THE ASHES OF LIGHT ✔

Chapter Twenty-Six: Crypt

Everything was going according to plan.

It was like the world was destined to work in his favor, for the first time. For the past decades, Crypt had been met with bad things after bad things happening to him, without cease. It was about time that something worked his way.

To be fair, he had spent years working out this plan, making sure that there were absolutely no flaws in it. Every single possibility, everything that could go wrong, Julius Crypt had thought of an answer for.

It was perfect.

"Sir," the guards greeted him as he walked outside, following the group of Gallomians who had been inside his cave moments earlier.

Crypt stood at the edge, enjoying the bit of sunlight that was able to hit his face as he watched the group walking away, carrying Ashton along with them.

The blonde, who he assumed to be Ashton's daughter, looked back and met his eyes. Crypt grinned, giving her a small wave.

He could hear the guards standing in the shadows behind him shifting nervously, clearly unsupportive of his bold actions.

Crypt winked at them as he turned and walked back inside, unworried about what Valencia would tell her group. Not only was she new, but he also had Maddi there to defend him.

As Crypt made his way down the hall, his assistant, Zora, approached. She was more than simply his assistant—over the years of working together, she had become more like his research partner and advisor, knowing him better than he even knew himself.

"Ronan left earlier this morning and Maddi's group just left," she said, walking alongside Crypt. Her heels clicked on the stone floor, sending echoes down the hall.

"Good," he nodded. "Do you have the files ready for me?"

Zora nodded, "They're on your desk."

"Thank you," Crypt smiled, entering his office. It was a small room with one wall completely made of windows, allowing him to gaze out into the forest as he pleased. He had it strategically placed in the middle of the cave, looking like an ordinary room. Crypt never understood why previous rulers had their offices or personal rooms of importance so obvious to a new person entering the premises. If Gaiwei was ever under attack, only people who were familiar with its layout would know where to find him.

Zora was true to her word as Crypt found the large manila founders stacked neatly on his desk. Carefully placed next to the files was a locked black box, to which only he had the key.

Crypt sunk into his chair and opened the box, letting a smile creep across his face as he gazed at the contents with an expression of admiration.

There were a dozen vials, each containing the same dark substance. This was only one of the things that they had been working on for so long: creating shadows in a physical form that could be used as weapons.

In the past, the only times shadows had been given a physical form were when channelers merged them with light to create various items—swords, handcuffs, chairs, you name it. It had seemed impossible to create an object entirely out of shadows, as not only was it an incredibly dangerous substance, but it didn't like to be contained.

Crypt carefully picked up one of the vials and inspected it closely, watching as an air bubble rose to the top. It made him think back to six months ago, when his research team had barely made any progress at all.

"Are you ready?" Zora had asked him, looking for his nod of confirmation before continuing. Crypt was standing off to the side, merely supervising. They didn't know how dangerous this substance would be if it worked, and they had all agreed that it would be safer for Crypt to not directly handle it until they knew for certain what they were dealing with.