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  Chapter 31: Orsay’s Law

  Scene One – The Emergence of Orsay

  In a colossal stronghold of black stone, under a crimson sky, the very air trembled with the weight of approaching power.

  The wind parted before him… and Orsay appeared.

  He stood atop an ivory staircase that overlooked the dark courtyard of the fortress. Towering and terrifying, he wore a cloak made of living shadows that slithered around him like whispering creatures. His broad chest was covered in dark crimson armor glowing like molten lava, and half his face was hidden behind a black metallic mask with a single, unblinking, red eye in its center.

  His voice boomed like thunder… but moved with a slow, dreadful rhythm:

  > “Mavericks is dead? …A trivial loss. He was merely a key, and the door… is now open.”

  He raised his hand, and a dark aura surged up from the ground beneath him.

  > “From this day forward… no law shall stand above mine.”

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  > “I will spare no one… not humans, not kings, not demi-gods.”

  > “I will shatter balance… just as their spirits were shattered.”

  He turned away and walked into the throne hall, leaving behind shadows that moved on their own — as if obeying a command yet to be spoken.

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  Scene Two – The Forsaken Forest

  The knights, accompanied by the guardian Irene, had just departed the Eternal Tree that hid the kingdom’s ancient secrets, now marching toward a forest whispered about only in dread: The Forsaken Forest.

  From the moment their feet touched its ground… the very air changed.

  The trees were knotted, suffocating the sky. Each trunk bore either a skull or a dangling noose, from which hung ghostly bones.

  The wind here… sounded like mourning.

  Hanto paused, gazing up at a scorched skull swaying from a broken branch.

  > “All these bones… who did they belong to?”

  Irene said nothing.

  Her face shifted — her gaze haunted, as if the past itself clutched her throat.

  She did not answer.

  Hakora looked around, whispering:

  > “It’s like we’ve stepped into a grave… not a forest.”

  Even the soil beneath them crackled — like footsteps beneath the ground. The knights gripped their weapons.

  But nothing attacked them…

  Only eyes — unseen, hidden between the branches — watching.

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  Scene Three – The Floating Library

  After hours of walking through dread and silence, they reached a clearing surrounded by hanging trees. Suddenly… a light spiraled up from the ground, like a vortex of colors, and high above, a structure materialized — suspended in the air.

  A library… floating in the sky. Its staircases made of glowing, drifting letters.

  Irene spoke softly:

  > “We are here.”

  They climbed the letter-stairs, which trembled beneath their steps — as though judging each one.

  Upon entering the library… they found it impossibly vast. Endless shelves, books whispering between themselves, water-clocks ticking with the rhythm of souls.

  At the center… sat an old man, his face cloaked in shadow, one eye closed, the other covered in a worn black bandage.

  He slowly lifted his head and spoke with a broken voice:

  > “Welcome… Knights of Ash and Light.”

  > “You are… late.”

  Kain stepped forward:

  > “Who are you?”

  The old man smiled, as if the answer… was not ready to be revealed.

  > “I am the one who waited since the end of the First Era…”

  > “…and your book has yet to be written.”

  The light in the library shifted, and the ground began to tremble.

  > “But know this… Orsay has begun… and he will not stop until the dead of that forest… walk once more.”

  And the chapter ends… with a final shot of the forest trembling — as if something beneath it… is about to rise.

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