The ascent began in silence.
Blackvale trembled beneath them, its foundations fractured by ancient truths and forgotten wars. Cambria, Maddox, and Julian emerged from the Vault's ruined threshold into a city on the verge of collapse its steel bones groaning under the pressure of an awakening world that no longer obeyed the rules of time or reason.
The sky above was no longer a sky, but a wound wide, bleeding light and shadow in equal measure. The Eye of Blackvale had fully opened, a cyclopean vortex of runes and colorless fire spinning above the tallest skyscraper once known as ValeTech Tower. What was once a symbol of Maddox's power was now the epicenter of reality's unraveling.
Cambria tightened her grip on the fractured Heartstone, the remnants still defiantly pulsing. The merge had nearly killed her. Would still kill her. And yet, she moved forward, teeth clenched, body bruised and soul burning with clarity.
She was no longer walking toward vengeance.
