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Chapter 10 - Chapter 10 – Shadows After the Flame

The wind carried the stench of burnt flesh and shattered earth.

Lian stood amid the ruin, chest heaving, the Tyrant's Heart still pounding beneath his ribs like a second heartbeat.

Every pulse burned.

Every beat whispered.

More.

He closed his eyes, gripping his broken blade tighter. He could still feel the Forbidden Core's fragment buried inside him, writhing like it wanted out—or worse, wanted to become him.

The Core King was the first to speak.

"You barely survived," he said quietly, voice cold as the ash falling around them. His silver armor was cracked, his sword chipped, but his eyes were unyielding. "You wield power you cannot control. That makes you dangerous."

Lian turned slowly toward him. "And yet I killed it. Not you."

The King's jaw tightened.

"That thing was a fragment of the Tyrant," he said. "One of nine. Each time you claim one, you inherit more than power. You inherit him."

Lian didn't reply.

Because deep down, he already knew.

The whispers in his blood weren't his own.

When he'd struck that killing blow, for a heartbeat, he hadn't felt like himself at all.

It had felt… hungry.

Like the Heart was celebrating the kill in his place.

Before either man could say more, a horn sounded in the distance.

Both turned toward the noise as figures emerged from the treeline—dozens of riders clad in patchwork armor, banners of red and black whipping behind them.

Core Hunters.

Each bore weapons studded with glowing fragments of fallen stars. Some carried spears that shimmered with blue fire. Others bore crossbows crackling with lightning bolts drawn from Core energy.

At their head rode a woman with silver hair tied high, her armor scorched but gleaming.

She reined in her mount sharply when she saw the clearing's devastation. Her eyes flicked from the corpse ash to the two men standing at its center.

"Who killed it?" she demanded. Her voice was sharp, commanding—someone used to being obeyed.

Lian met her gaze. "I did."

She studied him for a long moment, eyes narrowing. "And you are?"

"No one," he said flatly.

The woman dismounted, boots crunching over blackened earth.

"No one doesn't kill a Tyrant Fragment," she said coldly. "No one doesn't leave a crater the size of a house. No one doesn't make my scouts report a star-core resonance off the charts."

She stopped a few paces away, close enough Lian saw the faint glow of Core fragments embedded along her vambraces.

"You're not from any of the kingdoms," she said. It wasn't a question.

Lian said nothing.

The Core King stepped forward instead. "Leave him. The boy barely survived. And that thing would have killed your entire squad."

The woman's eyes shifted to him, recognition flashing briefly. "Core King," she said stiffly. "Didn't think you still breathed."

"Unfortunately for you," he said dryly.

Tension crackled in the air like stormlight.

The woman's gaze flicked back to Lian. "The Tyrant's Heart," she said slowly.

Lian froze.

"Don't bother denying it," she continued. "The glow in your chest. The way the Core shards moved. I've seen it once before."

Her expression hardened. "The man who bore it made kings kneel. Made worlds burn."

Lian felt the whispers in his chest grow louder, almost pleased at her words.

He forced them down.

"I'm not him," Lian said quietly.

The woman studied him for a long moment before stepping back. "For your sake, you'd better pray that's true."

The Core Hunters spread through the clearing, gathering shards of lesser cores left behind by the battle.

Lian watched them work, unease gnawing at him.

The fragments pulsed faintly in their hands, faint echoes of the stars they had fallen from.

Once, in his old life, stars had been symbols of hope.

Now they were currency. Weapons.

The woman gave orders briskly, organizing her hunters with sharp gestures. Then she turned back toward Lian and the Core King.

"More fragments will wake," she said. "The Beast Tide draws them out. Every shard of power scattered across this cursed land is stirring."

She paused, eyes narrowing slightly. "And the Nine Forbidden Cores… they're calling to each other."

The Core King's expression darkened.

Lian felt his chest tighten.

Calling to each other.

That meant… more things like the one he killed. More fragments. More battles.

And each time he claimed one, the Tyrant's Heart would grow stronger.

Hungrier.

The woman mounted her horse again, her silver hair catching the faint starlight.

"Stay alive, stranger," she said finally. "Whether you want it or not, you're part of this war now. And when the other kingdoms learn the Heart walks again…"

She left the sentence unfinished.

Then the Core Hunters were gone, riding back into the blackened forest like ghosts.

Silence returned to the clearing.

Only Lian and the Core King remained.

For a long time, neither spoke.

Then the Core King said quietly, "The War of Cores has begun."

Lian looked down at his hands, still faintly glowing with stolen power.

And for the first time, he wondered if he would survive himself longer than he survived the enemy.

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