CHAPTER 1166: READY FOR WORK

Even though the sun had barely risen, Erend knew Adrien, Billy, and Jessica were already awake and working.

After everything that had happened, he knew that none of them could truly rest. Ironically, he had managed to sleep—really sleep—for the first time in a while, and it had steadied him far more than he expected.

When he pushed the door open, the three turned toward him at once.

Their faces held the same expression of expectation, caution, and relief.

He had disappeared without saying much after explaining that he was failing the mission with the other Dragonborn, and they all had assumed he needed time to breathe and pull himself together.

They hadn’t questioned it. They understood.

But the way Erend stood now he looked calm, focused, and ready. It made them sit up a little straighter.

"Where have you been?" Billy asked, his voice light but tinted with honest relief. A small, crooked smile tugged the corner of his mouth, as though he was glad Erend had returned faster than expected.

"Home," Erend answered simply. "I talked to my mom and..." He paused, remembering Veyrun, the strange presence made of symbols and shifting light. "...and a guy. Right now, I’m ready to get back to work."

Adrien, Billy, and Jessica exchanged quick glances.

That tiny pause before "a guy" told them enough. They knew Erend, and whatever he spoke to wasn’t some ordinary man from the neighborhood.

But they also sensed that pushing for details would get them nowhere. There were things Erend carried that belonged to another world entirely and if Erend didn’t say that, they were certain it would be no use for them.

Adrien cleared his throat. "Alright then. What’ve you got?"

Erend took the seat at his desk, letting the silence settle for a second before he spoke. "I already told you we failed to defeat that being and that Krono, my Dragonborn friend, was absorbed, right?"

All three nodded. Their expressions darkened at the reminder.

"Good. Then we move forward from that." Erend leaned back slightly, choosing his words. "I’ll be heading to another world for a while. This problem can only be sorted out once I’m there. I’m hoping nothing happens here while I’m gone."

"That’s fine," Adrien said. "General Lennard’s reinforcements already arrived. They’ve already been briefed by the soldiers who were caught when he faced the storm man incident. If anything happens, we have more manpower now."

Erend nodded, relieved to hear it but not entirely reassured.

He had seen what Zerathul could do with his own eyes now. The soldiers here were brave, but bravery wasn’t the same as being able to stand against an ancient god if something like that appeared again. Hopefully not.

He let that thought go for now.

"We should put extra care into monitoring the candidates for the Magic Assimilation Project," he said. "Just in case something tries to interfere again."

"I’m on it," Jessica said immediately. Her fingers were already tapping across her tablet, opening files and setting alerts.

"Thanks," Erend said quietly.

A brief silence filled the room. No one asked where exactly he was heading, or how long he would be gone, or what he was really up against. They didn’t need to know the details to understand one thing clearly. Erend was preparing for something none of them could begin to imagine. They just need to trust him without hesitation.

Adrien leaned his elbows on the desk. "If you’re leaving soon, we need to coordinate. What else do you need from us before you go?"

Erend looked up at them, his eyes steadier than before.

"I need you three to hold the front here," he said. "No matter what. This being... He is not stopping yet. In fact, he is just beginning."

Adrien, Jessica, and Billy exchanged glances again.

Jessica felt her legs tremble as she swallowed her saliva hard, trying to steady her breath.

Billy set his jaw tight. There was a flash of defiance in his eyes.

Adrien, however, managed to remain composed, despite the tension in his shoulders showing the weight he carried.

"We’ll try our best," Adrien said.

Erend looked at all three of them with a quiet, grateful expression.

Then he stood up, the chair legs scraping softly against the floor.

"I’ll tell Adrius to make something that’ll improve our coordination with each other," he said. "It should help bridge the distance between worlds."

He didn’t linger. A portal swirled open beside him, its edges rippling with red and white color, and Erend stepped through without hesitation.

The light folded inward after him, leaving the office shrouded in silence once more. Its atmosphere was sinking back into something heavy, grim, and uncertain.

Adrien clapped his hands once, sharply. "Alright. We move now."

Jessica and Billy snapped into motion as the office returned to the rhythm again.

—

Erend arrived inside the chamber tower where Adrius and Lysander resided.

The familiar structure greeted him with cold stone walls and the faint scent of herbs. But the room was completely empty.

He frowned.

This place was his anchor, the point he always used to return to the kingdom.

Adrius and Lysander should’ve been here, or at least traces of their presence. Instead, there was nothing but eerie stillness.

Erend walked toward the wide arched window. Outside, the ramparts and outer walls bore deep and jagged burns, scorch marks that cracked through the stone like blackened scars.

He was certain that it was lightning damage. And not natural lightning. These were unmistakable signs of the ancient storm god’s assault.

He sighed. This area had been attacked too.

He reached out with telepathy to Adrius.

"Adrius. Where are you? I’m in the chamber right now."

The telepathic connection reacted instantly.

"Oh, Erend! I didn’t know you were here already." Adrius’s voice sounded strained, but steady. "We’re not in the tower. We’re in the underground. Eccar and Aesa are also here."

Erend’s brows lifted. "Underground? Why?"

"Because we managed to capture the storm being."

Erend blinked.

The storm being, the avatar, was captured.

The gravity of that revelation surged through him. Maybe they could gain something from him.

Lysander arrived exactly three minutes later. His breath came out in small clouds. He must have run the whole way.

"Erend," he said, bowing his head slightly. "Master Adrius sent me to retrieve you."

"Lead the way," Erend replied.

They left the chamber and moved through the stone corridor.

Guards stationed along the hall turned their heads as Erend passed. Their eyes narrowed with confusion and caution. To them, he was a stranger appearing out of nowhere in a kingdom already shaken by an attack.

But when they saw Lysander with him, their expressions eased almost instantly. Everyone in the palace knew that the Archmage’s apprentice did not escort anyone ordinary.

Lysander offered them a reassuring nod every time they walked past another checkpoint.

"He’s with me."

That was all it took.

They descended a long spiral staircase that grew narrower as it sank deeper into the heart of the tower.

When they reached the bottom, a massive steel door came into view, framed by ancient runes etched into the stone around it.

Two knights stood guard. They were armored from head to toe. Lysander’s presence eased them.

Beside the knights, a single Mage guarded the door but he was sitting in a chair.

The Mage nodded and whispered a spell under his breath. The runes around the door lit up, sliding from dull gray into gold. Metal groaned as mechanisms behind the wall unlocked one by one.

The door opened.

Erend stepped inside and immediately understood why this place was underground.

The chamber turned out, was pretty massive. Far larger than any room above ground. Its ceiling arched like a cathedral dome, lined with concentric rings of Magic runes. Each ring glowing, keeping the seals active.

In the center of the chamber floated the storm being.

It hung suspended in midair inside a shimmering golden cocoon.

Inside it, the being was closing his eyes as if sleeping.

But his body emitting swirling mesh of dark grey that looked like storm-cloud matter, streaked with crackling veins of blue-white lightning.

Around the cocoon, six massive pillars formed a circle, each engraved with layers upon layers of ancient symbols and spells. Magic flowed between them like glowing streams, weaving together into a net that kept the being contained.

Adrius, Eccar, and Aesa stood not far from all of those formations.

Lysander glanced at him. "We’ve been waiting for you."

Erend nodded, eyes fixed on the trembling cocoon as he stepped forward.

Adrius, Eccar, and Aesa turned the moment Erend approached. Relief flickered across their faces.

Erend let out a small, tired smile.

"I’m guessing Arty’s fine now that you’re here," he said to Eccar.

Eccar nodded. "Yes. Sylmira’s with her. She’ll be safe. I came as soon as Aesa told me Adrius managed to capture this thing, so I moved here quickly."

Adrius stepped forward, brushing dust from his robes, his expression a mix of pride and disbelief. "By combining my Magic with Lysander’s, we managed to seal the being without killing him." He exhaled, shaking his head. "Frankly, I still think it’s a miracle."

Erend shifted his gaze to the cocoon, at the figure trapped inside.

The being looked like a towering man with long, wild hair drifting around the dark storm clouds-like matter.

"A miracle indeed, Adrius," Erend murmured, "We should start pry open this thing."

—