The coins clinked onto the table, blood-speckled and dull, but enough. Kalen wiped his blade on a dead man\u2019s cloak and tucked the steel away. The sorcerer\u2019s tower loomed ahead, its basalt walls pulsing with violet runes. A warded door. No matter. He pressed his palm to the sigils, feeling the magic bite his skin, and whispered the incantation stolen from a dying mage\u2019s lips. The door flared, then crumbled.<\/p>\n
Inside, the air shimmered with unseen power. A single pedestal held what he sought\u2014a gem, swirling with trapped stormlight. As he reached, shadows thickened. The guardian rose, a thing of sinew and black glass. <\/p>\n
Kalen dodged, blade flashing, striking curses shattering against his skin. He plunged his dagger into its heart. The guardian shuddered, then collapsed, taking half the floor with it. <\/p>\n
Holding the gem aloft, he grinned. Power enough for revenge. But at what cost? Behind him, the runes on the walls pulsed again, brighter this time. A trap. And the hunt was far from over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Power is never taken without a price.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fantasy","category-fiction"],"_wp_attached_file":null,"_wp_attachment_metadata":null,"_thumbnail_id":"1158","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storyisinfinite.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}