Chapter 6 - The Sovereign’s Awakening
Inside the Vault, there were no mounds of gold or chests of gems.
In the center of a simple, circular chamber carved from pure white marble sat an altar. Resting upon it was a simple band of unpolished, dark granite—the Sovereign’s Circlet—and an ancient staff formed from petrified wood and raw earth crystal.
As Kael stepped across the threshold, the granite circlet drifted into the air, hovering before his eyes.
Outside, Grand Councillor Malakor unleashed a torrent of dark, fire-like magic, shattering Aurelia’s guard and sending her crashing against the stone wall. Her dagger skittered across the floor, falling over the edge into the abyss.
"Aurelia!" Kael cried out.
"Take it, boy!" Doran shouted, holding off two guards with sweeping strikes of his wooden staff. "Accept the lineage!"
Kael reached out and placed the granite circlet onto his head.
An explosion of blinding, pure golden energy erupted from Kael’s body. The rags he wore dissolved into dust, replaced by swirling, ethereal robes formed of glowing stone particles and woven ley-line light. The pain in his chest evaporated, replaced by an infinite, boundless strength that connected his consciousness directly to every grain of dust, every brick, and every mountain peak in the entire kingdom.
He turned toward Malakor.
With a single, effortless wave of his hand, Kael didn't cast a spell—he simply commanded space. The air pressure around Malakor spiked violently. The Grand Councillor’s dark magic vanished like smoke in a gale, and the traitor was slammed against the marble wall, bound tightly by bands of emerging granite.
Vane, panting heavily, backed away, his face pale with terror as he looked at the eleven-year-old boy now hovering inches above the ground, bathed in divine, golden earthen aura.
"You... you're a monster..." Vane gasped, raising his broadsword with trembling hands.
"No," Kael said, his voice ringing with the harmony of a thousand mountain peaks. "I am the protector of Oakhaven."
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Kael pointed his finger toward the parasitic drills driving into the Core. With a sharp snap of his fingers, the heavy iron machines crumbled into harmless red dust, freeing the floating crystal heart.
The Core let out a joyful, resonant chime, its emerald and gold light bursting outward, instantly restoring life to the subterranean cavern and flushing the dark magic from the room.
