章 220: Citadel

The air was cold and thin as Emily, Mara, and Calem climbed the last rocky ascent, their breaths forming misty clouds in the dawn light. They had been traveling for days through the bleak and barren lands of the Northern Expanse, following whispers of a place that most believed to be nothing more than a legend: the Silent Citadel. Supposedly hidden within the desolate cliffs, the citadel was said to contain ancient knowledge, secrets that had been lost for centuries. But it was also rumored to be a place of mystery and danger—many who sought it had never returned.

The final ridge opened into a valley below, shrouded in mist. There, half-buried in the mountainside, stood the citadel. Its gray stone walls rose imposingly from the cliffs, almost blending into the landscape. Towers loomed against the sky, each one capped with broken battlements and wrapped in vines as though the mountain itself had begun reclaiming it.