Chapter 17: Reality check
The Graven now shifted.
One moment it stood in the centre of the concealment-wrapped arena — that crimson veil still rippling behind it like a living wound — the next, its form unravelled. Antlers like bones curving through mist. A chest like hollow bark. Its joints cracked sideways, too slow, too silent. Like something pretending to be flesh.
Veyna dropped low to stabilise, one knee dragging sparks off the ground. Her Voltarm flickered with a nervous charge.
Soahc grimaced beside her, already murmuring counter-rhythms under his breath, reverse-chanting through gritted teeth. Trying to smother the words before they sank too deep.
Sol hadn't moved.
His back was still turned; Veyna readied herself, setting off countless bolts enchanted in an attempt to lock the thing in place .
For a heartbeat, the arena descended into a blur of motion and distortion. A haunting waltz of death. As Sols summoned, the Graven moved around each other at impossible angles. Slashing. Melting. Re-forming.
Kael and Sol took the chance.
They advanced together, coordinated.
Kael dashed upwards, striking it fist imbued with flames. Sol ducked beneath a swipe and then sent a whip of raw Crownlight to trip the creature's legs. Veyna surged in from the side, her Voltarm roaring to life with arcs of compressed current.
They landed hits.
Real ones.
And for a moment — just a moment — it looked like they had figured it out.
But then Sol gasped.
His Draconic summon faltered mid-step, its limbs warping. It hesitated. Turned toward its summoner.
And Kael understood.
Sol couldn't hold both.
Not for long.
The summon Graven dissolved — not in blood, but in a slow, crimson drift. Like a dream dying at sunrise. No violence. Just... absence.
And suddenly, the first creature stood alone again.
Unafraid.
Untouched.
It snapped toward them.
Kael saw its arm go wide — not to strike but to sweep. Veyna barely rolled in time. Soach shouted something sharp and guttural, and a pulse of inverted light swallowed the worst of it.
But they were losing ground.
No. Worse.
They were exposed.
Every tactic they tried — every plan whispered in the flickers between charges — the Graven unravelled them faster than they could rebuild.
Kael lunged again.
Too slow.
He felt the air bend before the impact came. Not a strike — a glance. But his side exploded in pain, ribs screaming.
He hit the wall hard. Crown light dimmed.
His vision blurred as he saw faintly the graven charged towards their only defence against its whispers. Soahc
Soahc tried his best to dash out of the way to reverse its momentum, but the graven had learnt to stop right before Soahc disappeared again, almost piercing Soahc from behind with its antlers.
And then — he heard the alarm.
A low thrum from the ground up. Quiet, almost embarrassed. Like the arena itself hated calling it.
Emergency ejection.
A flash of sigils. The hum of ward circuits snapping to life.
One by one, they were pulled out.
Kael landed outside on his hands and knees, coughing up blood. The cold stone of the outer ring bit at his skin.
Sol came next — his curls soaked in sweat, arms twitching with latent energy. His face was calm. Too calm.
Soahc staggered out sideways, dragging one leg, still muttering to himself.
Veyna emerged last — her Voltarm smoking at the core. Her eyes were wide, but she said nothing.
They all sat like that.
Breathing heavily. Avoiding eye contact. Shoulders trembling more from realisation than pain.
None of them spoke. What was there to say?
It wasnt a real Graven.
Not entirely. A projection. A suppressed echo of one. Pulled from memory and still bound by Sol's will — with safety layers carved into the runes and an auto-eject system underneath their feet.
And still…
It had nearly broken them.
Kael's heart thudded once. Loud in his ears.
He looked down at his hands.
He was shaking.
So were the others — in different ways.
Soahc had gone quiet, eyes sunken. Veyna stared at the veil's fading trail. Sol hadn't moved.
This was just a brood.
Not even an an apex one . Not even one in the wild.
And yet they hadn't stood a chance.
Not alone.
Not together.
Not like this.
Kael didn't say a word.
But in his mind, the thought looped again and again.
We're not ready.