WoG Chapter 71

Chapter Seventy-One: Reckoning Forces

Ivin’s plan to trap the Face of Ulrikt atop Tomarok unravels into a deadly ambush by the Heretics of Rin, orchestrated by the Face, who manipulates events to fulfill the Codex of Sol’s prophecies. The chapter unfolds through multiple perspectives—Meliu’s struggle to overcome poison, Kinesee’s abduction and rescue, Solineus’s race to save her, and Ivin’s battle against treacherous priests—culminating in Ivin’s poisoning and a fragile hope for his survival.

Meliu’s POV: Meliu, poisoned by the Face with a dreamwater-like substance, awakens paralyzed and disoriented in a stone building near Tomarok. Struggling to move, she vomits bile and crawls to a rainwater puddle, drinking to ease her burning throat. Regaining minimal strength, she prays for Life and Light, climbing a treacherous mountain path toward Tomarok, guided by a White Lion who carries her partway. Her dual vision—seeing the battle atop Tomarok as a bird—reveals the Face posing as her, prompting her to unleash a massive ribbon of Light and Dark to signal Ivin. Exhausted, she jumps cliffs and sprints to the pyramid, finding Ivin poisoned and most clan representatives dead. Alone in the rain, she aids Polus, who survived a fall, revealing the Face’s deception. Devastated but resolute, Meliu joins Polus to find Ivin, clinging to hope despite the prophecy’s grim predictions, her survival fueled by divine intervention and determination to thwart the Face’s scheme.

Kinesee’s POV: Kinesee, intending to reveal her pregnancy to Ivin, hesitates as he departs for Tomarok. Lured by a false Meliu (the Face) to a secluded bathhouse, she’s ensnared by five Heretic priests, who plan to kill Ivin upon his arrival. The Face, manipulating her with a tale of a hunter and rabbits, places her pearl necklace in her bound hands, instructing her to rub it when a candle burns halfway. Defiant, Kinesee rubs it immediately, summoning Solineus, who storms the room with Sîu, killing the priests with the Twins and poison darts. Bloodied but unharmed, Kinesee urges them to Tomarok, riding bareback to the pyramid. Arriving amidst chaos, she finds Ivin poisoned, collapsing in despair. Sîu places a soul-catcher necklace on Ivin to tether his spirit, offering hope as Kinesee clings to him, her emotional turmoil intensified by the loss of her husband and the weight of impending motherhood, yet bolstered by Solineus’s swift rescue.

Solineus’s POV: Solineus, waiting in Endelêun’s central square with Sîu, senses Kinesee’s distress through the pearl, learning the Heretics of Rin hold her. Abandoning the Tomarok plan, he races across the city, guided by the pearl and a mysterious force, possibly the Lady, to a bazaar-like building. With Sîu, he locates Kinesee, bursting into a room where the Twins deflect a priest’s lightning, allowing him to kill four Heretics while Sîu fells the fifth. Rescuing Kinesee, they ride to Tomarok, where Solineus cuts through iron bars blocking the entrance, witnessing Meliu’s Light ribbon and the battle’s aftermath. Finding Ivin poisoned, he comforts Kinesee, his protective instincts and supernatural bond with the pearl driving his actions, though the Face’s escape and Ivin’s fate leave him grappling with failure and urgency to save his friend.

Ivin’s POV: Ivin, atop Tomarok, delays the clan meeting to await Solineus, but tensions rise as northern clans—Mulharth, Bulubar, and Tuvrikt—resist his Face accusations, walking out. A sudden priestly ambush, led by the Heretics of Rin, unleashes lightning and fire, killing clan representatives. Ivin fights fiercely, slaying priests with Eredin’s Glass, but Polus falls, and Leto is mortally wounded. Meliu’s ribbon of Light reveals her impostor as the Face, who shifts into Ulrikt, admitting to orchestrating the attack to crown Ivin or ensure his death. Ivin kills the Face, revealed as an unfamiliar blond man, but Leto, manipulated by the Heretics, poisons Ivin with Meliu’s dagger, fulfilling the prophecy of death by a friend’s hand. As poison spreads, Ivin spares Leto, binding his wounds, and collapses, seeing stars and hearing Kinesee’s pleas about their unborn twins. Sîu’s soul-catcher offers a chance for survival, leaving Ivin’s fate uncertain as he teeters between life and death, his leadership tested by betrayal and prophetic inevitability.

• WoG Chapter 70 — Prophetic Defiance
• WoG Chapter 72 — Queen of the Mountain
• Whispers of Ghosts — Main Chapter Listing