Chapter 54: Vengeance In Memory
The storm over the scorched horizon had begun to settle, its thunderous echoes dissolving into the brooding winds that whispered through the ruined valleys. Far from the chaos of Ghost Village, in the shrouded cliffs of Elvareth Hollow deep in the Swarm Province, a lone figure stood atop a jagged stone, her cloak tattered, face stained with blood and shadow.
Coris Bendly.
The name once revered by the Ghost Force. A name once etched in loyalty and fire. Now, it lingered like ash, whispered by the winds that carried betrayal at heart.
Coris stood still, her breathing ragged, her lips trembling as she gazed at the distant peaks veiled in smoke and mist. Her body still pulsed with the reverberating power of the Orb of Reverence she had absorbed only hours earlier—the stolen relic of ancient gods that had nearly torn her apart from within.
But the pain of the orb’s merging was nothing compared to the storm that brewed inside her heart.
She fell to her knees.
For the first time in weeks, she allowed herself to feel.
"I should never have met him," she whispered. Her voice cracked like dry stone.
Shingan. The name sent chills through her spine. The ghost of a man she once thought she loved. No, more than loved. Worshipped.
A Terex. Handsome, noble-looking, silver-haired with violet eyes that seemed to see through every soul. His voice had been velvet over razors, his smile both tender and toxic. She had been foolish then. Young. Hungry for purpose and validation.
She stared into the dirt, eyes glazing over as her mind wandered back—back to when they first met.