Chapter 24: Breakthrough Again
Within the stone-forged heart of the Obsidian Verge guildhall, built like a bastion upon Veldroth's northern spine, Guildmaster Ruvan Thorne sat silently at his desk—one sculpted from blackwood, carved with symbols of power and heritage.
A single candle burned in his chamber, casting long shadows on the walls as the evening hush settled in.
His eyes, storm-grey and weary from decades of battle and bloodshed, flickered as he read the latest report slid quietly before him.
The informant—a sharp-eyed youth barely past his teens—stood in nervous silence.
"He's changed,"
The boy said.
"The rumors were true."
Ruvan didn't reply immediately. His gloved hand hovered over the parchment, trembling slightly—not from fear, but from the weight of old truths rising again.
He had been watching Alaric Aurelian long before this moment. A harmless boy, once. An oddity perhaps. But never a threat. Not until now.
He read the description again:
Golden eyes like molten dawn, a form reshaped by divine will. A pressure—tangible, sacred, and suffocating—felt by those too close.