2024-08-12 22:47:52
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Chapter 524
Jace was not reading the words. His eyes were not moving back and forth across the page. His eyes were completely, perfectly still. They were staring straight ahead, blank and empty. Jace’s face carried a small, pleasant smile. But the smile did not change. It did not widen. It did not fade. It was frozen in place, like a smile painted onto a porcelain doll.Caster felt a cold shiver run down his spine. The warmth of the fake sun suddenly felt sickening. He looked across the street at Mirella.Mirella was walking with her basket of bread. A small child ran across the street in front of her. The child tripped and fell hard on the cobblestones.In the real world, a child who falls on hard stones will cry. They will scrape their knee. It will hurt.In the vision, the child hit the ground. The child did not cry. The child did not make a sound. The child simply stood up. There was no blood on its knee. The child’s face was completely blank. It turned around and kept running, showing no e
Chapter 523
Standing on the balcony with him was a man. But the man was not human. He wore elegant black robes. His face was impossibly handsome, with sharp, perfect features. His skin was pale gray. His eyes glowed with a soft, warm white light. Floating gently above his dark hair was a small, delicate crown made of pale, glowing embers.It was the Ash Warden. The dark god had shrunk itself down to human size. It had given itself a face."What is this trick?" Caster demanded. He took a step back, keeping his distance from the beautiful, terrible creature. "Is this an illusion? Are you trying to trap me in a dream?"The Warden smiled. It was a kind, gentle smile. "It is an illusion, yes," the Warden said softly. It walked to the edge of the balcony and looked down at the beautiful city. "But it is an illusion of a reality that can truly exist. Come, look at your world, Caster."Caster did not want to obey, but he could not stop his curiosity. He stepped up to the railing next to the god. He look
Chapter 522
The giant hand made of solid black ash reached down from the broken sky. It moved with terrible speed. It was larger than a mountain, and it was coming straight for Caster Spellbound’s fragile soul. Caster stayed on his knees in the center of the glowing chalk circle. He kept his bleeding left hand pressed hard against the dark glass floor. He did not run. He could not run. He was trapped inside his own mind, powering the ritual of severance.The giant hand smashed into the ground.BOOM!The sound was so loud it shook the very foundation of Caster’s mind. But the hand did not crush him. It hit the ground just outside the glowing pale fire of the ritual circle.The impact created a massive shockwave of dark magic. The wave ripped across the dark, watery floor of Caster’s soul-scape.The silent ghosts standing around the circle, the phantom of young Jace, the beautiful ghost of Mirella, the hundreds of faceless ash-people, were hit by the shockwave. They did not scream. They did not
Chapter 521
Mirella’s phantom blinked. The intense hatred in her eyes flickered, replaced by a deep, quiet sadness.Caster did not stop. He walked around the entire circle. He faced the crowd of ghosts. He looked at the faceless ash-people. He looked at the old men and the crying mothers. He opened his arms wide."I am the author of the Ashfall," Caster declared. His voice was strong, echoing across the dark, watery floor of his soul. "I built the tether! I hid the truth! Your homes burned because of my arrogance! Your children turned to dust because I was too proud to admit my mistakes!"The screaming of the phantoms began to slow down. The roar of hatred turned into a confused murmur."I am a monster!" Caster shouted, owning the word completely. "I am a liar! I am a parasite! Every terrible thing you say about me is completely true!"He walked back to the center of the circle. He knelt again, placing his bleeding hand over the center. He looked around at all the ghosts."I cannot fix what I did
Chapter 520
"Stop," Caster begged. He lowered his head. He covered his ears with his right hand, keeping his bleeding left hand over the circle. "Stop, please. I know what I did."But the ritual did not care about his begging. The ritual demanded the whole truth. More figures stepped out of the fog.Ten. Twenty. A hundred.They formed a massive ring around the glowing circle. They surrounded Caster.There were old men whose land Caster had taken to build magical testing sites. There were young women whose minds he had erased when they learned too many secrets about the Tower.And then, the faceless ones appeared. Hundreds of people made entirely of dark gray dust. They had no eyes or mouths. They were the ordinary citizens of the lower Rings. They were the people who had died in the Ashfall storms over the last twenty years. They had died because Caster built the ancient tether. They had died because of his arrogant mistakes.The phantoms did not attack him physically. They did not carry swords
Chapter 519
The white chalk lines instantly changed color. They flashed with a blinding, pale, inverted fire. It was the spectral fire of the Ash Plane. The light did not cast shadows; it ate them."I give my life to the line!" Caster shouted over the sudden, rushing wind that filled the cavern. "I give my blood to the cut! Sever the root! Close the door!"He squeezed his bleeding hand into a fist, forcing more blood to pour out.The pain was terrible. It felt like sticking his hand into a boiling pot of water. The magic was violently sucking the life force right out of his veins. Caster felt his heartbeat slow down. He felt his vision blur. He was dying, drop by drop, to fuel the spell.The pale fire raced around the circles. It filled every jagged rune. It lit up the entire cavern with a sick, blinding light. Then, reality began to break.The smooth, black stone walls of the cavern started to melt.Caster watched in shock as the solid rock turned into thick, gray smoke. The ceiling above him v
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