Chapter 10: The Tower's Teeth
The first sight of the Tower of Pale Fire came at dawn.
It rose from the mountains like a shattered blade thrust into the sky, spiraling in crooked tiers of black stone and ash-glass. Fires danced across its spires—not warm flame, but pale, colorless tongues that cast no heat and gave no shadow. The light bent around it like the tower hated being seen.
Anterz stood at the cliff's edge, eyes narrow.
"It's awake," he said.
Elaria said nothing. Her silver blade pulsed faintly at her hip. She could feel the pull now—not dreamlike, but magnetic. The tower wanted her there. Or something inside it did.
Behind them, the path twisted like veins—melted rock, old bones, shattered sigils scorched into the earth.
They were close.
Too close.
And they were not alone.
---
The wind changed.
Not colder.
Heavier.
Anterz's grip tightened around Valteris.
Then came the footsteps.
Slow. Measured. Echoing with hollow metal.
From the mist of the old path, three shapes emerged—tall as men, broader than horses, draped in armor that no smith could forge and no god could bless. Their helmets were sculpted from melted relics, mouths sealed by jagged plates. Each bore a different weapon—one a spiked flail, another a blade made of fused coins, and the third held a pillar of crystal, cracked but glowing with screams.
Elaria stepped beside Anterz. Her breath caught.
> "Those aren't just God-Forged," she whispered. "They're the Teeth."
Anterz looked at her. "Explain."
She spoke like remembering a fever dream.
"There were thirteen made in the final years of the Fall. Thirteen devourers, built to end immortals. Not to protect, not to judge—just to kill anything too strong to bury. The Teeth of the Tower. They were caged when the Fall came. But now…"
She looked at the tower.
"They've been released."
---
The one with the flail stepped forward.
Its voice was like fire behind iron.
> "Ruin-Bearer. Echo-Girl. You walk toward a threshold sealed in blood. You were warned."
Anterz raised Valteris.
"I forget warnings."
The second—its coinblade dragging sparks—spoke next.
> "Then remember pain."
The three charged at once.
---
The first clash was brutal.
The flail came down with a boom that shattered the earth. Anterz rolled aside, barely dodging, and countered with a rising strike—Valteris met metal, screamed, and tore away a chunk of the Warden's shoulder. The god-forged creature didn't slow. It turned and slammed the flail again, sending shockwaves through the ground.
Elaria danced between the other two.
The coinblade sang through the air—faster than it looked. She deflected twice, then ducked a wide swing and carved a line across its leg. The silver fire from her blade hissed into the wound, but the creature didn't falter.
The third—crystal staff raised—released a burst of light.
Elaria was caught mid-spin. She crashed into a rock, dazed, eyes flickering.
"Elaria!" Anterz shouted.
Then the flail-wielder was on him again.
---
They fought across the shattered pass—steel and ruin, fire and frost. Anterz moved like he was possessed, dodging, countering, channeling Valteris's strength with every breath. He struck high, low, reversed mid-motion, kicked the flail-bearer off its balance and slammed his blade into its back.
Red-black power exploded outward.
The creature roared, parts of its body turning to molten glass, but it rose again.
They didn't die.
They just slowed.
> "We are not enough," Valteris warned. "Not yet."
"I've noticed," Anterz growled, ducking a swing that would've broken his spine.
---
Elaria recovered.
Barely.
Blood ran down her cheek. Her eyes glowed silver-white now—not light, but memory.
"I remember something," she said, spitting blood. "One of the Teeth has a name. The one with the flail. It was called Carthaan, the Unbroken Jaw."
Anterz blocked another strike. "Any idea how to break it?"
"Just one."
She stabbed her silver blade into the ground.
It pulsed.
Rings of light spread from the point of contact—pushing the fog back, revealing glyphs on the earth no one had seen in centuries.
> "This was a gate once," she whispered. "And gates hold commands."
The glyphs lit.
The coinblade-wielder charged her.
She didn't move.
The light rose like chains, wrapped the creature mid-swing, and tore it backward—dragging it into the earth like the stone itself was swallowing it.
Anterz stared. "How did you—?"
She turned toward him, eyes brighter.
"I'm not just an echo. I was a keeper once. Of forbidden locks. My soul still remembers."
---
But two still stood.
Carthaan roared and struck again—his flail cracked the mountain wall, loosing a landslide of dust and stone.
Anterz leapt forward, ducked, spun under the next strike, and plunged Valteris into the creature's gut.
It grabbed him by the throat.
Lifted him.
Squeezed.
His vision darkened.
Valteris screamed in his mind.
> "Do it. Say it. Say the old word."
Anterz didn't know what that meant.
But something rose in his throat—ancient and foul.
He spoke it.
> "Kha-venar."
The rune on Valteris's blade ignited.
The sword split apart.
Not breaking—unfolding.
Its blade tripled in length, screaming as molten red tendrils lashed out from its edges like burning vines. It bit through the Warden's hand, through its chest, out its back.
The creature dropped him.
Staggered.
And collapsed into burning ruin.
---
The final god-forged—the one with the crystal pillar—backed away.
It did not speak.
It raised its staff.
The air turned cold.
A blizzard of light swept toward them.
Elaria braced.
Anterz threw himself in front of her.
The beam struck him full on.
---
When the light faded, he was kneeling.
Breathing.
Alive.
Valteris hissed, "It wanted to see what we could endure."
The final creature vanished in a blink, fading into mist as if its purpose was fulfilled.
Anterz stood, shaking off the smoke.
"That wasn't an attack," he said. "That was a warning shot."
Elaria nodded slowly.
"They're testing us."
---
They rested beneath a broken archway hours later.
The tower loomed close now—its pale fires pulsing with anticipation.
Elaria leaned her head against the stone, silent.
Anterz watched her.
"You said you were a keeper. Of locks."
She nodded.
"I don't remember how many I opened. Or how many I sealed. Just… that I swore never to unbind the Tower."
Anterz unsheathed Valteris.
The blade still pulsed red, calmer now. Almost… amused.
"I don't think that choice is still yours," he said.
Elaria looked at him.
"I know."
She lifted her silver blade, the one still unnamed.
"Whatever waits in that tower, it knows both our names now."
They stood together.
Watching.
Waiting.
And above, in the highest spire, something laughed with a thousand mouths.
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