Chapter 19 - Mira’s Secret Root
Mira expected me to step away.
I sat beside her instead.
"Explain."
"Void Lotus roots consume nearby qi when unstable."
"How nearby?"
"A city."
"Annoying."
She laughed despite herself.
Her father, Lord Sen of the Golden Court, had sealed her root when she was twelve. Veyr later bought the location of her prison and planned to harvest it.
Everyone wanted her power.
Nobody wanted her free.
The system offered a solution.
[Possible defiance: transfer seal burden to yourself.]
[Heaven's Debt +20]
[Survival probability: 41%]
I selected yes before Mira finished speaking.
Silver lines exploded across my arms.
She slapped me.
"What did you do?"
"Shared the problem."
"I did not ask you to."
"You would've said no."
"Correct!"
The Void pressure eased around her.
My vision filled with warnings.
[Heaven's Debt: 49]
[Major Tribulation pending.]
Mira looked close to tears and murder.
"If you die because of me—"
"Then yell at my corpse."
Jace entered with new information.
Veyr had moved the Furnace Ceremony forward.
Tonight.
Forty-seven disciples would die before dawn.
I opened the tunnel map.
One route reached directly beneath the furnace.
There was one problem.
The path began inside the city catacombs.
At the entrance, carved into stone, was the same broken-halo symbol as my Heavenbreaker token.
And beneath it were two words.
May you like
WELCOME HOME.
