Arcane: Sovereign Of The Broken City

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Chapter 14: The Fourth Cornerstone

POV: Viktor → Lynne → Cael → Ashryn

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[VIKTOR POV]

The blueprint glared back at him.

Not in the literal sense—though the lined parchment was smudged with graphite, smeared ink, and a small bloodstain from when he'd jabbed himself while sketching a custom gear-ratio converter. No, the glare came from how unfinished it all felt.

Viktor stood in his cluttered lab, a sunken den of metal and glass buried in the veins of the Sump. Mismatched lighting flickered overhead—modified glowcaps and chemical filaments strung from rusted braces. Tables were piled with half-finished constructs: limbs that twitched, valves that hissed, copper nodes waiting for a charge. The place reeked of solder, damp fabric, and something medicinal.

The converter Ashryn gave him was a marvel—no doubt. But it was half-built thought, threaded with potential, riddled with impossibility. She must've known that. Maybe she even meant it that way—to see if he was truly capable.

The smaller schematics were more manageable. He'd already recreated three minor devices. The most recent: a compact receiver that picked up short-wave pulses and pinged a signal—clearly a test.

As if on cue—

Crash.

The sump door slammed open with a squeal.

Ashryn stepped inside like the room belonged to her. Behind her, two unfamiliar teens. One sharp-eyed, arms crossed, scanning everything like it was a game of chess. The other, dark-haired, calm but observant, already halfway into reading the diagram on the wall.

Ash pointed at the receiver. "So it works?"

"I assume that was your intention," Viktor said dryly.

"The converter," she said, voice serious now. "It's missing a lot. Because that's all I could figure out. I don't need someone to work for me—I need someone who'll build with me."

She stepped forward, not a challenge, but an invitation.

"I'm asking you directly, Viktor. Will you help me?"

He didn't respond immediately.

Viktor's mind was too busy calculating.

He'd known Ashryn was watching him—ever since she started leaving those blueprints behind. Half the stuff she'd scrawled was nonsense, but the other half? Years ahead. Not just in theory, but in philosophy. Cold fusion, arc-reactors, kinetic weavers—Zaun had never dreamed of this.

And yet, what good was dreaming when you had no parts? He lacked materials, access, funding, support. Everything required a chembaron's nod to move forward. And the chembarons didn't dream. They controlled. Dominated. Stifled.

She was right. The converter could take years. Even longer without help.

But she had helped. She had given him the starting pieces—more than he'd ever had.

And now she offered something else.

A chance.

"What is your plan?"

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[LYNNE POV]

Ash's turf was a rough patch in the Cauldron—but under her, it moved. Not like a gang. More like a beast learning to walk. Controlled, lean, coiled with intent.

Lynne had spent the last month exploring it and, for the first time, doing something else: studying. Not memorizing. Understanding.

She'd converted an abandoned storeroom into a mini lab. She re-read all her scavenged books and notes—actually read, not just recalled. She botched more than she succeeded, but slowly, surely, she started getting it.

It was humbling.

And Viktor's lab?

Even more so.

The moment she stepped inside, Lynne's mind lit up. The tools, the diagrams, the experimental rigs—this wasn't trial and error. It was precision. Complexity layered with care. Viktor hadn't built a workshop. He'd carved a cathedral of ideas from rust and fire.

She pretended to be casual, but her fingers twitched to touch every mechanism.

When Ash posed the question, Lynne already knew the answer.

Anyone who saw what Viktor had built and didn't want to be part of that? Foolish.

And Viktor… he looked different from what she expected. Taller. Gaunter. Older, but not tired. Just focused. As if the world was made of locks and his purpose was to find the key for each one.

Lynne admired that.

It made her even more certain.

She belonged here.

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[CAEL POV]

Cael never trusted scientists.

They always looked past you. Past the walls. Past the world. Their heads were always filled with gears, wires, formulas—never people.

But Viktor?

He studied them the way Cael studied threats.

That earned a sliver of respect.

Cael spent the last month drifting across Ash's turf, testing its pressure points. It held firm. She didn't just absorb gangs—she rewired their loyalties. Fear alone couldn't have done that. She had earned something else.

He spent time with Lynne, too. She was sharper than she let on. Not clever in the showy way—but deep, buried under too many layers of info and not enough trust. He liked her better than most.

But Ash?

She still unnerved him.

Not because she was unpredictable—but because she was too predictable.

She always followed through.

That kind of person… changed things.

Now she was betting on Viktor. Big bet.

And from what Cael could see, it might just pay off.

He looked around Viktor's lab again. The clutter, the sparks, the half-formed miracles. It wasn't his world, but it was impressive.

People like this… they weren't just brains. They were artillery.

And Ash wanted them on her side.

So maybe, just maybe, Cael could trust the direction she was pointing toward.

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[ASHRYN POV]

Viktor still hadn't answered.

Ashryn stood tall, letting her voice carry the weight of what she was building.

"My plan? Let's start simple. I'm going to turn Zaun upside down."

No flinch. No smile. Just intent.

"These two," she nodded to Cael and Lynne, "followed me without knowing my plan. They studied me. Made a gamble. Because they believed I meant what I said."

"I'm not asking you to obey me," she continued. "I don't want soldiers. I want partners. People who'll rebuild Zaun with me. And that takes one thing—trust."

Her voice softened. "You've already figured out what I'm aiming at. You're just scared that it'll break everything."

She stepped forward. "And it will. But only to build something better."

Another pause. The air in the lab buzzed faintly from the receiver, like it too was waiting.

She crossed her arms. "You've seen what I've done so far. And you've seen Zaun. You know it's not going to fix itself. If you really want to help—really want to change something—then stop waiting for permission."

Then Viktor, fingers still resting on the blueprint, said quietly—

"I'm in."

Ash grinned.

The fourth cornerstone was in place.

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[END OF CHAPTER 14]