Chapter 79

• The stronghold was eerily quiet in the aftermath of the battle, the air heavy with grief and exhaustion. Amara stood on the battlements, her gaze fixed on the horizon as the first rays of dawn broke over the forest. The light revealed the full extent of the damage—the walls battered, the gates barely holding, and the ground littered with the scars of the fight. Her warriors worked below, tending to the wounded and collecting the bodies of the fallen, their movements slow and weary.
• She clenched her hands into fists, the weight of the artifact at her side pulling her down as if it, too, carried the burden of her failures. This was supposed to be a place of strength, a safe haven for the alliance, but now it felt like a fragile shell, one push away from collapsing completely.
• ---