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The Council Hall, situated atop a central Luminary Temple, was a place where the Aether flowed so intensely the air seemed to shimmer. Grandmaster Theron and the twelve senior members of the Order had gathered for their annual security deliberation. They were discussing the single internal threat that had haunted the Order for years.
"Mistress Lyra, confirm the situation in the Isolated Vale once more," Theron requested, his voice taut though the meeting was routine.
"Father Elara remains on the suppression regimen, Grandmaster," Lyra answered, consulting a scroll of light. "The Vessel—Lilith—has reached maturity. Her power has increased. Elara insists the suppression is holding, but the risk is the greatest we have ever faced."
Theron rubbed his temples. "The risk is unacceptable. Her body is a cell that is functioning, but the Seal's integrity is fragile. If the War General, Malus, manages to use this continent's pure Aether to stabilize and complete his Manifestation, he will have the power to sweep away all our defenses. He will turn us into a point of invasion. He is too weak to destroy us now, but our inaction is what he expects to grow stronger."
One of the Council's younger members, Master Kaelus, coughed nervously. "I say the time has come to perform the Stasis Rite. We will freeze the Corruption—and the girl—forever, before Malus has the chance to stabilize."
Theron looked at him with clenched lips. "Yes, Master Kaelus. This should have been our course of action three years ago. But now it is the only way out. Stasis is risky, but allowing Malus's Shadow to walk free is suicide. Put it to a vote."
At that moment, the door burst open.
A Young Sentinel, pale and with his robe damp, staggered before the Council.
"Grandmaster! The Border Alarm! The Vale's Barrier rupture alarm! It's been broken!"
The air in the Council froze. Everyone rose, the debate forgotten.
"Impossible! Has she lost control?" Lyra exclaimed.
Theron closed his eyes for an instant, despair turning to cold fury. "She didn't lose control; she broke the confinement of her own will. That means Malus convinced her to use the power. And if the Barrier was breached, Father Elara and the novices…" He did not need to finish the sentence. The massacre was implicit.
"Quick! Prepare the fastest hunting unit. Move to the Landing Circle at the continent's edge. Bring her back. Alive if possible. Dead if necessary.
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Lilith moved.
The descent down that rocky slope marked the physical boundary between the Vale of Elara and the rest of the Ether Continent. The breathtaking view of the world below was abruptly replaced by urgency.
She ran.
The cold, pure air of the peak whipped against her face. She had to leave the continent's outskirts—where the Ether was weakest—and head toward the Heart of Light. The strategy was risky, and the very thought of it made her tremble.
Lilith remembered the map — not an escape route from the Ether, but a detailed guide of the Mainland, the mortal continent. Elara had marked only one point on it: the distant Arcana Academy in Erna, a chaotic and vast place despised by the Luminaries. The map would be useful only after her escape.
The exit from the Ether Continent could only be made through the Transition Portal — a colossal structure at the center of the Luminar Capital, the city of Erna.
The Portal. The spider's center.
"You plan to surrender, Vessel?" Malus's voice returned, dripping with scorn. "Going to the heart of the Light to beg the darkness for a ride?"
Lilith quickened her pace.
The burden was twofold: first, she had to cross the very heart of her captors' power. Second, Malus was right — the Portal would be guarded by the Seven Sentinels of highest rank. The Sentinels were mystical warriors whose pure Etheric light caused excruciating pain to the Shadow within her.
"So, General," Lilith thought, embracing the cold logic of Malus's plan, "you'll have to tell me how to pass through your old enemies without letting them know who I am."
Malus's silence was broken by something far more dangerous — the soft whisper of cold satisfaction.
"They are arrogant, Lilith. And their arrogance is the easiest thing to exploit. I know the weakness of each of the Seven Sentinels."
The Descent Continues,
She kept moving down the mountain, her mind now completely focused, tracing routes and weaknesses. The escape would no longer be an act of impulse — it would be a maneuver of war, orchestrated by the Shadow she had sworn to master.