I collapsed to my knees as the entire structure shuddered violently. The massive iron chains anchoring the tower to the earth groaned like dying beasts, their rusted links screeching against stone. Above me, dust rained from cracks spiderwebbing across the vaulted ceiling.
Hange had vanished—probably to assess the damage outside. I scrambled up, my boots slipping on the shuddering floor tiles. "Dammit, not yet," I heard her mutter somewhere in the swirling dust, her voice sharp with barely restrained fury.
"Lady Hange! I'm coming with you!" My shout echoed through the hollow chamber, bouncing off the obsidian walls.
"Go to the meeting room," her disembodied voice commanded. "I'll join you after I investigate."
"I don't even know where that—"
"Think of being there, and the tower will obey." Her silhouette dissolved into the shadows before I could protest.
I clenched my fists and envisioned the meeting chamber. The air around me warped, and suddenly—
Poof.
I stood in a circular room lined with stained-glass windows that cast prismatic light across a massive oak table. Kyo lounged to my left, idly spinning a dagger between his fingers, while the man I assumed was Iben cracked his knuckles with a bored expression. To my right—
My breath caught.
Clara.
She made Hange's beauty seem mundane. Emerald hair cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall of spring leaves, and when her eyes met mine, warmth bloomed in my chest—as if her gaze alone could mend broken bones. The delicate scent of lavender and crushed herbs clung to her.
Grim sat at the table's head, his scarred fingers steepled. "I assume everyone felt that tremor."
"Heard? More like nearly died from it," Iben grumbled, rubbing his neck. "Knocked me clean off my bunk."
"It shattered my entire elixir cabinet," Clara sighed, though her musical voice made even complaints sound like poetry.
Kyo smirked, though his knuckles were white around his dagger hilt. "Was bench-pressing a boulder. Almost crushed my skull."
"I was training with Hange," I added.
Grim barely had time to open his mouth before Clara and Iben pointed at me in perfect unison. "Hey Grim, who's this guy?"
"The one we've waited for," Grim said, violet eyes glinting. "Or did you forget my warnings?"
Realization dawned on their faces. "Ooooh!" they chorused.
Iben circled me, his critical gaze scraping over my frame. "So you're Kyo's knight, eh?"
Kyo's smug grin widened.
Three Hours of Torturous Silence Later
"WHERE THE HELL IS HANGE?" we roared simultaneously.
As if summoned, she materialized behind Grim, her fingers tapping his shoulder urgently. Whatever she whispered made his eyes widen. He cleared his throat.
"There's been a... development."
Iben slammed his palms on the table. "Out with it!"
Grim's next words dropped like stones:
"Dunkle Tiefen and Akira have switched places."
The silence was so absolute I heard Kyo's dagger clatter to the floor.
"WHAT?!" Kyo exploded.
Grim continued calmly, though his fists trembled. "The residents of Dunkle Tiefen—and their tower's keepers—have altered the continental balance."
Outside the windows, the sky burned an unnatural crimson where it should have been gold. The very air tasted of ozone and scorched metal. Somewhere in the distance, a continent was falling.
The Weight of a World Out of Balance
Grim's fingers dug into the oak table, leaving crescent marks in the woodgrain. The silence stretched like a noose as he weighed his next words. When he finally spoke, his voice carried the finality of a slamming dungeon door:
"We can't do anything about this."
Iben's chair screeched as he launched to his feet. "What do you mean we can't act?" His fist sent a tremor through the table, rattling Clara's untouched teacup. "Dunkle Tiefen just overturned the natural order, and you're folding your hands?"
Grim didn't flinch. Moonlight through the stained glass painted his scars cobalt blue as he countered, "Akira's tower-dwellers are ornaments—gilded cowards who'd faint at the sight of blood." His gaze swept over us, lingering on Kyo's whitened knuckles. "But if Dunkle Tiefen controls both suns..."
The implications hung heavier than the iron chains outside.
Kyo's voice cracked like thin ice: "I say we leave them to their fate."
"Kyo." Grim's palm smacked the table—not in anger, but something worse: pity. "I know what their Tower Master did to your family. The screams. The pyres." He bowed his head until his forehead touched wood, a general turned supplicant. "I'm begging you. Stop those savages before they drown all three continents in shadow."
"They're not savages." The whisper slipped through Kyo's teeth before he could cage it.
Grim's head snapped up. "What did you say?"
Kyo turned away, watching crimson clouds swallow the last gold streaks of sunset. "Nothing. Forget it."
Clara's chime-like voice cut through the tension: "Shall we storm their tower then?" Her fingers absently traced the rim of her teacup, leaving trails of glowing pollen in their wake.
"Impossible." Grim tapped a yellowed map. "No outsider may enter another continent's tower—unless..." His grin split his face like a dagger wound. "I send the four of you to fix this at the source."
Iben's bark of laughter shook dust from the rafters. "When we return, you'd better have a mountain of coin waiting. I intend to gamble until my eyes bleed."
"Done." Grim's smile didn't reach his eyes. "But flee if the cost proves too high. Dead heroes are useless to me."
As the others prepared, I stared at my trembling hands. My first mission—to walk into the belly of the beast that broke Kyo. Outside, the twin suns now burned at wrong angles, casting elongated shadows that twitched like living things.
Grim's final warning followed me into the armory: "Remember—the Dunkle don't take prisoners. Just trophies."