NOVEL NEXT Chapter 14 – Cracked Thrones
The forest grew darker and denser as Kael led the scouting team beyond Emberleaf's outermost ridge. He walked with measured steps, each boot pressing softly into mossy ground that had begun to look more warped than wild. Zelganna stalked silently behind him, her moss-draped cloak blending with the terrain. Rimuru hovered beside Kael's head, glowing a steady pale blue, spinning slowly like a compass needle drawn toward something just out of reach.
The trees curved unnaturally inward, their branches reaching for each other instead of the sky. Leaves rustled without wind, whispering secrets in a tongue Kael couldn't name. No birds. No insects. Just silence and breath.
"Mana Pulse Echo," Kael whispered.
Rimuru flared once and pulsed.
The surrounding air rippled faintly, revealing glimmers of energy distortion—roots that hummed softly beneath the dirt, faint motes of mana clinging to leaves like frost.
Great Sage:
"Leyline saturation exceeds safe exposure limits. Residual elemental pressure: unstable. Mana density elevated 38% above standard."
Kael frowned. "This place feels… bruised."
Zelganna murmured, "This land was scarred. And the scar never closed."
A few hundred paces further, they found it.
Chunks of mana glass—clear, shimmering shards with jagged edges—lay scattered across a small hollow. The air buzzed faintly here, like heat shimmer with no sun.
Kael knelt and brushed one clean. Inside the shard, faint lines of a once-etched rune glowed weakly. The symbol had been partially erased, like someone tried to hide it.
Zelganna crouched beside him. "I've only seen this once. After the Slaughter of Tor Ridge. A mage's containment core imploded. Left glass like this buried in the soil for decades."
Rimuru vibrated softly. Kael touched the shard and flinched—it was warm to the touch, like holding a breath.
Great Sage:
"Residual artifact. Purpose: containment. Status: shattered. Result: destabilized ambient flow."
Kael pocketed it. "So someone built something here… and someone else tore it down."
They stepped into a clearing where the forest ended unnaturally. No underbrush, no animal trails. Just cracked dirt, shallow pits, and veins of pulsing magic threading across the open space like exposed nerves.
The leyline node was visible.
Raw arcs of blue and violet mana flickered between crystalline outgrowths rising from the earth like jagged ribs. Some pulsed with life; others flickered weakly, dying embers of something ancient.
Rimuru hissed low and dipped close, then backed away quickly.
Kael extended his hand and let a strand of his own mana flow out, slow and cautious.
The leyline responded. At first, warmth. Connection. Recognition.
Then a violent pulse of rejection.
Mana snapped like a whip and slammed into Kael's arm, driving him to his knees.
Rimuru flared instantly, placing herself between him and the arc. She absorbed a second wave, her slime form distorting briefly from the force.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Zelganna rushed forward and pulled Kael upright.
"Easy," she said through gritted teeth. "You don't command this place. You disturb it."
Kael clenched his jaw as the pain ebbed.
Great Sage:
"Response indicates trauma memory embedded in the node's mana pattern. Imprint is resisting synchronization. Recoiling from perceived threat."
Kael shook his hand and exhaled. "It remembers pain… and it doesn't want help."
Around the clearing's edges, seven ancient stones jutted from the earth in a distorted ring. Most were eroded, symbols barely visible beneath layers of dirt and frost. Some were cracked straight through, others tilted at odd angles like broken teeth.
Kael approached one.
The Wrath sigil.
As his fingers touched it, the world blurred.
Flames.
A man stood on a blackened hill. Red light poured from his eyes. His arms were outstretched, and fire bled from his hands like liquid judgment.
Beneath him, a city burned. Screams echoed. Arrows melted mid-air. Structures crumbled.
Kael watched as the man turned toward him—no, through him—and spoke:
Vision:
"Burn it down. Let wrath be the truth."
Then darkness.
Kael stumbled back, breathing hard.
Great Sage:
"Vision imprint confirmed. Past Scourge of Wrath. Event timestamp: unknown. Emotional resonance: vengeance, despair, joy."
Zelganna whispered, "How many kings have already bled here before you?"
Kael looked at the stone again. "Enough to haunt the dirt."
A wind curled through the clearing.
It wasn't natural. It carried no scent. No sound. Just presence.
Rimuru dimmed instantly. Her form pulled tighter, defensive.
Kael's ears rang.
Then—
Whisper:
"Scourge…"
A whisper. So faint it might have been memory.
Kael turned sharply. Nothing moved. Nothing visible.
But he felt it. The weight of unseen eyes. The chill of something ancient waking.
Great Sage:
"Mana signature detected. Observer class. Location: obscured. Hostility: passive, latent."
Zelganna raised her spear. "We're being watched. Tested."
Kael scanned the surrounding trees as they began to circle back. That's when he saw it.
A curved symbol etched into a frozen trunk, half-covered in ice and moss.
He brushed the frost aside.
Sloth.
A familiar curve—spiral-like, with jagged strokes.
"Sloth?" he murmured.
Great Sage:
Kael pressed a hand to the mark.
It was cold. Not just temperature—but wrong. As if touching it disconnected him for a moment from time.
Zelganna spoke from behind. "What kind of god leaves scars on trees?"
Kael didn't answer.
As they began to retreat, the world behind them changed.
The temperature plummeted. Frost formed mid-air. Leaves stiffened with ice.
Zelganna pivoted, eyes scanning. Her breath fogged instantly.
"It follows."
Rimuru vibrated with warning, then released a full Flame Pulse. The wave pushed outward, surrounding them in a dome of warmth.
At its edge, the frost halted. Hovered. Waited.
Kael stared into the white mist beyond the warmth.
A shadow moved—just once.
Then vanished.
"It's not hunting," Kael said. "It's marking us."
Great Sage:
"Subject identified: Ice Oni Variant. Power unknown. Observation priority: extreme caution."
Far from the clearing, deep in a crystalline cave, the Ice Oni knelt.
Light from glowing crystal veins pulsed around him. Mana shards hovered over a still pool of black ice.
Reflected in the water: Kael's face.
The Oni snarled, cracking his own reflection.
His body bore burns—deep and jagged. One horn was missing. And around his neck, a broken chain of glass.
"Wrath scorched me once," he rasped. "Let's see what this one's made of."
He opened his palm.
Inside, a flickering red ember.
When the trio returned to Emberleaf, the sky had turned gold. Nanari rushed forward with scanning tools, a rune-laced glove glowing as she passed it over Kael's chest and arms.
"Your fire affinity's up almost 30%. Did you ignite something?"
Kael just shook his head.
Rimuru wobbled in exhaustion. Zelganna remained silent, spear still in hand.
Gobrinus ran up, puffing. "So? What'd you find? Giant cat monster? Weird talking trees? Oh! Angry mushrooms?"
Kael held out the mana glass shard and dropped it in his hand.
"This place used to be something else," he said. "We just built on top of it."
Later that night, Kael sat with Bokku near the largest fire pit. Emberleaf was quiet, but tense.
"We're not just building a kingdom," Kael said softly. "We're standing on the ashes of someone else's."
Bokku stirred the fire. "Then let's build one they'll never burn."
In Kael's tent, the shard of mana glass lay on his desk.
Moonlight caught its edge.
The Wrath symbol etched into its surface began to glow faintly.
It pulsed once—
—and cracked.