Chapter Twenty: Zélie

As soldiers breach Chândomblé, Lekan urges a swift escape. He opens a hidden archive and stuffs black incantation scrolls into Zélie’s pack, explaining she’ll need them to mature her power. The group slips out a secret exit into the jungle, but Zélie, reeling from awakened magic and haunted by spirits, insists on retrieving their lionaire, Nailah.

Hiding by the temple’s front, they spot Inan, the admiral, and guards advancing. Lekan casts a sleep spirit to silently disable two soldiers. Nailah attacks a third, exposing their position, and the fugitives mount and flee. Inan and the admiral give chase on leopanaires as the group races toward a rickety bridge Lekan identifies as their escape route.

At the bridge, they cross in sequence. Amari steadies the weakened Zélie while Inan and the admiral emerge. Lekan unleashes a powerful surge of magic, levitating and throwing the enemy ryders off the cliff, then immobilizing Inan and the admiral to buy time.

As the bridge fails, Amari leaps to safety and Zélie hangs above a ravine. Zélie climbs, slips, and plummets—until Lekan’s spirit lifts her into Tzain’s arms. In that moment, the admiral breaks free and fatally stabs Lekan.

Lekan collapses, his staff falling, blood pooling. His departing spirit floods Zélie with fragments of his life and purpose, leaving a final command: live and survive. The group is saved, but they lose their mentor and protector.