Chapter 145: Newas 11
Chapter: The Shattered Circle
The memory trembled as chaos erupted within the temple.
Black flame poured like liquid shadow through the ornate windows, eating away at stone and wood alike. Where once the sacred Mistshroud chant echoed, now there was only the shrieking of wounded disciples and the roar of unnatural fire.
Adrian stood frozen—not physically, but as a presence within the vision. The moment was not his to alter, only witness. And yet he felt the heat of the flame, the despair that crashed through the temple like a tidal wave.
Aurelia didn’t flinch.
Her robes whipped around her as the eruption tore into the rear sanctum. She turned, raising both hands high, and the Bound Star sigil flared above her, pulsing with radiant light.
"Form the circle!" she cried.
Disciples scrambled into position around her, their faces pale, some already burnt, robes torn. Elders barked commands. Qi surged as they activated the ancient formation carved into the floor—a rotating diagram of stars and mist, sealing lines inlaid with gold.
But something was wrong.
A second pulse erupted from the flame—this one colder, deeper. Not fire, but void.
From the sundered wall emerged a figure shrouded in an imperial robe—black with a crimson sash, a golden serpent coiled around his left arm. His face was veiled, but his presence sent tremors through the Qi of the temple.
Aurelia turned toward him, fury and recognition flashing in her eyes. "You."