The air beneath Calven's Rest was thick with age—dust, aether decay, and the scent of forgotten blood. Stone corridors hummed with residual power, etched with ancient glyphs buried beneath centuries of urban sprawl. This was no sewer. This was a tomb.
Maeryn walked at the head of the Voidbinder column, her violet eyes casting soft light through the darkness. Her presence twisted the aether, and her companions gave her space—not out of respect, but instinctual fear. She no longer felt mortal.
Since fusing with the Titan Essence of N'zaroth, her form had changed. Her limbs remained human, but her shadow did not obey light. It moved with a second will, stretching and twitching along the walls like something caged and hungry. Her voice had grown deeper, layered with resonance—a voice and something beneath it.
Behind her marched Inquisitor Thaal, a scarred relic of old wars, and two dozen operatives cloaked in sound-sinking weave. They were here for sabotage, yes—but also something more. Something only Maeryn knew.
They entered a chamber sealed by three rings of obsidian.
Thaal halted. "This isn't on the map."
Maeryn stepped forward, placing her palm on the central sigil.
"It predates the map," she said. "This is what lies beneath the city's core—a Titan vault. A prison of forgotten godflesh."
A pulse of energy ran down her arm. The sigils flared, recognizing something ancient in her blood. The door groaned open, dust spilling like sand across her boots.
Inside, nothing moved. Yet the aether screamed.
Bones—massive, coiled and burned black—filled the vault. Titan bones, runed and bound by chains that shimmered faintly in the aether. A spear jutted from the skull, humming with trapped divine energy.
Thaal stepped back, whispering, "By the Three…"
Maeryn stepped into the vault and let her hand rest on the bone.
"It was here they killed him. The Titan of Ash. The last to fall in the Siege of the First Flame."
"And now?" Thaal asked.
She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "Now I borrow his voice."
Aboveground — Council Keep
Alaric gripped the hilt of his blade as the tremor rippled again. Dust fell from the rafters. Something ancient had shifted.
Kael was already preparing to descend into the lower tiers. The storm around him pulsed brighter than ever. "They're not just attacking," he said. "They're awakening something."
Lysera touched the side of her temple. "If Maeryn's reached the Titan Vault…"
"We stop her," Alaric said simply.
Kael frowned. "You're still injured."
Alaric smirked. "I'm Mythforged. I'll heal when the world's quiet."
Lysera rolled her eyes. "Boys and their dramatics."
Back Below — Titan Vault
Maeryn stepped forward, closer to the central spear. The chains rattled with her movement, and something in the chamber exhaled—a long-dead whisper shuddering through the aether.
The void coiled tighter around her. In that moment, she reached deeper into her core than ever before.
Her Titan Essence pulsed.
Her Crucible screamed.
And something answered.
A fragment of the Titan stirred.
Not alive—but not dead. A thought. A memory. A voice made of ruin.
"Daughter of Unbeing... shall we dream again?"
Maeryn closed her eyes. "No. We awaken."
Back in the City
In the Council Keep, a wave of pressure slammed into the upper districts—felt in bones, not ears. Children wept. Birds fell from the sky. The city core itself flickered—a momentary blackout across all aetherlines.
Kael turned toward Alaric. "That's not sabotage. That's a resurrection."
Alaric's gaze hardened. "Then we kill a god."
End of Chapter 35