Cost of Holding the Line

POV Split: Demien Falken / Ilya Renn

Demien moved first.

The instant he felt it—the pressure drop, the strange stillness in the air—he broke left, sabers drawn.

Two seconds later, the sky fell.

General Vareth dropped like a meteor of flesh and blackened iron. His hammer struck first.

Not a weapon. A siege event.

Heartsunder hit the ridge at full force—stone exploded outward, a crater ten meters wide carved into the slope in an instant. The sound didn't boom—it cracked, like a continent splitting open.

Three Iron Hollow scouts died mid-step.

One was still calling out a formation code when the hammer flattened him. Bone and steel compressed into a single, wet stain across the bridge.

Demien landed near the edge of the blast zone, rolled once, then surged upright—sabers humming with faint energy, boots skidding through ash.

He didn't speak.