The Order is eternal.

  It has never changed.

  It will never change.

  Aelric’s vision blurred. His breath caught in his throat. Pain—deep, searing, all-consuming—crashed into him like a tidal wave. His knees hit the ground before he could stop them, his fingers clawing at the dirt as his entire body convulsed.

  It wasn’t a voice.

  It wasn’t a whisper in his ear.

  It was.

  A reality forced upon him, a law embedded into the very fabric of the world.

  Beside him, Veyne staggered. His body trembled, his breathing sharp and ragged. But he did not cry out. He had felt this pain before. He had endured it too many times to count.

  Kaela, however, gasped in shock. “What—what the hell is happening!?”

  Her hands reached toward Aelric, but the moment she touched him, a violent force repelled her, sending her stumbling back. Her heart pounded as she looked between the two of them—Aelric on the ground, his teeth clenched, Veyne barely holding himself up.

  This wasn’t normal.

  This wasn’t something she had ever experienced.

  And yet Aelric and Veyne… they knew this pain.

  Aelric’s muscles strained, as if an invisible weight pressed down on him. His heartbeat pounded in his skull, his breathing ragged.

  The Order is eternal.

  No, it isn’t.

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  It has never changed.

  It will change.

  It will never change.

  I will make it change.

  The pain intensified, as if the world itself rejected his defiance. Blood trickled from his lip as he bit down, grounding himself in the pain.

  He would not submit.

  And then, as suddenly as it had begun, the pressure lifted.

  Aelric exhaled sharply. His vision cleared. His strength returned.

  Kaela looked at him, then at Veyne, her expression dark. “What the hell wasthat?”

  Veyne wiped the sweat from his brow, his expression grim. “You don’t know?”

  “How would I know!?” she snapped. “That’s never happened before! That’s not normal!”

  Aelric stood slowly, brushing dirt from his hands. “It happens to everyone.”

  Kaela’s breath caught. “What?”

  Veyne nodded. “Not to you, because you were in the underground city all your life. The barrier protected you.” He looked down at his hands, flexing his fingers. “But to the rest of the world… this is a reality.”

  Kaela clenched her fists. “You’re saying people just—randomly collapse in pain!?”

  Aelric met her eyes. “Yes.”

  Kaela’s hands trembled. Her mind reeled at the thought. This… this was what the world outside the underground city had been enduring? No wonder everyone was so broken. So hopeless.

  No wonder they needed to destroy the Order.

  Aelric turned his gaze forward. “Come on. We’ve lost enough time already.”

  Far from where they stood, the Order stirred.

  In a dark chamber, robed figures gathered, their faces hidden in shadow. A floating sigil pulsed in the air between them, glowing with an eerie light.

  One of them spoke. “Resistance has surfaced.”

  Another tilted their head. “It never lasts. Yet it is… amusing to watch them struggle.”

  A third voice, sharper than the others, cut through the silence. “The Hound is already on the move. Let us see what remains of their defiance once it arrives.”

  In the shadows, a figure moved—silent, unnatural. Its body was human, but the way it walked, the way it moved, was not. It was a mockery of life, a vessel that no longer belonged to itself.

  Yulong.

  Or at least, what remained of him.

  His mind screamed in silence, locked within a prison of his own flesh. He did not control his steps. He did not command his movements. The Order had stripped him of everything—his will, his freedom, his family.

  And now, they used him as a weapon against those who dared to resist.

  His body surged forward, following an unseen command.

  Towards Aelric.

  Towards his next hunt.

  Aelric, Kaela, and Veyne continued their journey. The weight of what had just happened still lingered, but they had no time to dwell on it.

  The road ahead was treacherous, winding through barren lands and forgotten ruins. The once-thriving villages they passed were little more than shells of their former selves. Houses stood empty, their walls cracked and broken. The few people they saw moved like ghosts—hollow, drained of hope.

  Kaela kicked a loose stone. “This place… it’s worse than I thought.”

  Veyne’s gaze was hard. “The Order did this.”

  Aelric remained silent, but he agreed. The longer they traveled, the clearer it became—the Order had not just taken control of the world. It had bled it dry.

  They were nearing the supposed location of the rumored forest. But even with all the information they had gathered, it remained elusive—hidden from sight, as if it did not want to be found.

  They would have to keep searching.

  But first, they needed to survive.

  And somewhere, in the distance, something approached.

  Something relentless.

  Something that did not stop.

  The Hound was coming.

  Chapter 19 ends