Chapter 76: Ashes Everywhere
Grim stared at the contents scattered across the stone floor. What should have been scrolls were nothing but ash.
The scrolls had been burned. Not a single scroll left he could study. Everything was ruined.
Grim knelt, fingers trembling as he sifted through the remains. The ash left dark smudges on his skin, the remnants of his family’s legacy literally crumbling at his touch.
"Malaxis did this. He had a key to the vault, and used my father’s body to open the chest. But, I don’t know why the swords are still here."
He rose to his feet, ash falling from his fingertips like black snow.
"You said you could fix this," Grim said, turning toward the swords. "You’re telling me you can show me how to learn his techniques even though he’s dead and everything he recorded is ash?"
[Yes,] the voice replied simply. [But you must throw the tournament.]
Grim didn’t respond, his mind racing through the implications. Throwing the tournament meant abandoning his most viable path to power and influence in the empire.
But if the voice was telling the truth...
He walked over to Sunfire and Luna, their gentle radiance seeming to intensify as he approached. These, at least, had been untouched. Perhaps whoever had destroyed the scrolls hadn’t been able to touch the swords.
Grim reached for Sunfire first, his fingers hesitating just above the hilt. If the sword rejected him...