Chapter 76

Plummeting from a mountain ledge, Maevyth is caught mid-fall by Raivox, who speeds her across Aethyria to the Rotting Tree. She enters alone, descending a skin-railed stair into a vast, web-laden cavern where cocooned villagers hang. Cutting one open reveals Mr. Thurman alive with blackened eyes; others, including Ms. Yarbrough, stir and hiss, confirming the lair’s horror.

Maevyth finds Zevander suspended in webs, unresponsive. The wrathavor emerges—Cadavros speaking through the monstrous form—and greets her. He tempts Maevyth with power and immortality, even assuming Moros’s visage, and proposes a “trifecta” of disease, destruction, and death if she becomes his queen. He claims he and Zevander share a curse, that he feels what Zev feels, and asserts the flame is the balance restraining Zevander’s lifelong infection; likewise, Branimir’s sablefyre curbs his spiders.

Maevyth rejects him, insisting on mercy over vengeance despite her past suffering. When Cadavros threatens protection only through her submission, she chooses death and crushes his grasping fingers to dust. Enraged, Cadavros dissolves Zevander’s bindings. Zevander awakens with void-black, infected eyes and a ravenous hunger, beyond Maevyth’s reach.

As Cadavros orders the pursuit, Maevyth flees through a nearby cavity into a freezing, fog-veiled passage lit by a green glow over lichen and writhing worms. Unsure if she is still within the tree, she calls for Raivox, her voice echoing in the dark as unseen watchers loom above, leaving her disoriented and trapped.