CHAPTER 30: CHAPTER 30: CHAIN AND FROST

Nyra didn’t wait for a signal. She stepped forward with her, wind already swirling around her. Zephyra followed, low to the ground, her body tense like a coiled spring.

As they neared the cave’s mouth, Nyra whispered, "Let’s make this quick."

Zephyra growled in agreement, then launched forward, her claws tearing into the dirt as she burst through the entrance.

The seven creed members inside barely had time to turn before a blast of wind scattered the front line. Nyra swept in behind it, her eyes focused and calm, her presence sharper than before.

"Aeris Bind: Frostlash."

Twin arcs of wind shot forward, twisting midair as they shimmered with freezing mist.

The gusts coiled around two mages, a battle mage and a robe wearing artificer locking their movements as frost spread over their arms.

The cold was brutal and fast, forcing them to struggle against the bind.

One of the others shouted, "Intruders! Capture the girl and burn the beast!"

Zephyra snarled and answered with action. Flames surged through her throat as she opened her maw, releasing a concentrated cone of cerulean fire that lit up the entire front.

It roared with unnatural heat, forcing the remaining members to scatter for cover.

One elemental mage threw up a quick barrier, but the fire cracked it almost immediately, pushing him back with force.

Another, a scrawny robed man with tattoos carved into his arms, threw exploding runes at Zephyra’s feet. But she leapt over them, landed in front of him, and smashed him into the wall with a heavy swipe of her clawed paw.

Nyra kept moving. Her wind and ice affinity danced around her.

She had refined the technique over the past few days, and it showed.

"Cryo Vortex: Spiral Rend."

She swung her limbs in a tight arc, drawing in the wind around her and layering it with ice. The blast created a spinning column that shredded through one of the Creed members who had tried to flank her, his robe tearing apart under the freezing wind.

Zephyra used the distraction to lunge again, pinning another mage and slamming him into the dirt before twisting his neck and snapping at a second, sending him tumbling with a broken leg and a scorched arm.

They were outnumbered, but it didn’t feel like it.

The fight was fast. These weren’t just random mages, they had structure, but lost it in the face of true strength.

One of the Artificer used reinforced aether strings to try to trap Zephyra’s limbs, while another used a whip-like extension of fire, trying to slice Nyra’s movements. But the bond between girl and beast was stronger now. Nyra ducked under the flame and launched a gust that tore through the string’s tension, and Zephyra pounced in the same breath, biting down on the string-user’s shoulder and dragging him into the stone wall with a crack.

Meanwhile, deeper in the cave, Arden moved.

He didn’t sprint. He flowed.

His footsteps made no sound, his life energy barely a whisper. He slipped through the shadows, reading each pulse from the fight behind him and the one heartbeat ahead of him, the one that flickered like it was begging to hold on.

The deeper he went, the colder the air grew. Not from temperature, but from atmosphere. Something twisted and wrong lingered down here. The chains, the dampness, the faint stench of blood and it all spoke of suffering.

Then he saw it.

A small chamber. Lit only by the dull glow of an artifact overhead.

And in the center, a boy.

He looked no older than fifteen, a newly awakened like him.

His clothes were torn and stained, his skin bruised in too many places. Shackles lined with runes bound his wrists and ankles, suspending him in the air just enough for his toes to brush the ground.

Arden’s eyes narrowed.

The chains weren’t just physical. Life energy pulsed through them like veins, feeding into a formation carved into the floor. The symbols were old drain type runes woven into a cage to keep his unstable core dormant.

And it was working. The boy’s core flickered weakly, like it was barely keeping from collapsing.

But it wasn’t just that.

Arden stepped closer, eyes sharp. He could feel it now.

Two different energy threads weaved through the boy’s flow. One cold, the other sharp and free. A dual affinity.

Arden clenched his jaw.

"They were experimenting..."

He didn’t need more details. He’d seen enough.

Arden stepped closer and knelt beside the boy. His eyes scanned the chain’s runes, fingers already tracing the drain points as he muttered low, more to himself than to anyone else.

"You’ve held on longer than they deserved," he said, voice steady, "But you’re not staying here."

The boy flinched, his breath ragged. His voice was barely a whisper.

"You... shouldn’t. I can’t control it. When the chains break, I lose it."

Arden glanced up, met his eyes. "Then lose it."

With one sharp pull, he snapped the main lock binding the chain. The moment the rune broke, a sharp pulse ran through the room like a wave of pressure.

Sparks burst from the boy’s body, followed by a sudden gust of cold that dropped the temperature sharply.

Lightning surged along his right side, ice blooming like frost across his left. His core, unstable and frayed, lashed out.

But Arden didn’t flinch.

Instead, he braced himself, his foot sliding back slightly as he let Stonepulse Reflex kick in.

The energy hit like a storm, wild and violent, but it didn’t knock him away. He stood firm, like bedrock against the wind.

"Relax," he said calmly, stepping through the flurry. "I’m still here."

The boy’s eyes widened, tears forming as his body trembled. The storm kept trying to break loose, but Arden was already there, placing one hand gently over the boy’s chest.

Life energy flowed from him, steady and controlled, slipping between the clashing affinities.

"I’ve done this before," he murmured. "You’re not the first."

The effect was near-instant. The storm began to settle, the lightning and ice slowly dimming as if guided by something deeper. The boy let out a sharp gasp, and Arden felt the flicker of trust start to bloom beneath the chaos.

The relic pulsed faintly against his chest. Vitrael’s Bloom—its passive guidance anchoring his control and let him read the shifts in the boy’s core with precision.

It was like redirecting a river into one channel instead of two crashing floods. Easier than Nyra’s, even.

He worked fast, hands moving with quiet purpose, channeling just enough life energy to hold the core steady, then gently pushing a wave through the boy’s body to soothe the internal damage.

As the last sparks faded, the boy’s limbs finally relaxed. His body sagged into Arden’s arms, still breathing but no longer trembling.

The tension drained out of him. His voice, now soft, barely made it out.

"You... fixed it."

"Not all of it," Arden replied, "But it’s holding. You’ll be alright."

A soft exhale came from the boy, his body finally letting go.

And with that, he passed out.

He looked down at the boy again. "Let’s get you out of here," he muttered.

Without another word, he hoisted the boy over his back, securing him carefully, then turned toward the path he came from.

A/N:

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