The High Council panicked. Reinforcements were ordered. The litany was chanted twice as loud. But Kaelen stopped mid-walk one morning and pressed his ear to the cold iron.
The iron wall didn't shatter. It folded —neatly, quietly, like a curtain parting. Dust rose. Sunlight poured through the Arch for the first time in a century.
Silence.
But something changed when the tremors began.
Kaelen was a Warden's son, raised on duty and suspicion. Every morning, he walked the Barrier's length, checking for cracks. Every night, he recited the litany: What is blocked cannot harm. What is sealed cannot tempt.
And on the other side stood no army, no monster, no chaos.
The Arch Unblocked