He wrapped one apple inside his coat for later.
Near noon, the king appeared on the royal balcony.
Trumpets sounded.
People cheered.
King Aldric stood beneath a canopy beside his queen and the young royal prince, Corvin, a boy of thirteen who looked profoundly bored by the entire festival.
Aldric was forty-five.
Tall.
Handsome in a severe way.
He had inherited a stable kingdom and spent twenty years making certain everyone understood stability came from him.
Behind the royal family stood Chancellor Malrec, dressed in dark robes.
Beside him was Valoria’s oldest scholar, Master Oren, who needed a carved cane to remain standing.
Elias barely noticed any of them.
He heard the heartbeat.
THUMP.
He stopped.
The crowd moved around him.
THUMP.
Louder.
Elias slowly turned.
The Guardian stood exactly as always.
Then—
THUMP.
This one was so powerful that pigeons lifted from the statue’s shoulders.
Nobody else reacted.
Elias’s skin prickled.
He began walking toward it.
A merchant bumped him.
“Watch yourself.”
Elias kept moving.
THUMP.
His breathing quickened.
Something inside the sound had changed.
Urgency.
Pain.
Fear.
A voice entered his mind.
Come.
Elias froze.
The noise of the festival faded.
He heard only his own breathing.
Then again.
Come to me.
He pushed forward.
People complained as he slipped between them.
A Royal Guard noticed.
“You there.”
Elias kept going.
“Boy!”
He reached the ropes surrounding the monument.
A guard stepped in front of him.
“Back.”
Elias tried moving around.
The guard caught his shoulder.
“Did you hear me?”
“It’s calling.”
“What?”
“The Guardian.”
The guard stared.
Then laughed.
“Move along.”
Elias pulled away.
The heartbeat hit again.
BOOM.
This time the paving stones beneath his bare feet vibrated.
Elias looked up.
One dark line had appeared across the Guardian’s ankle.
A crack.
New.
His eyes widened.
He ducked beneath the rope.
“Stop!”
Two guards came after him.
The crowd noticed.
People began murmuring.
Elias reached the Guardian.
Tiny beneath the enormous figure.
He lifted his hand.
A woman screamed from somewhere behind him.
“Don’t touch it!”
Elias pressed his palm against the stone.
Nothing.
One second.
Two.
A guard grabbed his coat.
Then the entire Royal Square moved.
BOOM.
People fell.
Market tables jumped.
Glass shattered in windows.
Birds erupted from rooftops.
A crack split the pavement beneath Elias.
The guard released him.
“What in God’s name—”
Golden light appeared beneath Elias’s palm.
Not fire.
Something brighter.
Ancient symbols ignited across the Guardian’s ankle.
One.
Ten.
Hundreds.