Chapter 94: The Queen Who Returned
The storm had not ceased for three relentless days.
Lightning danced ceaselessly over the jagged peaks of the Valean mountains, casting an eerie glow through the roiling black clouds. Every crack of thunder rolled like a drumbeat, shaking the earth beneath their feet as if something ancient, something long dormant, had finally stirred from its slumber deep beneath the soil.
And indeed, something had.
In the crater where the first bolt of lightning had struck, the rain fell in sheets, but not a single drop touched the ground. The air above the crater shimmered, repelling the falling water like an invisible shield. Inside that strange bubble, the earth was dry, untouched by the storm.
At the center, Cambria Vale knelt in perfect stillness.
A ring of violet flames circled her like a living barrier, flickering softly but with an intensity that spoke of power beyond mortal reckoning. Her skin glowed faintly with silver veins of energy pulsing beneath the surface, her breath steady but slow, as though she were suspended between life and death.
Her eyes remained closed.
In the palm of her hand rested a crown unlike any ever seen in the realms.
Blacker than the deepest void. Forged from shadows and living flame. It pulsed like a beating heart alive, sentient, and waiting.
Evelyn arrived first, riding hard through the wild storm and the shattered ruins of what was once the great Valean court. Her horse’s hooves slipped in the mud, but she barely noticed. Her eyes were fixed on the glowing figure within the crater as she dismounted hastily, boots sinking into the soaked earth.
Her breath caught when she saw her sister.