CHAPTER 146: CHAPTER 146 | SILENCE

*Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!

The roaring thunder of the colossal ram’s engines split the air like storms, their guttural and rough roars shaked the very earth as the machine of war trudged its way towards the shimmering azure gate.

*grrrrrrrrrrrr! *click! *clack!

Dust billowed beneath its wheels, each turn as it moved forward grinded the ground with scarred trenches of dirt and weight.

From behind, flanking it, were the infantry of the zerafhon.

*Thud! *Thud! *Thud! *Thud!

Heavy plated warriors whose steps struck the ground as if they were war drums.

From their hands, weapons were already alight and whirring with eidra energy, humming dangerously, producing the sound of readiness to snap at any moment.

Meanwhile,

Perched high upon the ram, a crimson silhouette loomed upon it.

Gaius.

His clock whipped violently in the wind as his cybernetic eye twitched and glinted sharp.

He then raised a gauntleted hand, his voice booming even above the thunder of the engines.

"Well done, Jinn-boy!" his words carried across the field, loud enough for even the soldiers afar back the army to hear.

"Now, leave the rest to us! Ready yourselves to charge once the gate is down."

Jinn did not answer with words.

He only gave a silent nod.

He then walked at a significant distance until he arrived at what seemed to be the remnants of the artillery cannon he had destroyed, its pieces scattered along the ground in destruction.

Lowering himself onto its twisted frame, Jinn sat, knees bent, boots planted firmly on the battle-worn ground.

He then pressed the sheath of his sword into the dirt, his hand resting upon its hilt.

And then—

He waited.

The words still surged,

Engines grinding forward, armors clunking in heaviness, orders from officers barking with resolve of iron.

Yet within Jinn—

These sounds dimmed.

Fading.

Like echoes swallowed by the distance.

He closed his eyes, shutting out the storm.

His breath slowed.

He focused.

Sinking into that deep, quiet abyss within himself where nothing reached him.

Not the battle.

Not the chaos roaring around him.

Not even the weight of the army, readying themselves for a clash within the city.

The tremors in the ground softened in his mind.

The metallic symphony of war dulled until there was nothing—

But silence.

A silence so profound it was not absence—

But presence itself.

Steady, consuming, unbreakable.

Peace.

Jinn sank deeper into himself.

Reaching beyond the surface of armor and flesh, past the raging storms of violet-crimson eidra that roared powerfully.

He pushed further,

Through that veil of chaos.

Until at last, he reached the quiet flame hidden at his very core.

Muradryn.

Its presence unfolded in him like the first warmth of sunlight after an endless cold night.

He felt it surge gently through his veins.

Not violent.

Not consuming.

But steady.

A light shimmering in silence.

It was calm, and yet it held the weight of persistence,

and beneath all that calmness?

Power.

Ancient and unyielding.

It had been years since the voice last stirred within him.

Years since he heard Engkaren, the first shard of Muradryn the rested within him—

The muradryn of fortitude.

The very guardian essence that had anchored him through the trials no normal child could have endured.

Yet even in his long silence, the memory of his words burned bright, etched into Jinn as if they were carved in stone.

He remembered them clearly, like a compass Jinn uses to guide his actions.

"Find it child... find your truest self... and once you have found yourself... I will appear again... and show you the next path..."

Find yourself.

Two simple words.

Yet those words had haunted Jinn, echoing in every action he took ever since.

They swarm endlessly in his mind.

Filling his days.

His nights.

His months.

His Years.

Those words had guided him.

And yet, he still searched.

Every day, without fail, he sat in silence.

Every day, he closed his eyes, slowed his breath and reached inward.

Every day, he searched tirelessly for the truth in his own soul—his true self.

And every day—

He failed.

The voice did not return to guide him on the next path.

Silence.

Just like today.

Just like all the other days he was sent to the roaring flames of war.

He tried to change his approach.

He had tried to fight with restraint, to spare lives when others demanded slaughter.

Perhaps, Jinn thought, that mercy was the key.

That in saving others, he would finally uncover his true self, and the voice would awaken once more.

Perhaps sparing the enemy was the catalyst, the hidden trial that would finally awaken the voice.

But nothing.

No whispers of Engkaren.

No answers waiting for all the actions he had done.

He could still feel the warmth of muradryn, but the voice that would guide him on his destiny was gone.

Hollow.

Fleeting and vanished, like a wind that brushed past quickly.

Yet even with the weight of failure pressing on him day after day, Jinn has not surrendered.

He would not surrender.

He could not.

Why would he?

This was not some fragile childish dream.

This was his destiny—

Etched into him at birth, woven into the very threads of his entire being.

It is his soul and his purpose.

Muradryn was his birthright, his trial, the burden

and the gift that would elevate him beyond what others could ever reach.

A variable in the universe itself.

One that could drive him into greater heights, to a greater strength, to a power untouchable.

And ultimately...

Freedom.

A freedom unshackled by chains, unbound by the empire, unbroken by laws nor crowns.

No masters to command him.

No bonds to weigh him down.

Only the endless expanse of the cosmos where adventure awaited, stretched before him.

Waiting...

Silent...

Infinite...

Eternal...

That was what awaited him.

That was what he sought for.

That was what the silence could never take from him.

And somewhere in that vast expanse, beyond the reach of war, chaos, and separation—

His friends awaited too.

One day, he would see them again.

One day, the path would lead him back to them.

One day.

That, Jinn sore, would never change.

Jinn lingered in that quiet space for only a breath longer...

Holding onto the stillness like it was the last ember of a cracking fire—

Before his eyes slowly opened again.

*CRASHHHH!!!

The silence of his meditation as reality came rushing back with a thunderous crash— the sound of the massive siege ram slamming against the eidra gate of the city of ebonhart.

*CRASH!!! *CRASH!!!

*CRAAAAAASH!!!

Each impact rolled through the battlefield like a thunder tearing across the very heavens, rattling bones and shaking the ground beneath Jinn’s and the soldiers’ feet.

Meanwhile,

The others—the rest of Jinn’s squad—had found their own places of rest, scattered nearby, waiting in silence for the battle ram to finish its work.

Dreilla leaned back against a shattered barricade, her energy rifle resting loosely across her lap, and her expression was one of practiced patience, at least in that situation.

The squad looked worn due to days of fighting, but the look on their eyes were still steady and fixed as they focused on the towering weapon hammering relentlessly against the barrier.

Jinn’s gaze shifted from their silhouettes to the ram itself—a juggernaut of colossal power and purpose.

Its eidra-reactors pulsed with violent light, arcs of energy cracking along its armored hull as it surged forward again.

*grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

*CRASH!!!

The prow, shimmering with powerful eidra, smashed into the azure surface of the eidra gate—

Yet this time, instead of completely absorbing the impact—

the gate groaned in protest.

Jagged cracks spread outwards like spiderwebs, originating from the ram’s point of impact.

The cracks were faint at first.

*CRASH!!

But were widening on each impact.

*CRASH!!!.

"The gate is about to fall!" one soldier noticed the cracks as he smashed his fist towards his chest plate.

"Soon this city will be ours!"

Jinn narrowed his eye.

The gate was indeed faltering, giving way under the relentless punishment.

It would not last much longer at this rate.

Slowly and deliberately, he rose to his feet, brushing the dust from his cloak as his boots pressed firmly into the torn earth.

His hand remained firm on the hilt of his sheathed sword as he stepped forward, his gaze locked on the faltering gate.

*crunch... *crunch... *crunch...

The sound of Jinn’s footsteps caught Dreilla’s attention.

She exhaled through her nose.

A sigh that carried both weariness and reluctant resignation.

"The things I do for a scion..." she muttered under her breath, slightly laced with irony—

Though not without a small thread of reluctant loyalty.

Still, she pushed herself upright, adjusting the strap of her energy rifle with a practiced tug.

Then, with a sharp motion from her hand, she signaled the others.

Only by one, the squad obeyed, pulling themselves to their feet, checking weapons, and grouping up without hesitation.

Together, they moved as a small unit toward the gate that trembled on the edge of destruction.

At their head, in front of them, was Jinn.

Dreilla and the others followed, their boots striking the scarred earth in unison.

Then it happened.

With another thunderous groan

*grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

The battle ram pulled back and hurled itself forward once more, its shimmering prow primed to crash towards the already cracked gate.

Jinn’s eyes narrowed.

This was it.

One more strike and the barrier that shielded Ebonhart’s inner city will finally fall.

*SHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIEEEEEEEEEK!!!

The massive ram’s reactors shrieked as it surged forward for the finall prow.

*BANG!!!

The prow struck, and the eidra gate completely shattered apart in an explosion of light and sound as shards of pure energy splintered into the air before fading into nothingness.

The barrier was gone.

*VWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

An ear-splitting horn blared across the battlefield, deep and commanding and shaking every chest it touched.

General Gaius’s voice followed, booming over the chaos with one singular merciless order.

"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!!!"

*RUMBLING!

The ground itself trembled as thousands of Zerafhon infantry thundered forward, pouring through the broken gate like a tidal wave of fury.

Heavy armor whirred and clicked forward as weapons charged with a chorus of powerful eidra were primed for use.

Behind and along with the infantry in an organized manner, engines roared as medium sized assault vehicles rolled in, its turrets swivelling as it clicked with fury.

*grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

*Rumbling!

The sheer force of their advance made the earth quake, every united step hammered into the soil like war drums.

"Come one!" Dreilla’s voice cut through the storm as she sprinted past Jinn.

Without hesitation, she vaulted into the side of a passing vehicle, catching a railing with practiced ease.

Her energy rifle swung at her back as she steadied herself.

"Grab the other vehicles—we regroup inside!" she shouted, her tone sharp.

The squad obeyed instantly, scattering to leap onto the nearest vehicles they could find.

One by one, they clung to the metal rails, bracing themselves as the machines roared forward.

Jinn followed as well, his hand gripping the cold railing of a rumbling vehicle.

*Vrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

The engine of the vehicle he latched on, growled with raw power as its wheels were crushing debris as the column of vehicles stormed through the ruins of the gate.

Jinn’s cloak snapped violently in the wind as he steadied himself, gaze fixed forward into the city of Ebonhart.