CHAPTER 1070: FINALLY DONE

The glow in the chamber did not dim after Erend’s blood had been given. Instead, it only grew denser as if the air itself had turned into molten glass around them.

Erend had thought at first that the ritual would be finished quickly. His blood had shaken the entire tower combined with Adrius and Lysander Magic energy, the energy had already formed a beating core and their finished stage seemed near.

But Adrius and Lysander did not stop yet. Their chants keep on going in the next hour after hour, their hands never stop to weave and mold the wild energy into something precise.

Erend leaned back in his chair. He had sat a little bit faraway from them and rested one arm on the chair’s edge.

His eyes were heavy with both patience and anxiety.

"I didn’t know that we would need so much work for a single thing... but if it can hunt that shadow, it’ll be worth it."

The pulse of the energy blob drummed faintly in his ears like the beating of a second heart within the tower.

The night deepened. Candles burned low, replaced by fresh ones Lysander lit between his tasks. His clear exhaustion somehow never once dulled his movements.

Adrius’s voice never faltered, sharp and commanding, while his hand sketched more sigils into the air that lingered glowing before sinking into the tether’s forming body.

Finally, as the bells of midnight tolled faintly from the city outside, the ritual neared its end.

The blob of energy was no longer raw or shapeless. It had condensed into a floating construct of crystal and light, orb-like in its core but wrapped in shifting rings of silver thread that spun around it and it vibrated in rhythm with the Fey heart sealed at its center as if showing that it was becoming a living heart again.

Runes ran across the blackstone vessel that housed the organ, glowing in deep green and violet, pulsing in time with the Magic rings.

It hovered above the table now, no longer unstable but steady, powerful, and almost alive.

Adrius finally lowered his hands, breathing deeply, and the glow from his palms faded.

Lysander looked pale but he was smiling. He steadied the runic circle with a final flourish of his chalk.

Both of them stood in silence for a moment, gazing at what they had made.

Erend pushed himself up from his chair and stepped closer. His eyes looked at the strange construct.

"So that’s the tether?" Erend asked.

Adrius’s lined face broke into a rare, satisfied smile. "Yes. A tether forged of Fey resonance, Dragonborn spark of Magic power, and Archmage discipline. It will reach into unseen places and drag forth the traces of that bastard. Heheh."

He glanced at Lysander, pride in his eyes. "We have done well."

Lysander nodded with a grin despite his exhaustion. "I think we did better than well, Master. This is our masterpiece."

The device pulsed once more and its light pulsed through the chamber.

Its glow bathed them all in silver-blue light now. Adrius and Lysander exchanged one last look with their smiles brimming.

They knew for certainty that what they had crafted was not just a tool but it was history in the making. Because it contained Dragonborn blood in it which was the ingredient no one could have had.

The silver-blue glow of the tether continued to hum faintly like a steady pulse like breath filling the chamber.

Erend studied it for a while longer, his brows drawn in thought before he finally spoke. "So... how does it work exactly?"

Adrius let out a tired but steady breath, his eyes fixed on the crystalline orb as if reluctant to look away.

"We’ll take it to your world," he explained, his voice rasped. "This construct will seek the resonance of the entity by latching onto the last place it touched. I’ve already seen it with my sight so you don’t have to worry about that. With this tether, we can drag those traces out into the open and follow them."

Erend gave a slow nod, his gaze tightening as he recalled how Adrius had described those visions before.

If the Archmage said he could find it Erend would trust him to do so.

Every fiber in his body now wanted to go now and bring the tether across worlds and begin the hunt immediately because he knows how tight their time is.

But when his eyes drifted back to Adrius, the fire in him cooled. The Archmage’s shoulders sagged from the effort, his face pale and lined deeper than usual.

Even Lysander looked ready to collapse.

Erend clenched his jaw and sighed. He said, "You should rest first. I’ll visit my sister now, I think she still is awake. We’ll move tomorrow."

Adrius managed a faint smile, weary but touched. "Thank you, Erend. That’s considerate of you."

Erend’s lips curved into a small smile of his own. Without another word, he raised his hand, tore a rift in the air with a gleam of power, and stepped through.

The portal snapped shut behind him, leaving only the hum of the tether and the flickering candlelight.

Lysander leaned against the wall, letting out a long breath, and glanced at his master.

"Master, where is Erend’s sister again in this world?" Lysander asked.

Adrius rubbed his forehead and muttered, "She is uhh... She is in Qomore Kingdom. She’s training her Magic there."

Lysander frowned slightly. "Why not with us?"

"I don’t know," Adrius admitted, already shifting his tired body toward the bed. "Maybe because the Archmage there is a woman, and it’s easier for her that way. Whatever the reason she’s fine and in the right hand."

Lysander tilted his head, then gave a small shrug. "I see..."

Adrius sank onto his bed and pulled the covers over his weary frame. "I need sleep. Tomorrow, I will go again to another world."

The chamber fell quiet except for the soft hum of the tether, steady as a heartbeat in the night.

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