Chapter 40: Echoes of the Fractured World
The descent from the Frostspire Peaks was treacherous, the winds howling like mourning spirits through the craggy cliffs. Kord led her team with quiet resolve, her mind heavy with the Frostkeeper's cryptic warning.
The destruction of the Shard has weakened the barriers between realms.
She couldn't shake the image of the collapsing nexus or the Frostkeeper's final roar as it was consumed. If this nexus was one of many, how much time did they have before the rest unraveled?
Jorath fell into step beside her, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "You're too quiet," he said, his breath misting in the cold air.
Kord glanced at him. "Just thinking."
"About the Frostkeeper? Or the part where it said something older than our world is waking up?"
"Both," Kord admitted. "It's hard to know what's more concerning—the ancient force it warned us about, or the fact that destroying the nexus might've made things worse."
"We did what we had to," Jorath said firmly. "If we hadn't acted, it would've killed us all. We'll deal with the fallout later—like we always do."
She didn't reply, but the weight in her chest didn't ease.
Campfire Reflections
By the time they reached the safety of a sheltered clearing, night had fallen, and the group was too exhausted to continue. A small fire crackled in the center of their camp, its warmth a welcome reprieve from the frigid night.
Lyneth sat close to the flames, her usually confident demeanor shaken. She turned a shard of ice from the nexus over in her gloved hands, its faint blue glow casting eerie patterns on her face.
"This nexus wasn't just a structure," she said, breaking the silence. "It was alive, in a way. The Frostkeeper… it wasn't guarding it—it was bound to it."
Kord, seated across from her, narrowed her eyes. "Bound how?"
"It's hard to say," Lyneth admitted. "But when you destroyed the nexus, it didn't just destroy the Frostkeeper. It set something free."
Jorath frowned. "Free? That thing didn't look much like a prisoner to me."
Lyneth shook her head. "Not the Frostkeeper. Something else. The energy contained in the nexus—it was ancient, older than any magic we understand. And now it's… loose."
A heavy silence fell over the group.
"So what are we dealing with?" another team member, Arlen, asked. "What happens now?"
Kord stared into the fire, her jaw tight. "Now, we find the other nexuses. If this one was holding something back, the others must be doing the same. We need to figure out what's being kept contained—and how to stop it from spreading."
The Keeper's Warning
Later that night, as the camp settled into uneasy rest, Kord stood on the edge of the clearing, staring out at the distant peaks. The Frostkeeper's final words echoed in her mind.
"What stirs now is older than your world, and it hungers."
The stars above glittered like shards of ice, but they felt cold and indifferent. Kord tightened her grip on her blade. She had always been able to find answers through action, but this time, the path ahead felt like staring into a void.
"You're going to freeze if you stand out here too long," Jorath said, approaching quietly.
"I'll take my chances," she replied, though her tone lacked its usual bite.
Jorath studied her for a moment, then said, "You don't have to carry this alone, you know."
Kord sighed. "I'm not sure anyone can carry this. We're running out of time, Jorath. And I don't even know what we're fighting."
"Then we'll figure it out," he said simply. "One step at a time."
She glanced at him, a flicker of gratitude in her eyes. "You make it sound so easy."
"It's not," he admitted. "But that's never stopped us before."
The Gathering Storm
By dawn, the team was on the move again, the remnants of their campfire buried beneath the snow. The path down the mountain grew steeper, and the air thickened with the promise of an approaching storm.
As they rounded a bend, Lyneth froze, her eyes widening in alarm.
"Kord. Look."
Kord followed her gaze to the horizon. There, far in the distance, a shimmering column of light pierced the sky, its glow unnatural against the pale morning.
"Another nexus," Jorath said grimly.
"No," Lyneth corrected, her voice trembling. "That's what happens when a nexus fails."
The realization hit Kord like a hammer. The collapse of the Frostspire nexus hadn't just destabilized the region—it had sent a ripple through the network, and another nexus had fallen.
"How far is it?" Kord asked, already calculating how quickly they could reach it.
"At least two days," Lyneth replied.
"Then we don't have time to waste," Kord said, her tone steely. "Whatever's happening, it's accelerating. And if we don't stop it soon…"
She didn't need to finish the sentence. The growing tension in the air said enough.
As the team pushed onward, the distant glow of the failed nexus cast long shadows over the snowy landscape—a harbinger of the battles yet to come.