Chapter 139 - The Outpost’s Silence

The wind sighed through the skeletal remains of a pre-Nexus outpost, its crumbling stone walls half-buried in snow, a forgotten relic on the path to the southern ruin. Kael El sat on a broken pillar under a starry sky, the faint glow of a fire casting shadows across his team's makeshift camp. Stormforged Blade rested against his shoulder, shard-pommel humming softly, like a whisper trapped in stone. EX: Dragonflame Reaver lay sheathed at his hip, Stormhide Armor loosened, its scratches catching the firelight, Lyra's fierce spirit and Rhea's steady love grounding his weary heart. His flirty smirk was absent, replaced by a furrowed brow, masking a growing unease—Vren's guarded truths, the ruin's looming vault, and a tension among his team gnawing at his resolve. He traced EX: Gold Dominion absently, golden veins threading weakly through the outpost's cracked floor, molten but faint, echoing the shard's troubled pulse.