Chapter 85: THE NINTH TOWER FALLS
Lania Silverthread stood at the highest observation platform of the Ninth Tower, her silver hair whipping violently in winds that shouldn’t exist inside the sealed chamber. The once-perfect crystalline windows had developed fractures that spread like hungry veins across their surfaces, distorting the view of the world beyond. Not that there was much world left to see.
Where the sprawling metropolis of Veridian had once stood, only fragments remained—floating islands of reality suspended in a sea of churning dimensional chaos. The sky above had ceased to be blue weeks ago; now it rippled with patterns of impossible colors that hurt the eyes and mind equally.
"Regent Silverthread," a voice called from behind her. She turned to see Commander Esric, one of the few High Guards who had survived the third dimensional breach. Half of his face had been reconstructed with spell-fused metal after crystalline shards had torn through his flesh. What remained of his human eye was bloodshot from sleeplessness. "The scouts report movement at all perimeter points. They’re massing for another assault."
Lania nodded grimly. The forty-two days of Reed’s absence had aged her two decades. Her once-vibrant eyes now held the dull sheen of depleted essence—the cost of channeling stabilization energies through her body to maintain what little reality remained intact around the Ninth Tower.
"How many this time?" she asked, her voice cracking from the strain of commanding for six straight days without rest.
"More than before. Much more." Esric’s mechanical eye whirred as it adjusted focus. "And they’ve changed again. The constructs... they’re incorporating pieces of our own people now. Wearing them like armor."
Lania closed her eyes briefly, allowing herself one moment of despair before steeling herself once more. "The Council?"
"The surviving members are gathered in the Convergence Chamber. Fifth Domain Representative Thallen arrived an hour ago. His entire domain is gone—he’s all that’s left."
Another casualty in a war they were losing against enemies they barely understood. Of the original Nine Domains, only fractured pieces remained, with the Ninth Tower serving as the last bastion of organized resistance against the accelerating collapse of their reality.
"Any word from Reed’s expedition team?" she asked, knowing the answer already.
Esric’s human eye lowered. "Nothing since the mirror vision forty days ago."