The silence that followed the closing of the Void Rift was heavier than the stone mountain crushing down above them. The grey static that had corrupted reality was gone, replaced by the damp and oppressive dark of the deep earth.
Valeria sat on the cold stone floor of the cavern. Her legs were numb. She stared at the empty space where the rift had been, her mind struggling to process the sudden cessation of noise. For the last hour the world had been screaming. Now the only sound was the harsh and ragged breathing of her family.
Silas lay on his back a few feet away. The Wolf Prince was naked, his fur singed off in patches, covered in a blue ectoplasmic slime that smelled of ozone. He was shivering violently. Every few seconds his body would flicker, turning semi-transparent before snapping back into solidity. The phase-shift through a singularity had unmoored him from local physics, and he was struggling to anchor himself back to the material plane.
Kael was in worse shape. The Golden Tiger sat slumped against a stalagmite. His metallic skin had dulled to a matte bronze, and he was not radiating heat anymore. He was freezing. The Solar-Fusion overdrive had burned through his caloric and mana reserves entirely. He looked like a statue that had been left out in the rain for a century, cracked and weary.
And Lucian was a chick.
Ignis held the small golden bird in his cupped hands. The Dragon Strategist looked down at the chirping ball of fluff with a mixture of awe and panic. Lucian had no memories in this state, only instincts. He pecked at Ignis's thumb, demanding food.
"We are alive," Valeria whispered. The thought felt foreign. She checked her system status screen.
[Mission Complete.]
[Void Rift Sealed.]
[Status: Trapped.]
She forced herself to stand. Her knees popped. She walked over to Kael and placed a hand on his shoulder. His skin was ice cold.
"Kael," she whispered. "We have to move."
Kael opened one eye. The gold iris was dim.
"I cannot," he rasped. "My core is empty. It feels like ash."
"You have to," Valeria said, though she felt the same exhaustion pulling at her bones. "We are five miles underground. The entrance tunnel is collapsed. The air down here is stale. If we stay then we suffocate."
Ignis looked up from the baby phoenix.
"We cannot climb the shaft, Valeria," the Dragon said softly. "Not in this condition. Kael cannot carry us, and Silas cannot walk. We are entombed."
Valeria looked around the cavern. The reality-glitching effects were gone, revealing the true nature of the space. It was a natural geode, but there were signs of construction. Ancient, brutalist dwarven architecture that had been hidden by the corruption.
"Ignis," she said. "The Dwarves didn't just dig holes. They built infrastructure. How did they get the ore out?"
Ignis adjusted his goggles, scanning the darkness. He limped toward the far wall where a series of thick iron chains hung from the ceiling.
"They used vertical trams," Ignis said. "Geothermal lifts. But the mechanisms have been dormant for a thousand years. Without a power source, they are just cages on a string."
Valeria looked at Lysandra.
The Necromancer was sitting apart from the group on a flat rock. She looked terrible. Her pristine white fur coat was stained with oil and blood. Her face was gaunt, the skin tight against her skull. She had used massive amounts of mana to pilot the mechs and control the battlefield. In this mana-vacuum of the deep earth, she was regenerating nothing. She was slowly dying of magical starvation.
"Lysandra," Valeria called out.
The Necromancer lifted her head. Her eyes were dull.
"What do you want, Duchess?" Lysandra asked, her voice cracking. "A eulogy?"
"I want a ride," Valeria said. "Ignis says there is a tram. It needs a jump-start."
Lysandra laughed, a dry and hacking sound.
"My mana is dry," she said. "I couldn't raise a hamster right now, let alone power a dwarven lift engine."
"You don't need ambient mana," Valeria said, walking over to her. She knelt so she was eye-level with the woman who had tried to kill them a week ago. "You are a Necromancer. You deal in life force. You can burn your own vitality to create a spark."
Lysandra stared at her.
"You want me to age myself?" Lysandra asked, incredulous. "To shave years off my life to lift you out of a hole? Why would I do that?"
"Because if you don't, you die here in the dark with us," Valeria said bluntly. "And because you are curious."
"Curious?"
"You want to see the tree," Valeria said. "You sensed it during the battle. The World Tree. It is the only thing that can refill your reserves before your body fails. You help us up, and I let you sit under the canopy."
Lysandra looked at Valeria's violet eyes. She saw the truth there. She looked at her own trembling hands.
"Fine," Lysandra spat. "Show me the engine."
They moved to the far wall. Behind a wall of rot, they found the tram station. A massive iron cage was suspended over a dark shaft that went upward into infinity. The control console was a complex array of levers and a central crystal sphere that was cracked and grey.
"It is a Soul-Engine interface," Ignis noted. "It requires a direct injection of spirit energy."
Lysandra placed her hands on the cold crystal. She took a deep breath. She closed her eyes.
Valeria watched as the Necromancer's skin turned grey. Her hair, which was black streaked with white, lost its luster. Wrinkles appeared at the corners of her eyes. She was burning her own lifespan, converting biological time into raw magical energy.
Green fire flared in the crystal.
The gears overhead groaned. Rust rained down like red snow. The cage shuddered and lifted an inch off the ground.
"Get in!" Lysandra shrieked, her voice cracking with strain.
Kael grabbed Silas, throwing the Wolf over his shoulder. Valeria grabbed the supplies. Ignis cradled Lucian. They scrambled into the rusted iron cage.
Lysandra pulled her hands from the crystal and stumbled into the cage just as it jerked upward. She collapsed onto the floor, looking twenty years older than she had five minutes ago.
The ascent was a nightmare.
The cage rattled violently, swinging from side to side in the dark shaft. The air grew thinner as they rose. They passed through layers of rock, seeing the strata of history cut into the mountain.
Silas groaned, his body flickering again.
"Hold him," Valeria ordered Kael. "Ground him."
Kael wrapped his arms around the Wolf, using his own heavy, metallic density to act as an anchor.
"I have you, brother," Kael rumbled. "Stay here."
Valeria looked at Ignis. "Where does this come out?"
"Based on the angle," Ignis shouted over the screeching of metal on metal, "it leads to the ventilation peak. The highest point of Frost-Fang. We are going to the summit."
The ride lasted an hour. An hour of darkness, cold, and the terrifying sound of ancient chains straining under the weight.
Finally, they saw light.
It wasn't sunlight. It was moonlight.
The cage slammed into a stop. The ceiling of the shaft opened.
They climbed out.
They were standing on the peak of the world. The air was thin and freezing. The wind howled around them, carrying snow that stung like needles. They were miles above the timberline.
"Down," Valeria pointed. "We have to get down before we freeze."
The descent was a blur of misery. Kael, despite his exhaustion, broke the trail through the waist-deep snow. Valeria supported Lysandra, practically dragging the weakened Necromancer. Ignis kept Lucian tucked inside his robes to keep the chick warm.
They slid, stumbled, and walked for hours.
As they descended, the air changed. The biting wind died down. The temperature rose.
Valeria looked up. She stopped.
They had crested the final ridge overlooking the Oakhaven valley.
It was dawn. The sun was rising over the eastern mountains.
But the light hitting the valley wasn't just sunlight.
"Look," Valeria whispered.
The Necrotic Dome was gone. It hadn't faded; it had shattered.
And in the center of the valley, where the greenhouse used to be, stood a Titan.
The World Tree was no longer a sapling. It was a monolith. It stood three hundred feet tall, its trunk as wide as a castle tower, made of silver bark that shimmered like running water. Its branches spread out over the entire estate, forming a massive canopy of glowing emerald leaves that blocked the harsh winter sky.
Under the canopy, there was no snow.
The valley floor was green. Silver grass waved in a gentle, warm breeze. The air shimmered with visible motes of mana, drifting like pollen.
"It's beautiful," Silas whispered. He had stopped flickering. The ambient mana of the tree was stabilizing him just by being near.
Valeria checked her System.
[Mission Reward Applied: World Tree Maturity +50%.]
[Current Status: Titan Stage.]
[Territory Effect: The Sanctuary.]
"Let's go home," Kael said.
They walked down the final slope. As they crossed the boundary of the property, the cold vanished. The air was warm, smelling of ozone and summer rain.
Thorne was waiting at the gate. The old Bear looked younger. His fur was glossy, and his scars seemed to have faded.
"You were gone a long time, Lady," Thorne said, opening the gate.
"We took the scenic route," Valeria said, exhausted but smiling.
She walked into the yard. The refugees were there. They weren't huddled in tents anymore. They were sleeping on the grass, basking in the warmth of the tree.
Valeria looked at Lysandra. The Necromancer was staring at the tree, tears streaming down her aged face. She took a step toward it, her hands trembling.
"Go," Valeria said gently.
Lysandra stumbled toward the trunk. She collapsed at the base of the roots. As she touched the silver bark, a wave of light washed over her. The grey in her skin faded. The lines on her face smoothed. The tree was feeding her.
Valeria turned to her husbands.
"We did it," she said.
Kael looked at the massive tree, then at her.
"We survived," he said.
"No," Valeria corrected, looking at the silver canopy that shielded them from the world. "We won."
She walked toward the farmhouse. She didn't want to think about the Guild, or the Church, or the demons that the System had warned her about.
She just wanted to sleep in a bed that didn't move.
But as she reached the door, she saw a new notification blinking in the corner of her vision.
[Territory Bonus Unlocked: The Spirit Spring.]
[Output Increased: 1 Pitcher / Day.]
Valeria paused. A pitcher.
She looked at Lucian, who was peeping hungrily in Ignis's hands.
She looked at Kael, whose core was burned out.
She smiled.
"Finally," she thought. "Enough for everyone."
She opened the door and walked into the warmth of home. The war was over. The season of silver had begun.