The Frost Citadel's undercroft was a tomb of whispers. Shadows clung to the walls like living things, their edges frayed by the dying pulse of the shattered crystal.
Thoren slumped against his broken chains, his breath ragged, his eyes flickering between lucidity and madness. Leonis knelt beside him, his shadow-wreathed left arm pressing against the scientist's chest, trying to stem the bleeding.
*"Why?"* Thoren's voice was a broken thing. *"Why come back?"*
Leonis didnt answer.
The truth was uglyhe hadnt come for Thoren. He'd come for answers. But the mans hollow stare made the words clot in his throat.
A hand gripped his shoulder. Celia. Her mask was gone now, revealing the full extent of the scarajagged, pulsing rune, the Syndicate's mark.
Her silver hair was matted with blood, her moonlight blade dimmed but ,"* unbroken. *"We need to move,"* she said. *
"The Sovereign will know were
Fenrir snarled from the doorway, his golden eyes reflecting the distant torchlight.
*"Too late."*
The ground trembled. From the depths of the citadel, a sound like a thousand screaming voices echoed through the stone. The walls *breathed*, their surfaces warping as if the fortress itself were alive.
Leonis hauled Thoren up, ignoring the mans gasp of pain.
*"Can you walk?"*Thorens lips peeled back in a grimace.
*"Not fast enough."*
*"Then we fight,"* Fenrir growled, his claws unsheathing with a metallic*shink*.
Celia's blade flickered to life, its glow cutting through the encroaching dark.*"There's another way. The Moonlit Passit leads to the ruins beneath the citadel. If we can reach it"
*"If,"* Leonis echoed.
A notification seared across his vision:
*Escape the Frost Citadel and rally the scattered prisoners. Reward: "Lunar Echoes"abilitytemporary synchronization with Celia's moonlight magic.*
Leonis exhaled. The system was *mocking* him.
Then the first enforcer burst through the door.
---
The corridors of the Frost Citadel were a blur of steel and shadow. Leonis fought with a desperation that bordered on madness, his dual bloodlines flaring with every strike. Shadows lashed from his left arm, coiling around enforcers' throats, while his right arm burned with stolen moonlight, searing through armor like parchment.
But the enforcers werent the real threat.
The walls *moved*.
Stone melted into grasping hands, the very architecture of the citadel twisting to block their path. Fenrir tore through them with feral fury, his claws shredding the animated masonry, but for every one he destroyed, two more took its place.
*"This isnt just a fortress,"* Thoren gasped as they ran. *"It's an extension of the Sovereign's will!"*
Leonis didnt need the confirmation. He could *feel* itthe oppressive weight of the Sovereign's gaze, the way the air itself seemed to resist his every step. This wasnt a battle against soldiers. It was a battle against the world.
Ahead, Celia skidded to a halt. The corridor ended in a sheer drop, a yawning chasm where the floor should have been. On the other side, the Moonlit Pass beckoneda-narrow bridge of glowing silver stone, its surface etched with ancient runes.
*"Jump!"* Celia shouted.
Leonis didnt hesitate. He grabbed Thoren and *leaped*, his muscles screaming as the chasm yawned beneath them. For a heart-stopping moment, he was weightless-
Then his boots slammed onto the bridge. Fenrir landed beside him with a snarl, but Celia一
Celia wasnt with them.
Leonis turned just in time to see her stagger, an enforcer's blade protruding from her side. Blood bloomed across her leathers, dark and viscous. The enforcer wrenched the blade free, raising it for the killing strike-
Leonis *moved*.
His body acted before his mind could catch up. Shadows erupted from his left arm, bridging the gap like a living rope, while his right arm *pulled*, channeling every ounce of stolen moonlight into a single, desperate command:
*"Come to me!"*
Celia's form blurred as the magic seized her, yanking her across the chasm on her blade never wavered. and into his arms. She gasped, her blood slick against his skin, but her grip.
*"Idiot,"* she rasped. *"You couldve fallen."*
Leonis's laugh was raw. *"Not today.""
Behind them, the enforcers massed at the edge of the chasmbut the moment their boots touched the Moonlit Pass, the runes flared. Silver fire engulfed them, reducing them to ash in seconds.
Silence.
Then the bridge *shuddered*, its glow intensifying. The runes rearranged themselves, forming words in a language Leonis didnt knowbut Celia did.
*"Its a trial,"* she whispered. *"The bridge wont let us pass unless we prove ourselves worthy."*
Fenrir's claws flexed. *"Worthy of what?"*
*"The rebellion,"* Thoren said suddenly. His eyes were clearer now, fixed on the runes. *'The Moonlit Pass was forged by the first dissentersthose who resisted the Sovereign's rule. It doesnt just test strength. It tests resolve."*
Leonis met Celia's gaze. Her blood was still seeping between his fingers, but her expression was steel.
*"Then we prove it,"* he said.
The bridge responded.
The world dissolved into light.
---
Leonis stood in a memory that wasnt his own.
A laboratory, sterile and cold. A younger Thoren strapped to a table, his wrists bound with shadowglass manacles. And standing over him-
Celia.
No, not Celia. A version of her, clad in Syndicate black, her face smooth and unmarked.
*"Subject Seven's consciousness is fracturing,"* she said, her voice clinical. *"Proceed with the extraction."*
Leonis tried to move, to scream, but he was a ghost here. He could only watch as the false Celia pressed a needle to Thorens temple, as the scientist's screams filled the room-
Then the scene shifted.
A cell. The real Celia, curled in the corner, her face half-ruined by the Syndicate's brand. She was whispering something, over and over, like a prayer:
*"I remember you. I remember you. I remember"a
The memory shattered.
Leonis staggered back into the present, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Celia was staring at him, her eyes wide with horror.
*"You saw,"* she whispered.
It wasnt a question.
Leonis didnt answer. He didnt need to. The truth was there, in the tremble of her hands, in the way her scar pulsed like a second heartbeat. The Celia hed fought beside, the one whod saved his lifeshe was just one fragment of a shattered whole. A *copy*.
And the original was still out there.
The bridge's glow intensified, its runes shifting once more. A new message:
***"The rebellion begins with truth."***
Fenrir's growl was low, dangerous. *"What the hell does that mean?".
Thoren answered.
*"It means were not leaving until we face it."*
His gaze locked onto Celia. *"All of us."*
Celias blade hit the ground with a clatter. Her hands rose to her scar, her fingers digging into the flesh as if she could tear it out.
*"Im not her,"* she choked out. *"I'm not"s Leonis grabbed her wrists, forcing her to look at him. *"I dont care what
you were,"* he snarled. *"I care what you *are*."*
For a heartbeat, she wavered. Then her hands curled into fists, and the moonlight blade flared back to life.
*"Then let's finish this."*
The bridge solidified beneath them, its path leading deeper into the ruinst- oward the heart of the Sovereign's weakness.
And, perhaps, toward the truth of Celia's shattered soul.
---
The Moonlit Pass ended in a chamber older than the citadel itself. Its walls were carved with murals depicting a war between gods and mortals, their faces blurred by time. At its center stood an altar, and upon it-
A shard of pure moonlight.
The Lunar.