QUICK RECAP-
The team storms Rudenberg's execution platform, halting James' sentence with King Leontius' seal.
Duke Goldsen kneels reluctantly, but Sir Ryan Flask accuses Trimat of interfering before—calling the legendary Tempest Tyrant a "beggar."
Trimat's chilling reply ("Begging is my side business") silences the crowd.
As James is freed, he recognizes Trimat—"You saved me... but betrayed me"—before collapsing, hinting at buried trauma.
The chapter ends with James unconscious in Trimat's arms, leaving burning questions: Why did Trimat make him sleep during arrest?
What secret does the Abyssal Ice truly hold? Power shifts, but mysteries deepen.
-RECAP ENDS
James collapsed.
And the Bastion exhaled its last noise.
His body sagged into Trimat's arms — not like a life lost, but like a memory that gave up resisting. The final whisper, "Why you…", circled the air once before folding into the stone, like a verdict never answered.
Then—
Not even the wind dared speak.
The cast glyph at the center of the execution pedestal flickered, confused by its own delay.
Sir Ronald Klaus didn't move.
Arthur's face tightened.
Ruby's Light glyph retreated into pulse sleep, dimming like reverence.
Adam's Hydro engine fell silent, his lips parting as though his entire core had braced for something far worse.
Trimat didn't shift.
He held James as though holding a child made of prophecy and ruin.
And the Hollow Bastion?
Listened to its own echo.
Duke Aaron Goldsen cleared his throat sharply.
A declaration had been interrupted, law reversed, and history rerouted — but time didn't care for decorum now.
"Prepare departure," Ronald said, voice echoing into the chamber like judgment walking.
No one questioned the call.
Arthur stepped forward immediately to assist.
Adam recalibrated defensive layering for road movement.
Ruby reached for her gear.
Trimat adjusted James's body — not protectively, not tenderly, but as if shielding myth before it unraveled.
The Dentrian knights separated into perimeter formation.
Then Ruby spoke.
"I'm going with you."
Her voice wasn't sharp.
It was decided.
Ronald turned slightly.
Arthur nodded without hesitation.
Adam looked up and opened his mouth—
But the interruption came.
Sharp.
Brutal.
"You're not."
Aaron Goldsen.
His tone landed like a blade against expectation.
Ruby turned slowly, blinking once — not in confusion, but disbelief.
"I need to—"
"You will not leave for Dentrius court until you speak to me."
Goldsen stepped forward.
"You stood against your lineage. You pledged yourself to a threat. You defended Abyssal blood."
Ruby's hands curled into fists.
Adam took two quick steps toward her.
"No, sir—she did this for what's right."
Goldsen ignored him.
"You didn't uphold Dentrian law. You abandoned rank."
Arthur spoke next.
"She made a choice—"
Goldsen snapped, "And now she answers for it."
Ronald didn't interfere.
He wouldn't.
When a Duke requests his daughter remain—
Even wind glyphs stay dormant.
Ruby looked to Arthur, to Adam, then Trimat — who watched but didn't react.
Her lips didn't tremble.
But something behind her pulse did.
Ronald said quietly, "We'll relay updates. You have my word."
Arthur placed a hand briefly over hers.
Adam stared at her — his cast engine pulsing once, out of sync.
He didn't speak.
But his gaze said enough.
Then Goldsen raised his hand to his attendant.
"Eight horses. Royal carriage. Storm shielding. Light rails. Frost-padded wheels. Prepare immediately."
Within minutes, the Bastion's command perimeter turned active.
Armor clanked. Cast fuel pulsed into motion. Knights split formation to assist. Bystanders still hadn't scattered. The silence of James's collapse hadn't fully released them.
Ronald oversaw cargo layering — placing James into the inner vehicle beneath Trimat's watch.
Arthur arranged provisions with trained efficiency.
Adam re-encoded buffer glyphs.
Ruby…
Remained at the Bastion's tier wall.
Watching.
Not just the horses being hitched.
But her people leaving.
She raised her hand once.
Arthur saw it and nodded.
Adam looked away.
But slowly.
As if part of him couldn't accept momentum without her.
Trimat stepped into the carriage.
Ronald mounted first.
Then the convoy pulled forward.
Ruby didn't cry.
She didn't move.
She just stood beneath her father's watch.
And watched them vanish.
The hooves clicked away.
The glyph rails sparkled.
The city's fog swelled over the retreating silhouettes.
And Ruby breathed.
Once.
Just once.
Two hours later.
Goldsen's private chamber.
Heavy stone walls, sealed light glyphs, scattered royal decrees torn and folded across the desk like intentions never fulfilled.
The Duke stood with his hands locked behind his back.
The room had warmth.
But not comfort.
He turned.
Slowly.
His eyes glowed beneath the ceremonial halo crest.
And he asked—
"Why did you do this?"
"Why?"
Ruby's voice echoed off stone and steel. It wasn't defiance. It was a wound reopened.
Goldsen blinked. He hadn't expected a response that fast.
She stepped forward slowly.
"Why you ask?"
Her fists trembled.
"It's because of you."
Goldsen stiffened.
The room shifted with that sentence — not through glyphs or wind. Just tension made from truths that hurt too long.
"For my mother," Ruby whispered.
Goldsen frowned.
"You think this is about—"
She didn't let him finish.
"You always thought I'd forget. That time dulls the blade. But it doesn't. It stains deeper."
"I look at that boy — James Rubenblood — and I see someone chained to revenge he didn't choose."
"I see a destiny carved into his spine without consent."
She stepped closer.
"We're the same."
Goldsen's voice dropped. "You are not."
Ruby's voice rose.
"The difference is…"
Her breath cracked.
"The person James is destined to kill for his mother's vengeance…"
"…is not his own father."
She stared straight into her father's eyes.
"But for me—it is."
Her lips didn't tremble.
Her eyes did.
"You killed her."
Goldsen didn't move.
"I saw it in your glyph reports," Ruby spat.
"In the logs. In the signatures."
"She wasn't sick."
"She wasn't cursed."
"She was silenced."
Goldsen's mouth hardened.
"She was dangerous."
"She was family!" Ruby snapped.
"She was my mother."
"She was a healer. She begged you to stop the cast-cleansing. She tried to bring back balance."
"She died because law mattered more to you."
Ruby's voice dropped to a whisper.
"But law doesn't hug its daughter."
She stepped forward again.
"And I swear—by whatever cast core remains in me—"
"I will kill you for that crime."
Goldsen didn't flinch.
Didn't gasp.
Just stared.
Then spoke.
"You're not sane anymore."
His voice was hollow.
"You come here, speak of death, try to walk the path of a traitor…"
"You defend a boy whose mere breath ruptures echo signatures."
"I don't care how you feel for him."
"He's a walking catastrophe."
"He should have been eliminated."
"I did what duty demanded."
"And for me—nothing ever stands above the law."
Goldsen paced once. Then turned again.
"If only you weren't my daughter…"
He stopped.
Then declared.
"You are hereby sentenced to confinement in the Hollow Bastion."
"One month. No exit glyph. No cast permission."
Arthur would've objected.
But he wasn't there.
Ronald might've raised a pulse scan.
But this wasn't his city.
Adam would've shouted.
But his voice wasn't present.
Ruby stood alone.
And smiled bitterly.
"Why not kill me once…"
Her voice fell into ash.
"Instead of killing me every day?"
Guards entered.
Two.
Cloaked. Glyph-bound.
They didn't hesitate.
Ruby didn't resist.
As they pulled her by the arms, her cloak dragged across the stone floor like a memory being erased.
Goldsen didn't react.
Not until she left the room.
Then he sat.
Alone.
At the center of silence.
His hand dropped to the side of the chair.
His voice didn't shake.
But it wasn't cold anymore.
"How can I kill you…"
He looked at the far wall. Not to find an answer.
Just to speak to history.
"You were the size of my palm when you were born."
"That small thing that couldn't lift a glyph pebble…"
"…yet made me the happiest man alive."
He smiled faintly.
Painfully.
"But your mother ruined it."
"For all three of us."
"I tried to protect order."
"I tried to guard you from her cast insanity."
"She wanted to burn the throne."
"I couldn't let it pass."
He stared out the window.
"I wish, Ruby…"
"Someday, I hope you understand."
Silence followed.
Not regret.
Just memory — still bleeding, but no longer screaming.
Scene Shift — Dentrius Convoy Mid-march toward the Royal Capital
The carriages moved across cold rail paths, the glyph wheels pulsing faint wind echoes as Trimat's frequency aura kept the convoy shielded. Arthur rode beside Trimat, watching James's slumped form, skin pale but breathing steady.
Ronald adjusted proximity pulses from the lead seat.
Adam watched through the rear window. Concern didn't fade.
Hours had passed.
But questions hadn't.
Arthur leaned forward.
"How did James know you?"
Trimat didn't look away.
Ronald glanced back.
Even Adam tilted his head.
"You were silent. He was unconscious. Yet when he saw you—he broke."
Trimat didn't speak immediately.
Then inhaled.
"I met him once," he said softly.
Arthur waited.
Adam leaned in.
Ronald's pulse reader steadied.
Trimat opened his mouth again.
Then paused.
James stirred.
His body shifted under the white cloak.
His fingers twitched.
Arthur reached forward.
Trimat stopped him.
James's chest rose once.
Then again.
Slow.
Heavy.
Then his eyes opened.
Half-lidded.
Pain surfacing.
But it wasn't physical.
It was memory.
He looked around quickly.
Saw Arthur.
Ronald.
Adam.
And then—
Trimat.
He crawled backward, weakly.
His knees failed mid-shift, hands scraping against the cushion.
Trimat didn't move.
James's breath trembled.
"You…"
His voice was sand.
"…why…"
Arthur said gently, "James, wait—"
James ignored him.
"You're here again."
"What do you want?"
His eyes rimmed red.
"Do you want me dead?"
"Was that it?"
His voice cracked.
"You save me from mobs…"
"…and then let me be hunted."
"You made me sleep."
"You erased my fight."
He looked toward the door.
Toward the outside.
"I don't know what you are…"
"But you feel like the last betrayal I deserved."
Then he slumped again.
Breathing harder.
Pulse unstable.
Arthur moved to stabilize him.
Trimat didn't speak.
But didn't blink either.
And somewhere beneath the echoes of the moving carriage—
Something waited to be answered.
**"When Memory Screams,
Blood Stays Quiet"**
End of Chapter-19
-To Be Continued-