[Thrones in Ruin 5] - Burn the Gate, Break the Will

It wasn't a clean death.

Not some cinematic end, no noble last stand. Just a blur of noise, fire, and pain.

He remembered the flash—flames swallowing the alley. The taste of ash when he tried to shout a warning. The way the ground shifted under his boots as the Fold units swarmed through the breach.

He remembered the spear.

A blur of silver and raw muscle driving it forward. No flourish. No mercy. Just the efficient violence of war.

The impact hit like a hammer to the chest. His HUD screamed a fatal error even before he hit the ground.

His body dropped backward in a haze of red. Shouts. Metal. The collapse of walls.

Then darkness, folding around him like wet concrete.

And now,

Light.

Runes.

A scream tearing itself from his lungs as he was yanked back into existence.

The Inner Sanctum was quiet.

Not peaceful—just waiting.