The air inside Frostreach Crypts bit with a cold that gnawed at bone. Eldrin's breath crystallized before him, each exhale a fleeting specter. His left arm, encased in jagged Origin Circuitry, pulsed faintlye- glacial blue light seeping through layers of bandages.
Blindness had sharpened his other senses; he could *feel* the crypt's malice, its ancient stones humming with Ophira's corruption. Beside him, Tira shivered, her hands clasped over the shard embedded in her chest. Its dim glow cast fractured shadows across the ice-veined walls.
Keep moving," Liora hissed, her voice brittle. She clutched the Essence Seeker, its needle spinning wildly. The fifth shard's resonance is destabilizing the crypt. Were running out of time."
Nim adjusted her spider-mech's cracked lens, its hydraulic legs scraping against frost. Tell me again why were trusting *her* map?"She jerked her chin toward Isolde's rusted key, clutched in Eldrin's numb hand.
Because we're desperate," Jace muttered, his remaining arm gripping a throwing knife. The resurrectedmercenary's face was gaunt, his eyes haunted. Three days since the Well of Echoes, and death still clung to him like a second skin.
Eldrin traced the key's creste-wolf encircled by thorns. *Riven's sigil.*
Isolde's final words echoed: *He was my squire." The truth gnawed at him.
Riven had died protecting a liea bond between enemies now bound by blood and betrayal.
The corridor narrowed, walls closing in like the ribs of a frozen leviathan. Eldrin's Grain flared as they reached a vaulted chamber. At its center stood three stone sarcophagi, their lids carved with the visages of frost giants. The air thrummedadissonant chord that set Eldrin's teeth on edge.
Titan puppets,"Liora whispered. Ophira's been here."
Ice cracked.
The sarcophagi burst open, releasing a gale of frost and decay. Three figures roseice-clad titans, their hollow eyes glowing with Essence Shard's azure light. Frost Giants, or what remained of them. Their chest cavities gaped, revealing pulsating shard cores.
Defensive formation!"Jace barked, hurling a dagger. The blade shattered against a titans armored chest.
Nim's mech lunged, plasma cutters screeching. Aim for the joints!"
Eldrin staggered as the nearest titan swung a fist the size of a boulder. He*felt* the attack before he saw itthe Surface topography burning a warning. Liquid shadow erupted from his palm, melting ice into steam. The titan recoiled, its arm dripping molten slag.
Eldrin, *left!*"Tira screamed.
He pivoted, chaos-fire intercepting a second titan's icy breath. The flames falteredhis pattrens leaching warmth, turning his blood to slush. *Too much. Too soon.*
Liora darted between the titans, her crystalline dagger carving glowing runes into the frost. Their coresdestroy the shards!"
A titan seized Nim's mech, its fingers crushing metal. She cursed, ejecting from the cockpit as hydraulic fluid sprayed. Jace, the grenades!"
The mercenary lobbed an explosive, the blast rattling the crypt. Ice shards rained down, slicing Eldrin's cheek. Blindness made him reckless; he channeled the patterns deeper, his fire turning cobalte- stolen shard's power.
"Stop!*"Liora grabbed his wrist. Youll bring the ceiling down!"
The third titan lunged, its core blazing. Eldrin's patterns◆.*screamed*. He slammed his palm against the titan's chest, chaos-fire melting through armor. The core pulseda-shard fragment, jagged and weeping black ichor.
Now, Eldrin!"Liora threw her dagger.
He caught it midair and *plunged* it into the core.
The explosion blinded even the sightlessness.
Eldrin crashed to his knees, his pattrens spiderwebbing with frost. The titan collapsed, its shard dimming. But the victory was hollowtheremaining titans advanced, their cores resonating with Ophira's laughter.
Fall back!"Jace dragged Nim from the wreckage of her mech.
Tira pressed her shard against Eldrin's pattrens. Theyre regenerating!"
The crypt trembled. Walls cracked, revealing obsidian veinsOphira's corruption, festering beneath the ice.
A horn blared.
Isolde descended from a hidden ledge, her Holy Hance gleaming. Pathetic," she spat, driving the weapon into a titan's core. Holy Light clashed with shard-energy, the collision igniting a shockwave.
Eldrin's pattrens flared in recognition.*Rivenns crest glinted on her armor.*
Why?"he demanded.
Isolde yanked her lance free. Because *he* believed in you."She tossed him a Holy Hance. Strike true, Chaos Child."
The final titan roared, its core cracked, tendrils of shadow spewing forth. Eldrin charged, the Holy Hance searing his Holy Lance. Holy Light and chaos-fire fuseda- maelstrom of gold and cobalt. He drove the lance into the titan's heart.
The core *screamed*.
Reality fractured.
When the light faded, the titan lay in ruins. Isolde's armor had split, revealing Core Energy Pattren beneatha- mirror to Rivenn's crest. Her shadow stretched unnaturally, fingers brushing Eldrin's grain.
You"-Eldrin recoiled.
The Frostborne's curse," she said coldly. Ophira's shards poison all they touch."
Liora knelt by the shattered core, her face ashen. The fifth shardit's not here. Its in *her shadow*."
The crypt groaned. lce melted into black sludge, Ophira's voice oozing from the walls:
*℃lever little pawns. But the throne is mine."
As the team fled the collapsing crypt, Isolde's shadow lingerede- puppet's grin etched in frost.
The game had turned.
And the puppeteer watched, laughing.