Chapter 8 - The Battle of Oakhaven
The flying marble platform descended into the center of the grand plaza like a falling star.
Thousands of terrified citizens, gathered near the barricades under the guard of iron golems, looked up into the sky.
"Look! In the air!" a butcher screamed, pointing upward.
"It's the Princess! She's alive!"
"And the boy! The stone boy returned!"
Kael landed the platform in the center of the square with a gentle thud. As his feet touched the cracked, ruined cobblestones from four days prior, the fractured ground instantly healed itself, smooth granite springing forth like water to mend the broken earth.
"Citizens of Oakhaven!" Aurelia’s voice echoed across the square, amplified by the natural acoustics of Kael’s earth magic. "Grand Marshal Vane and the High Council have betrayed the Crown! They tried to murder me, they poisoned our land, and they held my father captive! I stand before you alive, protected by the true Sovereign of our realm!"
The crowd erupted into a deafening cheer.
"Treason!" the captain of the city garrison screamed, drawing his sword from the high barricade. "Golems, destroy them! Kill them all!"
Fifty heavy iron golems turned their glowing red eyes toward Kael and Aurelia, marching forward with earth-shaking footsteps.
Kael stepped forward calmly. He didn't raise his fists. He didn't draw a weapon. He simply raised his right hand toward the sky and closed his fingers into a gentle fist.
Across the entire city, the stone streets, the grand archways, and the stone walls responded.
The cobblestones beneath the iron golems’ feet rose up like waves on an ocean. Hundreds of hands made of solid, ancient granite emerged from the roads, grabbing the iron legs and arms of the constructs, immobilizing them in an instant. With a gentle twist of Kael's wrist, the iron hulls were peeled open, exposing their artificial cores, which Kael neutralized with a soft pulse of restorative energy.
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Within thirty seconds, fifty terrifying war machines were turned into harmless, hollow metal statues.
The corrupt garrison guards dropped their weapons in sheer awe and terror, falling to their knees before the boy who commanded the very city they stood upon.
