CHAPTER 29: THE SOVEREIGN’S SIDEARM

Gunfire crackled in the courtyard of Dawnhaven’s Castle.

The Knights of Ferrondel, men who had for decades trained with sword and martial arts to counter Magi Spellswords, were now learning a new skill, one that would define the next era.

The magitech rifles fired in unison.

With practiced speed, the Knights cleared their breaches and slammed home fresh rounds, the extractors spitting out spent shells in a hiss of steam and faint ember glow.

They took aim again and fired.

Bayonets with Pyroclastic Iron blades, etched in the Architect’s runes, glinted at the rifle muzzles, their gildbrass hilts catching the morning light.

These were not ceremonial ornaments; they were built for killing at arm’s length.

Whether drilling in close-quarters work or engaging targets across the yard, the Knights, once a novelty in a House without blood heirs to fill martial ranks, were now a symbol of a world on the edge of total reformation.

Behind their enclosed plumed armets, eyes widened as their fléchettes ripped through the Ignarion spell shield Baelius had raised over the dummies.

One round, laced with the Architect’s penetrative magic, shattered the barrier outright, then carried on into the target behind, dispersing its fiery crucible light like a candle snuffed by a vengeful god.

Caedrion’s lips curved into a thin grin. In his hands, he twirled a different weapon entirely.

It wasn’t a rifle. It was a revolver.

Built to fire the same enchanted .410 fléchette shells. The weapon sat on a heavy Z-frame with a long cavalry-length barrel, some seven inches from breech to crown.

The loading gate and Abadie trigger were archaic by most standards, but Caedrion preferred the old-world reliability.

Like the rifles, the frame was gildbrass, while the working steel, the barrel, cylinder, hammer, gate, and ejection rod were crafted from enchanted Pyroclastic Iron.

The grips were something else entirely: carved from Elder Dragonhorn, a relic of a species thought long extinct.

They bore no crude checkering, only the flawless relief of Aelindria herself, rendered in a daring pinup pose.

It was a sovereign’s sidearm. A Knight Commander’s badge of office.

Caedrion drew it without ceremony, cocked the hammer, and fired a single shot into the sky.

The round struck the rustlight barrier overhead and vanished into total nonexistence.

The crash was enough. The Knights broke drill, ejected their rounds, spent or live, and came to full attention.

Flipping the loading gate open to disable the trigger, Caedrion holstered the revolver and stepped forward.

"These last two weeks you’ve trained admirably with the new weapons. Your marksmanship is sufficient for now. Continue your daily drills. But I have another task for you."

The Knights shifted only slightly, in anticipation, perhaps, or reverence for the man who’d armed them against foes they once could only delay, never destroy.

"I want you to begin issuing Magitech Rifles to the City Watch and train them in their use. New designs will come in the days ahead to support them, but for now, our law keepers must be ready to defend the city as soldiers in their own right. That is all. Dismissed."

They saluted and filed away.

Only then did Aelindria emerge from behind a stone pillar, eyes still wide from what she had witnessed.

In the weeks since their wedding, she had shed her restraint; she greeted him now with a fierce embrace and a kiss that drew them both briefly from the world.

"My little Knight... Were those shields truly at full strength?"

Caedrion slipped off his articulated gauntlets so he could cradle her face in his bare hands."Not quite. Baelius is nullborn, his shields are far weaker than those of a trained Ignarion Spellsword. But it doesn’t matter. These weapons will punch through a shield at full strength. And if they don’t?"

He smirked. "Then they’ll reload and fire again. That will do."

Aelindria gazed at him as if beholding an Eidolon in mortal flesh. Her voice was quiet, almost reverent.

"You truly are the heir to the Architect..."

Caedrion laughed softly, pulling her close once more, lips brushing her ear.

"You have no idea..."

---

Far beyond the walls of Dawnhaven, sitting just outside the barrier’s new boundary, the air stank of ash and overtaxed magic.

Valerius Ignarion stood atop the forward command terrace, a heavy fur mantle thrown over his gilded armor, his eyes bloodshot and his jaw tight enough to ache.

A group of Ignarion Spellswords gathered. Gathered around a brazier, which burned with their collective flames.

Flickers of the Crucible’s energy flowed between them, forming a giant magic circle with their own bodies as conduits. And then, the fire erupted from the couldron.

Firing off into the air and towards the rustlight barrier.

The barrier did not flicker.

It never flickered.

No matter how many times they launched the spell that would render any other city to dust and ash. Not the slightest crack emerged.

Valerius’ hands trembled, not from cold, but from the mounting pressure building in his skull.

Two months of ceaseless bombardment, and the cursed thing remained untouched.

"Double the cadence!" he barked, voice raw with strain. "No... triple it! Keep the pressure until their wards buckle."

His lieutenants exchanged uneasy glances. The orders had grown more erratic by the week.

The strain on the army’s spellswords was already staggering, and the supply caravans from the Ember Court were running thinner with each passing day.

"My lord," one dared to speak, "our reserves of soulglass are down to half-rations. We cannot keep this pace without risking collapsing the effigy!"

"Then dismantle it and build a new one!" Valerius snapped, slamming a gauntleted fist on the railing. "We are Ignarion! We do not wait for prey to starve behind their walls; we burn them alive inside!"

The lieutenants moved to obey, though their faces betrayed the truth. This was not strategic brilliance, but desperation.

Far below, the spell-bombs continued to hammer the barrier in glorious futility.

None among the Ignarion ranks knew that every strike, every surge of magic, was not weakening the wall but nourishing the engine buried deep beneath Dawnhaven’s catacombs.

An engine that was left behind by the ancient Eidolons. A crucible-heart that drank hostile magic like sweet wine, converting it into raw energy for the city’s defenses.

By nightfall, a messenger arrived from the Ember Court, riding hard under the seal of House Ignarion.

The scroll bore the hand of Veltharion himself, the Lord of Fire himself, Valerius’ father.

To my son, Valerius Ignarion, Commander of the Dawnhaven Campaign:

Two months have passed, and yet from our last reports you have consumed a full year’s supplies. You will dispatch to this court within three days a full and accurate ledger of all resources expended during the siege, including munitions, materials, mage-hours, and supplies. You will also send a candid account of your progress... or lack thereof.

Know that the coffers of the realm are not infinite, and your position is not unassailable.

— Veltharion, Lord of the Ember Throne

Valerius read the letter three times, his hands shaking more violently with each pass. The words weren’t just a reprimand; they were a warning.

He crushed the scroll in his fist and hurled it into the brazier; the flames devouring the royal seal.

Outside, the braziers filled again. And again. And again.

The barrier drank deep of their rage, glowing brighter with every blow.