stood at the Moonspire, crown glowing faintly, eyes scanning the horizon. "He's planning," she said quietly. "And when he returns, it will be worse than before."
Eryon's shadows flared in agreement. "He will not strike with fragments alone this time. He has seen what happens when mortality unites against him. He will strike at the very source of choice itself."
Aryn, still recovering from his journey through the network, stepped beside her, Shadowmark faint but pulsing steadily. "He'll try to break us," he said. "Not just the network… but Arvandor, us, our bond, everything that resists him."
Lyriana's fingers tightened on the crown. "Then we prepare. We can't fight him alone, but together we are more than any fragments or frozen reality. We are life, unpredictability, and choice."
The first tremors came quietly. Villages reported citizens paralyzed mid-motion—laughter cut short, voices frozen mid-word, small acts of stillness spreading like ink across parchment. The Architect's reach had returned, faster, sharper, and more insidious.
Eryon unfurled his shadows across the empire, linking towns and cities in defensive resonance. "It is spreading," he warned. "We can delay it, but not indefinitely. The Architect has learned."
Lyriana nodded. "Then we strike preemptively. Aryn, your Shadowmark can reach him again, but this time, we coordinate with the entire empire. Every heartbeat, every choice… we make him feel it all."
Aryn's eyes met hers, determination reflected in the faint glow of the mark. "We'll make him doubt every calculation," he said.
Above Arvandor, the stars themselves seemed to hold their breath.
The Architect was coming—not just with fragments, but with strategy, fury, and inevitability.
And the war for choice, for life, was about to escalate beyond anything the Moonlit Throne had faced before.