Chapter 4 Fire and Steel

Breaking the curse meant facing the sorcerer who had wrought it. Aldric, once a mere soldier, now stood against magic as he stormed the sorcerer's keep, a fortress of obsidian spires twisted by unnatural energies. The sky above churned with storm clouds, lightning arcing like serpents through the air. Shadows twisted at the edges of his vision, shifting like living things, whispering taunts in forgotten tongues.

Seraphis flew above, her wounded wing struggling against the winds conjured to keep her away. Flames erupted from her throat, breaking the defensive wards that lined the keep's walls. Aldric carved a path through the sorcerer's minions-phantoms in armor, their eyes voids of endless darkness. His blade met spectral steel, each strike ringing through the halls like a funeral dirgeAt last, he reached the sorcerer's chamber, where black flames licked the air around a massive throne of bones. The sorcerer, cloaked in tattered robes, stood waiting, his staff crackling with dark energy. "You would throw away your life for her?" the sorcerer sneered, his voice ancient and bitter.

Aldric did not waste words. He lunged, his sword meeting the sorcerer's magic in a blinding explosion of power. The battle raged, steel against sorcery, light against darkness. Every strike Aldric made sent ripples through the chamber, and every spell the sorcerer cast drained the air of warmth and hope. Seraphis forced her way through the shattered roof, her fire illuminating the chamber in molten gold.

Weakened but unbroken, the sorcerer gasped as Aldric's blade pressed against his throat. "End it," Aldric demanded.

With a twisted smile, the sorcerer whispered the final truth: "You will never break the curse with steel. Only the heartstone can restore what was lost. But it is already shattered."

Aldric's grip tightened. "Then tell me how to mend it."

A low, cruel laugh filled the chamber. "It can only be restored through sacrifice."