And then—I stopped breathing.
It stood there. In the center of the massive chamber. A stone. Massive. Powerful. Colorful.
No—A hearthstone.
Gigantic did not begin to describe it. It towered over us, raw and ancient, its surface etched with veins of dormant light that pulsed slowly, like the heartbeat of something still alive. The air around it was thick, heavy with pressure that made my skin prickle and my mana instinctively recoil.
I had studied hearthstones my entire life. Royal-grade stones. Ancient relics. Even fractured giant cores recovered from battlefields.
This—This was on an entirely different level. Power radiated from it so densely that I could taste it. If I had not been standing there, witnessing it with my own eyes, I would have dismissed any report of such a thing as lunacy.
The king puffed his chest with unmistakable pride. "This," he declared to anyone who would listen, "is possible because of Lady Seraphine."
I turned instinctively.
