Chapter 140. The Secret City of Nethral

Eryndor’s POV

Things would never return to the way they’d been for any of us. A few days had trickled by since the invasion, yet even now we hadn’t managed to restore so much as a single wall or street in Aurion. The devastation lay bare everywhere: collapsed buildings, smoldering ruins, empty fields where homes once stood. The townspeople—once bustling with life—now wandered listlessly, their spirits crushed by loss and uncertainty. Each face I passed was lined with grief; each voice I heard trembled with doubt.

At the heart of the palace, the Radiant Circle members of the Sun and I confronted the High Seer about his intentions and strategy. Petunia stood at my side, her posture stiff with disapproval. Beside her was a woman I recognized distantly from my childhood—my master’s sister, Gertrude. She’d been away for years, and time had given her silver hair that she’d braided down to her waist. Her armor gleamed like burnished silver, each plate embossed with the b