CHAPTER 28: BREAKING CHAINS

Kaelen pov

Guards rushed toward the three women, weapons drawn. Corvain rose from his seat, his face twisted with rage.

"Seize them!" he commanded. "They’re aiding a condemned criminal!"

But Tiara raised her hand, and a wall of wind slammed into the advancing guards, sending them sprawling across the marble floor. Joanna’s water magic formed a protective barrier around Kaelen, dissolving the suppression runes on his chains with precise control.

"Can you stand?" Serenya asked, appearing beside him so quickly it seemed like she’d teleported.

Kaelen nodded, rising to his feet. His wrists were free, but he felt strange. Hollow. The Aether around him was there, he could sense it, but something felt wrong.

"We need to move," Tiara said, deflecting a fire spell from one of the magisters. "Now."

More guards poured into the hall. Spells began flying from all directions. Kaelen reached for his power, preparing to defend himself, but the moment he tried to channel Aether, a sharp pain exploded in his chest.

He gasped, stumbling. It felt like something was squeezing his heart, crushing it from the inside. The silver light that usually came so easily flickered weakly around his fingers before dying completely.

"Kaelen!" Joanna caught him before he fell. "What’s wrong?"

"I don’t... I can’t..." He tried again, reaching for the Aether, but the pain returned even worse. His vision blurred with agony.

"Whatever they did to you, we’ll figure it out later," Serenya said, her eyes wide with concern. She moved to Kaelen’s other side, supporting his weight. "Right now we need to get out of here."

Corvain’s voice boomed across the hall. "You cannot escape! The entire city guard is being mobilized. Surrender now, and your deaths will be swift!"

"Swift deaths," Joanna muttered. "How generous."

Tiara pulled something from her robes...a small crystal that began to glow with intense light. She threw it to the ground, and it exploded in a flash that blinded everyone in the hall.

"Go!" she shouted.

They ran.

Serenya half-carried Kaelen through the smoking doorway, with Joanna and Tiara close behind. The corridors of House Valerius echoed with shouting voices and running feet. Alarms began to sound throughout the building.

"Left!" Serenya directed, her knowledge of the house’s layout somehow perfect despite never having lived there.

They burst through a side exit into the gardens. Echo was waiting there, the great wolf’s crystalline teeth gleaming in the morning light. He bounded to Kaelen’s side, whining with concern.

"I’m okay, boy," Kaelen managed, though another spike of pain shot through his chest when he tried to touch the wolf’s Aether signature.

Behind them, guards poured from the building. Ahead, the outer wall of the estate loomed thirty feet high.

"We’re trapped," Joanna said, water already forming into defensive shapes around her hands.

"No, we’re not." Serenya’s voice was calm, almost amused. She pulled Kaelen closer. "Hold on to me. All of you."

Tiara and Joanna grabbed her shoulders without hesitation. Echo pressed against Kaelen’s legs.

"What are you..." Kaelen started to ask.

But Serenya’s power erupted around them, and suddenly they were moving. Not running, not flying...something else. The world blurred into streaks of color and light. Kaelen felt like he was being pulled through space itself, his body stretching and compressing in impossible ways.

Then, just as suddenly, they stopped.

Kaelen fell to his knees, gasping. His chest still hurt, but the disorientation of whatever Serenya had just done made everything worse. He looked around, trying to get his bearings.

They were no longer at House Valerius. Instead, they stood in what looked like a private courtyard surrounded by high walls covered in climbing roses. A modest but elegant house rose before them, built in a style that seemed older than most of Luminis’s architecture.

"Where are we?" Tiara asked, looking around with interest.

"My place," Serenya said simply. She helped Kaelen to his feet with surprising gentleness. "It’s protected by wards that will hide us from scrying and tracking magic. We’ll be safe here, at least for a while."

She guided Kaelen toward the house, supporting most of his weight. Echo followed closely, never leaving his master’s side. Joanna and Tiara brought up the rear, both keeping watch for any signs of pursuit.

Inside, the house was surprisingly spacious. The main room was filled with comfortable furniture, bookshelves that reached the ceiling, and strange artifacts that seemed to hum with contained power. Serenya led Kaelen to a couch and helped him sit.

"Can you tell what’s wrong with him?" Joanna asked, her voice tight with worry.

Serenya knelt beside Kaelen, her hands hovering near his chest without quite touching. After a moment, she shook her head. "I’ve never seen anything like this. It’s as if his connection to the Aether has been... severed somehow. But I don’t know how or why."

Kaelen leaned back, closing his eyes. Without his magic, he felt vulnerable in a way he hadn’t experienced since his early days in the Marches. The Aether sense had become such a part of him that its absence left him feeling blind and deaf.

"There’s something you all need to know," he said quietly. "Before my father died, he told me something."

The room went silent. Tiara and Joanna exchanged glances.

"Your father is dead?" Tiara asked gently.

Kaelen nodded, the grief still fresh and raw. "Lyren stabbed him. In those final moments, he told me... he said my mother is still alive. That she left when I was young, and that she would have answers about what I really am, about my power."

"Your mother," Serenya repeated, something flickering in her ancient eyes. "Did he say where she is?"

"He died before he could tell me." Kaelen’s voice cracked slightly. "He died trying to protect me, and I’ll never know where to find her."

Joanna moved to sit beside him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We’ll find her. Somehow. There have to be records, people who knew her, something."

"The council will have destroyed or hidden any information about her," Tiara said, her expression thoughtful. "If she knows the truth about Aether magic, they would have made sure no one could find her."

Echo laid his massive head on Kaelen’s lap, and Kaelen ran his fingers through the wolf’s fur with his free hand. The simple contact was comforting, grounding.

Serenya stood and moved to a cabinet, pulling out bottles and herbs. "Let me make you something for the pain at least. Even if I can’t fix whatever’s wrong with your magic, I can help with the physical symptoms."

She began mixing a concoction, her movements practiced and precise. Kaelen watched through half-closed eyes, trying to focus through the pain in his chest.

"Why did you help me?" he asked her. "You barely know me. Why risk everything?"

She paused, looking at him with those knowing eyes. "Because I’m tired of watching potential die before it can bloom. Because the world needs people like you, whether it knows it or not." She smiled slightly. "And because I have my own reasons for wanting to see the council’s power challenged."

"We need a plan," Joanna said. "The council will be searching for us. They’ll check every safe house, every ally we might have."

"Let them search," Serenya said, bringing Kaelen a cup filled with steaming liquid that smelled of mint and something sharper. "My wards are older than their detection spells. They won’t find us here unless we want them to."

Kaelen took the cup gratefully, sipping the hot mixture. Almost immediately, the crushing sensation in his chest began to ease. Not gone, but manageable.

"My mother," he said slowly. "If we can find her, she might be able to tell us what’s happening to me. Why I can’t access my power anymore."

"And about Aether magic itself," Tiara added. "About why you could wield it when everyone else has forgotten how. About what the council is so afraid of."

Outside, the sun climbed higher in the sky. Somewhere in the city, guards were searching. Corvain was plotting. Lyren was consolidating his power over House Valerius, free now that Lord Valerius was dead.

But here, in Serenya’s hidden sanctuary, four fugitives and a crystal-toothed wolf began to plan their next move.

Kaelen took another sip of the healing mixture, feeling the pain slowly becoming more bearable. His Aether sense remained blocked, silent where it should have been singing with energy. The emptiness was terrifying.

"How long do we have?" he asked. "Before they find us?"

Serenya smiled. "Long enough to rest. Long enough to plan. Long enough to search for answers." Her expression grew serious. "Because when you’re ready, we’re going to find your mother. We’re going to learn the truth. And then we’re going to show the council exactly what happens when they try to bury the past."

Tiara nodded slowly. "The winds of change are coming. I’ve waited twenty-three years for this moment."

"Then let’s make sure we’re ready when the storm hits," Joanna added.

Kaelen looked at these three women who had risked everything to save him. Tiara, the exiled Archmage seeking redemption. Joanna, the investigator who chose truth over safety. Serenya, the mysterious woman with secrets in her eyes and power that defied explanation.

They were fugitives now. Hunted. Marked for death.

But they were also free.

And somewhere out there, his mother waited with answers that might explain why his power had failed him when he needed it most...and perhaps how to get it back.

The fight was far from over. In fact, it had only just begun.