Eldric remained standing for a few seconds before speaking.

  “You said you remembered what happened before you lost consciousness.”

  Lucan didn’t lift his gaze immediately.

  “Yes.”

  The word came out firm. Without hesitation.

  Eldric sat down across from him, leaving a measured distance between them.

  “Start wherever it makes sense.”

  Lucan inhaled slowly.

  “When the attack began, we weren’t at the main front. We saw a guard’s body first. Then we heard the screams.”

  His jaw tightened slightly.

  “It didn’t feel like a common assault. It was… fast.”

  He didn’t say it was coordinated. He didn’t know that for certain. He only knew everything had unfolded too cleanly.

  He paused briefly.

  “I heard an echo. And immediately, the pressure was already there.”

  Eldric lifted his gaze.

  “What pressure?”

  Lucan frowned, searching for the right way to describe it.

  “As if the air had become… heavier. Not on my body. Inside.”

  He brought a hand to his chest.

  “It wasn’t pain. It was density. Like when the seal pushes from within.”

  Eldric did not interrupt.

  Lucan continued, lower now.

  “I wasn’t using it. I didn’t try to activate it. But it felt the same. That same compression. That same sensation of something larger pressing in from every direction.”

  Silence.

  “I followed the echo to the office.”

  His breathing shifted slightly there.

  “Alaric was already wounded.”

  Eldric interlaced his fingers.

  “And the other?”

  Lucan looked up for the first time.

  “He didn’t seem surprised to see me.”

  The statement lingered.

  “He didn’t seem rushed either.”

  He did not describe his face. He did not describe his exact shape.

  He described the sensation.

  “It wasn’t ordinary darkness. It didn’t cast a shadow. It was as if the space around him wasn’t entirely… fixed.”

  Eldric’s expression did not change.

  “When I looked at him, the pressure increased.”

  Lucan’s fingers tightened.

  “After the first strike, he spoke.”

  Eldric did not blink.

  “What did he say?”

  Lucan hesitated, just slightly.

  “He said he had done us a favor.”

  The silence grew heavier than any description.

  “A favor?” Eldric repeated.

  Lucan nodded.

  “He said I wasn’t the only one he had condemned.”

  The confusion was still there. Alive.

  “I didn’t understand it. I still don’t.”

  He ran a hand over his face, frustrated.

  “I tried to intervene. I moved. But it was like every step was delayed by half a second. Like space wasn’t responding the way it should.”

  Eldric observed every detail.

  “Did he attack you?”

  “Not directly.”

  Lucan shook his head.

  “He didn’t need to.”

  The anger surfaced then. Controlled.

  “I tried to reach him. I tried to break that… distortion.”

  He fell silent for a few seconds before continuing.

  “Alaric looked at me.”

  Eldric said nothing.

  “He was conscious. Barely. But he saw me.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Lucan’s voice lowered.

  “And he said…”

  He swallowed.

  “‘I hope that one day you understand.’”

  Eldric held his gaze without interrupting.

  “I don’t know what he meant,” Lucan continued. “He didn’t speak about the kingdom. He didn’t speak about the attack. He said that… and that was it.”

  His fingers slowly curled inward.

  “After that, it was fast.”

  He did not describe the death in detail. He didn’t need to.

  “And the other… simply left.”

  Eldric tilted his head slightly.

  “Disappeared?”

  “Yes.”

  Lucan exhaled with contained frustration.

  The pressure, however, lingered for several seconds afterward.

  “And then everything became denser.”

  He did not yet explain the adjustment. Only the moment before it.

  “I tried to stay on my feet. I tried to do something useful. But there was nothing left to do.”

  The anger finally sharpened in his voice.

  “I couldn’t do anything.”

  Silence stretched between them.

  Eldric spoke calmly.

  “Did you feel fear?”

  Lucan shook his head slowly.

  “No.”

  That answer came immediately.

  “I felt… frustration. Helplessness.”

  That, too, was information.

  Eldric rested his forearms on his legs.

  “And after that?”

  Lucan closed his eyes briefly.

  “After that… the pressure changed.”

  He did not explain how.

  “I felt sharp pains along my back.”

  He opened his eyes again.

  “And you know what happened next.”

  Eldric nodded.

  He did not ask about the fainting.

  He did not ask about the void.

  He knew that if Lucan did not mention it, it was because he was not ready.

  The room fell silent again.

  Eldric studied him carefully.

  No trembling.

  No fracture.

  No instability.

  That unsettled him more than any crisis would have.

  “Rest,” he said at last.

  Lucan lifted his gaze.

  “I’m not exhausted.”

  “It’s not about weakness,” Eldric replied. “It’s about clarity.”

  A pause.

  “You’re going to need it.”

  Lucan held his gaze for another second, then nodded.

  Eldric stood.

  Before leaving, he paused by the door.

  “Lucan.”

  He looked up.

  “If you feel that pressure again… don’t ignore it.”

  It was not a warning.

  It was instruction.

  Lucan did not answer immediately.

  Then, quietly:

  “I don’t think I can.”

  Eldric watched him for a second longer.

  Then he left.

  The door closed softly.

  Lucan remained alone.

  There were no screams in his mind.

  No echo.

  Only that quiet again.

  And beneath it,

  that same pressure—

  but this time

  it didn’t feel like it was pushing him.

  It felt like it was waiting.

  The provisional office had no wide windows or ancient symbols carved into its walls like the former one. It was functional. Temporary.

  Renar stood beside the central table when Maelis entered.

  There was no need for announcement.

  She closed the door behind her and leaned against it for a brief second before stepping forward.

  “What do you know?” she asked.

  Renar did not answer immediately. He was studying the map spread across the table, marked with recent damage.

  “It was intentional.”

  Maelis stopped in front of him.

  “We already knew that.”

  “No,” he corrected calmly. “It was surgical.”

  He looked up.

  “They didn’t try to take anything. They didn’t hold positions. There wasn’t much advance after the initial impact.”

  Maelis crossed her arms.

  “Innocents died.”

  “Yes.”

  Renar did not soften the word.

  “Several. But the primary target was clear.”

  Alaric.

  The office.

  The strategic command points.

  Not the warehouses.

  Not the markets.

  Not the outer walls.

  Maelis held his gaze.

  “Did you see him?”

  Renar nodded once.

  “Yes.”

  He did not speak the name.

  Not yet.

  “It was brief.”

  He stepped away from the table and began pacing slowly across the room.

  “When I reached the central sector, he was already there.”

  “Did you fight him?”

  “I tried.”

  The answer was dry.

  Renar rested a hand on the back of a chair but did not sit.

  “He wasn’t looking for combat. Not the way one would expect.”

  Maelis waited.

  “He summoned creatures.”

  “Creatures?”

  “Stone structures. Massive. Not simple constructs. They had pattern. Coordination.”

  “They moved slowly, but every impact split the ground.”

  Maelis frowned slightly.

  “You destroyed them?”

  “Yes.”

  “But that wasn’t the point.”

  She understood before he said it.

  “He wanted you to lose time.”

  “Exactly.”

  Renar looked back at the map.

  “When I finally reached the office… he was gone.”

  There was no loud retreat.

  “He simply wasn’t there.”

  Maelis narrowed her eyes.

  “So territory wasn’t the objective.”

  “No.”

  Renar met her gaze.

  “It was Alaric.”

  The silence that followed was heavier than any description.

  “And after?” Maelis asked.

  “Nothing.”

  Renar shook his head slightly.

  “No second wave. No attempt to finish strategic structures. The remaining creatures collapsed when… when he stopped sustaining them.”

  That was more unsettling than a military withdrawal.

  It wasn’t an army.

  It was will.

  Maelis exhaled slowly.

  “Premeditated.”

  “Coordinated.”

  Renar gestured toward the map.

  “The eastern team was attacked at the same time. Similar creatures. Not identical, but under the same pattern.”

  A plan that included distraction, synchronization, and targeted elimination.

  After a few seconds, Maelis shifted the focus.

  “And Lucan?”

  Renar did not answer immediately.

  That said enough.

  “They found him surrounded by bodies.”

  “Yes.”

  “Does it concern you?”

  Renar looked at her directly.

  “It always has.”

  “But not because of what he did.”

  That was new.

  Maelis lifted her chin slightly.

  “Then why?”

  Renar took a second before responding.

  “Because of what he didn’t do.”

  Maelis remained silent.

  “He doesn’t seem to have completely lost control.”

  The sentence carried weight.

  “He was precise.”

  That was what unsettled him.

  Maelis placed both hands on the wooden surface.

  “I examined the seal.”

  Renar waited.

  “It isn’t weakened.”

  “I know.”

  Maelis held his gaze.

  “The patterns… are more defined.”

  She traced invisible lines in the air.

  “Before, it was containment. Chaotic. There was always irregular tension.”

  She inhaled slowly.

  “Now it looks structured.”

  Renar did not look away.

  “Stronger?”

  “No.”

  She shook her head.

  “More aligned.”

  The word lingered.

  Renar was silent for several seconds.

  “That isn’t necessarily good.”

  Maelis lowered her voice.

  “I don’t know.”

  And yet—

  “It clicked,” she murmured.

  Renar did not respond.

  But he did not deny it either.

  Meanwhile, Garrick was reviewing a report when Eldric approached.

  He looked up immediately.

  “I figured you’d come sooner or later.”

  It wasn’t reproach. It was logical expectation.

  Eldric closed the door behind him.

  “Tell me about the mission.”

  Garrick set the report down.

  “It was simultaneous. That much is certain.”

  He leaned back in his chair.

  “We were attacked by the same figures described in the kingdom.”

  Eldric showed no surprise.

  “Creatures.”

  “Stone.”

  Garrick studied him.

  “Yes.”

  He leaned forward now.

  “They weren’t improvised summons. They had structure. Coordination. They didn’t strike randomly.”

  “Were they advancing?”

  “No.”

  Garrick shook his head.

  “They were keeping us occupied.”

  “Delay.”

  “Exactly.”

  Garrick frowned slightly.

  “If they’d wanted to destroy the village, they could have. They had enough force to breach multiple points.”

  Silence.

  “They focused on containing the main team.”

  Eldric stepped closer to the table.

  “Have you seen anything like it before?”

  Garrick shook his head without hesitation.

  “Never.”

  Not in long campaigns.

  Not in border conflicts.

  Not in open war.

  “This wasn’t an invasion.”

  Eldric stopped in front of him.

  “What do you think about the attack on the kingdom?”

  Garrick considered for a second.

  “Based on the reports, it came from the same source.”

  “Even though you didn’t see him?”

  “Yes.”

  He leaned slightly forward.

  “The pattern matches. Creatures designed to stall. Central strike elsewhere. Immediate withdrawal once the objective was achieved.”

  Eldric did not respond immediately.

  Garrick studied him.

  “Do you know who it was?”

  The silence stretched long enough that the answer was evident before it was spoken.

  Eldric lifted his gaze.

  He did not say the name.

  But his voice was steady.

  “I think I do.”

  Garrick held his stare, waiting for more.

  Eldric gave none.

  And in that contained silence,

  certainty began to take shape.

  End of Chapter 24