Spud relied on Alexi’s knowledge—decoding gestures, threats, and silences. But survival and friendship had become their truest language.
Now, Alexi writhed beneath a gnarled tree limb, his mouth half-submerged in mud. His first scream had faded to ragged breaths. The trunk pinned his chest like stone, squeezing each gasp thinner than the last.
Spud’s hands bled as he gripped the bark, the rough grain tearing his skin raw. Above him, the tree groaned—a slow, ancient sound, immovable and cruel. They had worked in disciplined groups of four, felling the prized Tiama trees, though neither fully understood why the wood was so coveted.
Each collapse came like a funeral dirge—slow, thunderous, final. When a tree died, even the insects paused.
Spud made no sound. Not with Alexi pinned beneath. Not with silence pressing in from every side.
Around them, the other slaves stood frozen. Some looked away. Kalif and Amina did not. They had worked alongside Spud and Alexi. They had seen the fire that refused to die.
Kalif met Amina’s eyes. A flicker of question: Should we help?
Kalif’s eyes flicked to Amina, then down to the mud. Neither moved. The swamp’s silence pressed in like a held breath.
Spud pushed harder, blood staining his palms, muscles trembling beneath the strain. The Tiama groaned above Alexi’s chest—unyielding.
But so was he.
Pain bloomed sharp and silent.
He was no longer just a boy—he was defiance made flesh.
Terrified of leaving Alexi to the swamp, Spud bore down with everything he had. Around him, the watching slaves mirrored not action, but emotion—fear, despair, and a stubborn sliver of hope.
As his calloused palms tore painful grooves into the bark, the Tiama held firm.
Then the swamp moved.
A creature slipped through the water—scaled, silent, watching. Amber eyes gleamed beneath the surface.
It was waiting. Waiting for Spud to fail.
He felt its gaze. Knew exactly what it meant.
Jaw set. Fingers slick with blood. Muscles tore. Pain surged—he welcomed it.
Alexi had to live.
The water thickened around them, roots clawing for grip. Death pressed into Alexi’s lungs—rot and heat with every breath. Insects buzzed like curses carried on the wind.
But Spud pushed.
The swamp watched.
The swamp conspired.
Each breath rasped. Each movement churned. Alexi’s cries faded—thin and brittle. Time slipped away.
Then—a cough.
Alexi lived.
Weak, but real.
Spud roared and heaved, muscles straining like drawn bowstrings. The tree shifted—but barely.
Vision blurred. Mud crept up his shoes. Flies hovered above Alexi’s blood.
The swamp held its breath—or maybe Spud did.
Heat pressed down like heavy hands. The air thickened. Time bled harder.
So did he.
The vow burned hotter: I will not fail.
Haniel stepped from the shadows like a blade unsheathed—sharp, cold, without mercy.
He moved with the easy confidence of one used to obedience.
A scar split his cheek from eye to jaw, pale as bone.
His pale grey eyes held no fire.
Just frost.
*
The camp fell quieter, even the clink of hammer on anvil stilled. Not just mourning a brother lost, but bracing for what this news might mean.
“Is this a gift,” Doonrul muttered, gravelly with years and knowing, “or a curse?”
The words settled heavy as forge coals.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhgX9lNwid
Elron said nothing.
Ina stepped closer, weathered hands twisting together—fingers calloused from years wielding axes and bearing burdens. Her gaze was sharp as a warrior’s blade—steady, unyielding, carrying the weight of what was yet to come.
“There’s more,” she said, voice low but clear. “The messenger wore a dark blue cloak. Embroidered with stars and moons.”
Her words settled over the camp like a heavy fog—carefully measured, bad news wrapped in steel.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡef8T3hQ6yB
“He said he’d arrive tonight. Wants to speak with Timmy.”
Elron’s jaw clenched, memory flickering like a ghost through smoke—torches dancing, a cloaked figure shrouded in shadow, a voice wrapped in riddles and sorcery. The magician who had come before.
“The one who gave Timmy his armor,” Elron murmured, voice gravelly with age and knowing. “Gave me my hammer too.”
Ina nodded slowly.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQzD9yYPWg5
“Paid gold. Enough to choke a vault. For just one message.”
Elron’s eyes drifted to the fire, flames crackling like whispered threats of fate. His chest tightened. Gold and prophecy—dangerous kin, bound to bring more trouble than promise.
*
The whip coiled in Haniel’s hand like a living thing—silent now, but simmering with a restless hunger. It felt as though it pulsed, breathing alongside him, a predator waiting.
His breath caught, uneven, sharp against thick swamp air.
Kalif’s hand shot out—just inches from Spud’s arm, inches from something like courage—but froze, caught by an invisible wall.
“Leave him.”
Haniel’s whip dragged behind him, a dark shadow poised to strike. The command shattered the stillness. Kalif jerked back, a tremor running through his body.
Even the wind held its breath.
But Spud stayed rooted.
The rough Tiama limb pressed hard into his back, bark biting flesh and bone. His arms trembled, muscles raw and aching, gripping the gnarled wood like a lifeline. His hands strained to lift the heavy weight off Alexi’s chest, but the boy’s face beneath the mud was slack, breaths shallow—almost gone.
Haniel’s boots squelched closer through the muck, a sinister rhythm matching Spud’s pounding heart. The whip dragged behind him—a serpent ready to strike.
His mouth curled—a small, cruel twitch devoid of kindness.
“I said leave him. That’s an order, boy.”
Haniel turned to Kalif and Amina with cold impatience.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5aPbEkitni
“Stop gawking. Get another team.”
They moved quickly—not from respect but from fear, the kind that settles in your bones, unshakable. Fear of Haniel. And now, maybe, fear of what he might become.
Haniel’s face was a mask of quiet authority—heavy, suffocating, like oil slicked over everything. He didn’t need to shout—his cruelty was a silent command. Worth was measured by obedience; mercy was weakness.
Spud had met men like this before—in the earliest camps, where kindness was currency spent only on the strong.
The whip snapped upward, slicing the air—a razor-sharp promise of pain.
Spud’s heart thundered in his ears, legs trembling like fractured glass beneath him.
His gaze locked on Haniel’s without flinching, jaw tight, lips trembling—not with fear, but with the fierce stubbornness of a man who refuses to break.
This man would not see the cracks beneath his skin.
Behind the defiance, a fragile flame burned—Timmy’s face, his crooked grin, muddy feet splashing riverbanks, whispered dreams of flying ships and kingdoms under endless stars.
Timmy had always believed in him.
And so, Spud would not break. Not here. Not now.
The swamp held its breath with him—the steady drone of insects, steam rising in ghostly tendrils from fetid pools, the weight of silence pressing down.
Haniel’s arm twitched.
The whip shrieked—a verdict delivered, not a warning.
“Move, boy—now!”
Spud did not move.
He held the weight. Held the memory. Held the line.
His body shook. Blood mingled with mud and sweat. Every nerve screamed.
But he would not abandon Alexi.
*
Meanwhile, across the camp, Timmy crouched alone, the rough edges of his armor catching firelight like fractured glass. His jaw clenched tight, lips moving silently—prayer, curse, or desperate plea—it was impossible to tell. His mind churned with memories and fears, the weight of absence pressing harder than the fire’s heat. His eyes locked on the flames, seeking answers in their restless dance.
Elron frowned, shadows creasing his brow.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2biSfOx3Z
“Could be the same one. Or someone who’s been watching longer than we thought.”
Ina’s words lingered like smoke in his lungs—thick and stubborn, hard to shake.
Elron’s gaze flicked between the alien’s cage—dark, foreboding—and the boy hunched by the fire, a tempest wrapped in steel and silence. The pieces were shifting. The night was about to change.
“If this is truth,” he muttered, “it’ll cleave straight through him.”
“Who else knows?” he asked, voice low, scraped with worry.
“Just Deklin. He’s hunting,” Ina replied.
Elron nodded, a heavy weight settling deep in his chest.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUeUw5HE8iP
“I’ll speak to Timmy.”
*
Under the shattered tree, Alexi wheezed—his body flickering, a spark barely breathing.
Haniel’s eyes gleamed. His whip coiled tight in his hand, a question waiting for the wrong answer.
Spud hunched, bracing.
The strike came. Pain exploded—white, raw, elemental. Blood mixed with sweat and swamp.
He had already buried a brother.
What was pain compared to that?
The branch shifted slightly. Just enough.
Haniel struck again. But this time, Spud didn’t cry out.
He reached beyond the agony—27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPnNKwFzEhQ
beyond the mud, the heat, the cruelty—27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgSQinAhZd
into the heart of something burning and unbreakable.
As the whip fell, Spud felt a surge of rage that wasn’t entirely his own—a distant fire blazing somewhere far away. Timmy. Somewhere across a void thicker than silence, Timmy was locked in a battle of his own, wrestling shadows that threatened to consume him.
Spud had never needed to roar. His strength was endurance—steady, unyielding. But now, that unbreakable bond between them—a thread woven through secrets, hardened by loyalty—flared fierce and wild inside him, a lifeline in the dark.
Memories fed his resolve. Yet beneath them lay a hollow ache, a cavern of absence where Timmy’s presence once was—a silence deeper than any lash, heavier than any weight.
Just as the tide of despair threatened to pull him under, Commander Abaddon stepped forward.
He wasn’t as tall as Haniel.
He didn’t have to be.
His silence spoke like thunder.
Eyes shadowed beneath a hood, etched with the scars of horrors no man should carry.
Abaddon’s gaze locked onto Haniel’s with quiet steel.
“Explain,” he demanded, voice sharp and unforgiving, “Why can’t you hold control?”
The question sliced the air—a blade severing brittle tension.
Haniel’s pride flared—muscles tensed, jaw clenched.
“He defies me,” Haniel growled, voice thick with bitter truth. “But I will crush him.”
Even in Haniel’s threat, there was grudging respect—rank bending to rank, strength recognizing strength. A silent acknowledgment of the harsh rules they all lived by.
Abaddon weighed the moment carefully, balancing Spud’s stubborn defiance against Haniel’s simmering pride. The cost of order hung unspoken between them—an invisible price heavier than any chain. His silence didn’t punish; it judged, pressing down like molten iron, hotter than any sun could burn.
Then Abaddon’s gaze shifted to Spud—cold, unyielding. Iron forged in the sharpest fire.
His voice cut through the tension, precise and unforgiving.
“Is that true? Fall in line—or fall apart. Choose.”
Spud met that gaze, raw and bleeding inside, every breath ragged, every muscle trembling with exhaustion and pain.
And he chose.
No words. No hesitation. Only the stubborn motion of defiance.
Hands pressed back against rough bark.
Blood dripping, mixing with mud.
He stayed.
Haniel’s eyes burned with seething fury. Pain was his currency—Spud’s endurance, theft from his grasp.
Then footsteps echoed—slow, deliberate. Three figures descended into the clearing.
The tallest wore no armor, yet command hung from his shoulders like a cloak woven from authority itself. His gaze swept the swamp with cold calculation—measuring, judging, but not intervening.
Spud felt the weight of that gaze settle on him.
But he didn’t look up.
He fought on against the tree.
“Unfair!” he rasped, voice raw with anguish and desperation.
“The tree was rotten! Alexi obeyed! Why must he die for someone else’s mistake?”
Haniel sneered, cruelty curling his lips.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbaU8g2yd8
Abaddon’s gaze sharpened, voice cold as rusted iron cutting through flesh.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTVNCRNkrkJ
“You are a slave,” he said.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS4dspb0ldF
“And you will behave as such. No more barbarian sentiment.”
Haniel’s whip twitched—gleaming like a serpent coiled, eager to strike.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxIjNERpWGu
Another lash. Pain screamed. Memory screamed louder.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jFfS0fsdg
Timmy’s voice—laughing, distant, unforgotten.
And something in Spud broke.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCwMVhgWsjp
“Felled trees go to the drying lines. Will you still demand it—once he’s dead?”27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnTnyaOYnM3
His voice trembled, but didn’t break.
Abaddon hesitated. Not mercy. Calculation.
*
He crossed the camp—past boiling pots and the sharp ring of whetstones, past tired dwarves whose eyes bore the ache of long days. Smoke curled through the pine-scented air, carrying old blood and sap on the wind.
But in Elron’s chest, only one name throbbed: Spud. The ghost behind every blow Timmy threw.
Timmy sat close to the fire, gripping a chunk of meat, tearing at it like a wild animal. Flickering flames cast jagged shadows across his face—too hard, too worn for someone so young.
Around him, the camp murmured quietly—the low hum of watchful sentries, the soft scrape of leather against stone, the hiss of embers rising.
Elron stopped nearby, heavy boots muffled on the cold earth. He carried no script—no words for ghosts.
The camp noise seemed to fade, swallowed by the silence pressing down on Timmy. He stared into the fire, its restless dance drawing his thoughts inward.
A face appeared in the flames—Spud’s grin, bright and fearless, lighting the shadows like a beacon. Timmy saw the reckless hope in Spud’s eyes, the challenge in his smile, the promise of racing home before the sun set.
Then the flames shifted, and the memory vanished.
Timmy’s throat tightened. The fire crackled on, indifferent—mocking the emptiness where his brother once stood.
He looked up. Blue eyes—sharp, wary. Behind the steel, something stubborn still flickered. Alive.
“What is it?” Timmy asked, voice rough with smoke and silence.
Elron met his gaze. His voice was quiet.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38Wox5ZImQ
“A message came. About your brother. The messenger said he’ll be here by nightfall—to talk to you.”
The name dropped like stone in still water: Spud.
Timmy’s face didn’t change. But something behind his eyes slipped—soft and sharp all at once.
He said nothing. Didn’t need to.
Spud’s absence had shaped every breath since—brother, anchor, mirror. The one who steadied the storm when Timmy couldn’t steer.
Elron glanced toward Darwin, stoic beside the spit, turning the boar beneath curling smoke. Meat and pine drifted on the dusk air, but none of it pierced the hush wrapped tight around Timmy.
“Cryptic,” Timmy muttered. “But I’ll take it.”
He looked up. Stars blinked through the twilight—stories trying to return.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ93hPwKsM8t
“Nightfall,” he whispered, then took another bite—slower now.
Elron lingered.
*
In the muck beside him, Alexi coughed—swamp water seeping into his lungs. Strength fading. Pain consuming.
Through half-lidded eyes, Alexi saw him—not broken. Still pushing. Still refusing. A brother—not by blood, but by choice. And that made it stronger.
Something in Spud shifted.
Breath quaking. Voice steady.
He rose. Faced Abaddon’s indecision, Haniel’s fury. And spoke—bruised but clear:27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCJRFVu6CKz
“No, Commander. I do not intend to disobey.”
Abaddon outranked Haniel—but the whip was Haniel’s domain.
Haniel snarled, “Obey—or die, barbarian!”
Abaddon didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t need to.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfrmr9Wca7I
His words came low, cold—a blade sliding through thick air.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV1tvzkwhqd
“Do you think you have a say?”
Spud didn’t flinch. His breath was gravel—rough, ragged—but beneath it burned fierce, stubborn hope. He held. Steady. Unbroken.
The whip cracked—cutting silence like thunder.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsfEAucLlGR
Pain exploded through him as he dropped to the ground.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTXLnrf6B6x
Still he refused to surrender.
A raw cry tore free—despair surfacing, hot and uncontrollable.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeQy7EJE933
But beneath the agony, something older stirred.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnmjtFACJif
Memory.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4rm5EW1fu
Home.
A crooked hallway where shadows twisted and danced.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIWcF2uKHEO
Bare feet against sun-warmed stone.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYfVSK7BOrj
Timmy’s voice—a beacon—calling across a river between them.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFCPENoDVHY
Tug-of-war battles, scraped elbows, whispered secrets sworn beneath a silver moon.
That bond—their bond—threaded strength through every aching tendon, tethering him fast.
He didn’t know if Timmy lived. Didn’t know if he searched.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5hxcIwaqJA
That silence cut sharper than any lash.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡovySP5zggp
Still—Spud endured.
Every eye fixed on him.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1SuNp8yuA
Every heartbeat froze.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNtk93E58fS
Haniel and Abaddon exchanged uneasy glances—Spud’s defiance catching them off guard.
Haniel sneered, venom curling his lips.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVkiBD3hkj2
“You heard the commander.”27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkz6W7olxH
Fingers tightened on the whip.
Abaddon’s voice cut through the charged air—sharp as iron, absolute in command:27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR69WvqJwgQ
“Stop.”
Haniel froze, knuckles white around the handle, caught between restraint and rage.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6tsC32KKkJ
“You leave me no choice, barbarian.”27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZ8YdaFhYP
Not a threat. A sentence.
Exhaustion clawed at Spud, breath ragged. Still, he rose. Bark scraped his palms—one more scar.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhMopKLfgOb
But he held on. Enduring.
Alexi watched in awe.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ967t7UwHFT
Haniel trembled with cruel anticipation.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEKwOPD2Uv
Abaddon hesitated—torn between duty and a flicker of respect.
“I care nothing for your words,” Abaddon said, voice edged with steel.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡym7FFWoh59
“Obey immediately—or face reprisals.”
The whip twitched in Haniel’s grasp.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwkTzc1H59B
Abaddon’s gaze locked on Spud.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0kj1PefhHm
“Do as ordered—or your friend pays the price.”
Fear flickered. Spud held.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0lppYVXvw
Haniel’s whip was no justice—it fed on suffering.
The crack came—sound and pain fused.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE24Rq7P2hr
Blood mingled with swamp. The world tilted.
Still—he endured.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGQSaEwSzrS
Not from strength.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgb6V1QtugD
From refusal.
“Please,” Spud whispered. “Enough.”27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJlvXHzZz5W
No shame in the plea—just exhaustion and a heart still trying.
For a moment, Abaddon’s expression softened—then hardened again.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOJCBf5SsMb
The whip fell. No compassion. No pause. Just pain—and memory.
Timmy’s voice—distant, defiant—rose in Spud.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPOxU0opvU
He clung to it.
Giving up meant death. Logic had no place in this world of power and punishment.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqgWZaguLLx
To survive, he had to pivot. Not defiance—strategy.
“You will see our loyalty,” he said, breath trembling.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1LoCEpnUzO
“We’ll work harder. Faster.”
His tone was measured, wounded, sharp.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUhZFb47rgC
Even the insects paused, as if the swamp itself held its breath.
Haniel didn’t blink. His eyes stayed hard. Unyielding.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2tqFZjLNJT
But Abaddon—he blinked once. Just once. A flicker of something buried beneath the calm.
Spud stood, swaying like a sapling in a storm.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡozffuO1Deh
Not pleading. Not weak. Just burning—fierce and raw, a quiet flame refusing to be snuffed.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR578xG8HxK
Behind him, Alexi wheezed—fragile, barely holding on to life.
*
Only months ago, these same woods had carried Timmy’s laughter—bright, reckless, full of hope.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA8pQrZjZRp
Now, silence clung like cold smoke from a dying forge—bitter and final.
War carved holes in men’s souls. But Spud’s absence carved deeper still.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2kFvaxSoRM
And yet, Elron saw something stronger than loss. Not just in Timmy’s blade, sharp and unforgiving—but in the boy himself. If the winds turned, he might rise beyond the shadow of pain and become something more.
Night draped the camp like a threadbare shawl—heavy with memory and unspoken fears.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq1CnlWJAup
The coming meeting whispered trouble through the trees, promises cloaked in starlight.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGtaYi1niw3
Timmy’s strange calm did nothing to soothe the restless air.
From the shadows, Ina’s voice was barely a breath.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwuA13Xtsqf
“Elron. The creature’s awake. And it ain’t happy with its pen.”
Elron didn’t rise. Only his eyes lifted—dark pools reflecting firelight like twin coals burning low.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXANqJSTGjZ
A dry chuckle rumbled from his chest, rough as gravel soaked in whiskey.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxwHKs4la8W
“Aye? Well, it can grumble all it likes.” His voice was a rasp, heavy with years and defiance.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTof2B1yNvx
“It don’t get silk sheets ’n honeyed wine. It’ll stew ’til sun-up, and then I’ll have words with it—or maybe my boot.”
Ina grunted, uneasy.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7DPKvy3hYZ
“It was makin’ noises. Not words. But like it’s waitin’. Watchin’.”
Elron’s jaw shifted under his beard.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7o4bVQyliI
“Good. Let it watch. Let it worry. I’ll not dance to the tune of some alien squatter.”
The wind shifted—smoke curling sideways through the camp like a warning.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRCERR2wFQS
Something in the dark held its breath.
Later, under the fading twilight, Elron stepped into the firelight.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsIm44IwFy0
“I stand with ye, lad,” he said, voice low, rough as gravel. “Come fire or fang, I’ll not flinch.”
He knew better than to charge in like a half-drunk axebearer.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD1XM57ScUE
Timmy’s calm was brittle—ice on spring stone: thin, dangerous, ready to break.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7vxK6hcWzr
So Elron chose his words like he laid mortar—slow, steady, sure.
“There was one thing,” he said, stroking his beard, rings clinking softly.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNHc8pjNL4R
“The messenger. Wore a cloak—deep blue, aye, with stitchin’ like stars and moons.”
Timmy’s hand froze mid-bite. His breath caught.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Dox7gJdKx
Eyes lifted—wide, wary, burning with old questions.
“Could it be him?” The words barely crept past the flames.
Elron nodded slowly, beard swaying with the motion.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSk1Nx6Z3OR
“Aye… could be. Can’t say for sure. But that’s the first name that stirs the coals, lad.”
Timmy stared into the fire.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5CnJwKqEQv
His lips moved—the shape of a breath too bitter to swallow.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFqe3ccZY3w
“Always did like riddles.”
*
The swamp clung to them like a second skin—thick with mildew, sweat, and a silence that swallowed everything whole.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2imeI0zelA
Here, cruelty was currency. The lash ruled as law. Mercy was a sickness—bred out of you, or buried under names that vanished like breath in mist.
Yet in the rot, something stubborn took root.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrpTDCSydhi
Not just survival. Something sacred.
Spud and Alexi had forged it in the cracks of cruelty—where no light was meant to reach, where hope was only a whispered secret.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZgGZKgPeFy
Now Spud held him—not just as protector, but as anchor in a world unraveling.
As long as Alexi drew breath, Spud could pretend the fire that once consumed everything still flickered somewhere beyond the ash.
He had never been made for defiance—not really.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFiBP4qpYSY
That had always been Timmy’s fire—in his chest, in his voice, in his wild, restless answers to a world gone cold.
But Timmy was gone.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXwDrqZOGVF
A name spoken only in silence.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUbvqy4srs
Unanswered.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW0oBv0TVxy
Lost.
The absence cut deeper than any whip could.
In Haniel’s eyes, rage burned—a predator denied.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsrVK1eAsv
Spud feared their next punishment might be fatal.
Then—
A voice. Not loud. Not shouted.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMeXUT2SAPZ
But absolute.
“I think that will be quite enough.”
It landed like thunder wrapped in calm.
The swamp stalled.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKoPMtIzHPK
Insects froze mid-wing.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgvnH5mymMP
Haniel stopped mid-swing.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkQ9F2WUxf7
Abaddon stiffened—mask cracking for a heartbeat in genuine shock.
Every eye turned to the speaker.
The figure on the steps was cloaked not in war, but in gravity.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7dsczYmU4
Authority didn’t cling to him—it bowed.
His tone carried no threat. It didn’t need to.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37Xcv8LpKy
It was not a request.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6uotyXhLH5
Not a suggestion.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡipr9MGrWTv
It was law.27Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBGSw64CaW4
and then Add to home screen.