Chapter 744: A girl who was left in the battlefield
The air was alive with light.
Scarlet lanterns hung from delicate woven threads, drifting gently in the warm evening breeze as if the sky itself had caught fire. Ribbons of flame-motes trailed through the air, summoned from countless floating pyres above the thoroughfares—each one dancing with the colors of the season: gold, crimson, and violet. The scent of spiced wine, candied fruit, and burning myrrh wove together into something strange and sweet and ancient.
It was the Festival of the First Flame, and the capital of the Arcanis Empire, Arcania, pulsed with celebration.
Jesse walked quietly among the crowd.
She had no attendants to draw notice, no crest openly displayed, and no fanfare announcing her arrival. In a city overflowing with noble carriages and shimmering banners, she was just another traveler. Just another girl walking beneath the glow of floating lanterns.
And yet—she had never felt so free.
Her boots tapped lightly against the cobbled roads, newly cleaned for the festival. The magic that pulsed through the ground beneath her was subtle, unlike the raw brutality of Loria’s battle-forged enchantments. Here, power was woven into the rhythm of daily life. Smooth, almost invisible.
The streets curved around intricate plazas where fire-dancers twirled beneath hovering rings of flame, leaving trails of light behind their limbs. Children chased illusionary beasts that dissolved into sparks when caught. Vendors offered charred honey-almond cakes shaped like phoenixes and handed out fire-lotus petals that fluttered into smoke when touched.
Jesse paused beside a quiet alley, her fingers brushing the edge of a railing as she looked up.
The towering structures of Arcania glowed faintly against the darkening sky—towers of silver-veined stone and blue-glass crystal, their edges lit with enchantments that shifted in color as the sun faded. Above them, at the city’s highest tier, the outline of the Spiral Nexus was just visible—coiled like a celestial monument, too far to touch, too close to ignore.
Her heart stirred at the sight.