Maps and Chains

LOCATION: HOLLOW CREED — WAR ROOM

The table was full again.

Maps. Scrolls. Notes written in shaky handwriting. Some still had blood on them. No one mentioned it.

Lucan stood at the head of the room, looking like someone who hadn't slept in two days. Probably because he hadn't but his eyes weren't on the map right now.

They were on Serin.

She sat in her usual spot but quiet, too quiet. One hand was resting on the table like normal, the other tucked beneath her cloak, near her ribs. She looked paler than usual and her braid was messier.

Lucan didn't say anything. But something in his chest pulled a little, not enough to speak. Just enough to notice.

Across the table, Nareth was already watching her. Like he'd been doing it all morning.

"Shadowreach relay came in just before dawn," Jareth muttered, shuffling some parchment. "They've confirmed a transport of glyph crates from Ashvale. Headed toward the southern ridge. Unmarked, but definitely theirs."

"They're moving something big," Zekk added. "Could be a Riteforge. Could be glyphchain stock. Either way, we can't let it reach the Cinderwall."

Lucan nodded.

"Then we stop it."

Everyone nodded too. Except Serin then she looked up, slowly.

"I'll go," she said.

Nareth stiffened.

Lucan frowned.

"You don't have to."

She shook her head. "I know the southern pass better than anyone here. And if it's glyphchains… I've seen what those things can do. I won't just sit here."

Nareth opened his mouth, stopped, then tried again.

"Serin—"

She turned slightly. Her eyes met his, not with anger, just… a look. Like she was asking him not to say it. Not here. Not now.

Nareth swallowed and the room waited.

Lucan looked between them, confused, but didn't press.

"Fine," he said. "You and Jareth take two scouts. Get eyes first. No direct contact unless necessary."

"Understood," Serin replied, standing maybe too fast.

She hid the wince with a step backward. Only Nareth saw.

Jareth stood too. "I'll prep the glyphrunners." then they left together.

Lucan stayed behind, still staring at the door.

Zekk was still muttering numbers, but none of it mattered. The room felt… thinner now.

And for the first time in a long time, Lucan felt something stir in his gut that wasn't anger.

It was worry.

---

It was quiet again.

Until Nareth stepped up beside him.

"Didn't think you noticed her," Nareth said quietly.

Lucan blinked. "Of course I noticed. I just… I didn't know what to say."

Nareth gave a small smile. The kind that felt more like a sigh than anything else.

"You're leading."

Lucan turned to him. "What? No. I'm not—"

"You are," Nareth said, shrugging. "Not loud. Not on purpose. But people are watching. Following. They want to believe in something."

Lucan frowned, tired. "I didn't ask for that."

"Yes," Nareth said. "But fire doesn't ask to be warm either."

Lucan looked down at the table.

The maps, the lines, the choices, everything that could go wrong, everything that already had.

"I'm still figuring it out," he muttered.

Nareth chuckled, soft and old and kind.

"Everyone is."

He started to walk away, but paused in the doorway.

Then, like it was just a random thought, he added:

"Sometimes… the ones who don't want to lead end up being the ones worth following."

And then he left.

Lucan stood there for a long time.

Still not ready.

But maybe… not alone.

---

LOCATION: ASHVALE — THE WHITE SPIRE, LOWER HOLDING CHAMBER

Nyza's wrists hurt again.

Not from pulling or fighting. That part was done. It was the way the cuffs just... stayed. Cold. Tight. Like they were meant to remind her she wasn't a person anymore. Just a message in a cage.

She sat alone in the holding cell then the door opened.

She didn't look up at first. Footsteps. Two pairs. One soft, one sharp.

It was Halix and Aelira.

Halix walked in like she owned the floor. Like fire that didn't care if anyone saw it burn. She stood there in front of Nyza's cell, hands together, not even blinking.

"We had visitors," she said. "Uninvited. And unwise."

Nyza looked up slowly. Her face was pale but her eyes were still alive, even if it was the tired kind of alive.

Halix smiled, that same calm, cruel smile.

"Hollowguards. Nightbounds. Even a Mirageborn," she continued, as if listing flowers in a garden.

She leaned closer to the bars.

"Isn't it fascinating, Nyza? So many came for you. And yet…"

She raised a brow.

"…not one of them reached the gate."

Nyza said nothing then Halix straightened.

"I've decided you're too dangerous to keep here. Not because of your power but because of what you mean."

Aelira was quiet this whole time, still, just watching.

Halix turned to her. "She leaves tonight."

Aelira flinched, just a bit. Not enough to catch if you weren't looking. But Nyza saw it.

"Where?" Aelira asked, softly.

Halix didn't answer right away. Then:

"Far enough that even her mother's glass can't see."

She stepped back and gestured to the guards waiting outside.

"Take her to Bleakrest," she said. "No more visitors. No more chances."

Two men from the Creed of Chains stepped inside. Tall, armored, eyes cold and hollow from following too many orders. One unlocked the cell. The other pulled Nyza to her feet.

She didn't struggle, just stood quietly until Aelira stepped forward.

Her voice was too soft for Halix to hear clearly. But Nyza heard it. Just barely.

"I'm sorry," Aelira whispered. "I didn't choose this."

Nyza looked at her. Really looked at her then the chains pulled.

The guards dragged her out of the cell, out the door, and down the endless marble hallway that never echoed footsteps, only silence.

Nyza didn't cry but she didn't hope either.

Because Bleakrest wasn't a place where hope ever walked and maybe, this time… it wasn't coming back.