As the Sisters explored the chamber, each examining aspects relevant to their specialties, I focused on understanding the diagnostic information the system provided.

  Through the crystalline network, I could perceive the palace convergence as a bright node surrounded by disturbance patterns—energy being forcibly extracted in unsustainable amounts. Smaller wells throughout the city created similar disruptions, though less severe.

  Most concerning were the spreading patterns of depletion—areas where currents had weakened or disappeared entirely.

  "The Phoenix's extraction methods aren't just inefficient," I said, the chamber translating complex energy patterns into comprehensible impressions. "They're actively damaging the network itself. Like drinking from a well by breaking it apart piece by piece."

  Willem, who had been examining the chamber's perimeter with a soldier's eye for exits and vulnerabilities, paused at my words. "Sounds familiar. Military leadership's been doing the same with border defenses for years—extracting everything of value while putting nothing back."

  The man had a gift for cutting to the heart of matters. "Exactly. The system was designed for sustainability, not maximum short-term yield."

  I tried once more to consciously influence the currents, focusing on a particularly damaged flow near the city's eastern quarter. The effort produced only the faintest response—like trying to divert a river by dipping my finger into it. Not nothing, but nowhere near enough to matter.

  Sister Morgana observed my attempts with analytical interest. "Your instinctive understanding exceeds expected parameters, but practical application requires techniques your bloodline memories cannot provide without training."

  "I need to understand why my ancestors built this system in the first place," I said, stepping back from the dais as the blue patterns faded. "What were the Balance Chambers actually designed to balance?"

  "The Greywers were Regulation Specialists," Hekate replied, her formal cadence suggesting she quoted from older knowledge. "Thy bloodline specialized in harmonizing currents between natural sources and human needs. Neither creating nor destroying energy, but guiding its flow to maintain balanced distribution."

  That aligned with the fragments I'd gleaned from both chambers—a sense that my ancestors had worked with the currents rather than merely extracting from them. The system they'd designed was meant to maintain harmony between consumption and replenishment, not maximize output at all costs.

  "So why build the convergence beneath the palace at all?" Willem asked with practical directness. "Seems like asking for trouble, putting that much power under rulers."

  "Probability analysis suggests political necessity rather than ideal design," Morgana answered. "Royal patronage would have been required for a project of such scale. The palace convergence likely represented a compromise between optimal engineering and political realities."

  A compromise that had eventually led to the Ley Line Walker bloodlines being systematically removed from power when commercial interests found their methods too restrictive. I wondered if my ancestors had foreseen their own downfall when they centralized so much power beneath the throne.

  "We've been here too long," Willem warned, glancing toward the entrance tunnel. "Temple security makes its rounds soon."

  "One moment," I said, reluctant to leave when I'd barely scratched the surface of what the chamber might teach me. "There's something else here I need to understand."

  I stepped onto the dais once more, focusing not on the currents themselves but on the chamber's purpose. Why three Balance Chambers in a triangle? Why a separate Central Chamber? How were they meant to work together?

  The knowledge came in fragmented images—Ley Line Walkers stationed at each Balance Chamber, working in concert to monitor the entire network. The geometric arrangement allowed for precise triangulation of disturbances. The Central Chamber served as both coordinator and regulator, where the most skilled practitioners could make system-wide adjustments based on readings from the Balance Chambers.

  It was elegant, sophisticated, and completely dependent on trained practitioners working together. Not something a single untrained Ley Line Walker could hope to replicate.

  Before I could pursue this line of inquiry further, Sister Circe hissed a warning from near the entrance tunnel. "Movement outside! Monastery security pattern—matching the temple monk's meditative breathing cycle—but with the aggressive edge of Phoenix training! Very distinctive!"

  Willem immediately moved to defensive position. "How many?"

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  "Four distinct breath patterns," Circe replied, her eyes shifting to a wary purple. "One breathing patterns shows the controlled depth of someone who's had Phoenix combat training."

  "Dr. Mourne," Morgana confirmed, her probability tools whirling. "Ninety-three percent likelihood based on approach pattern and team composition."

  "How did they find us?" I demanded, stepping off the dais as the blue patterns faded once more.

  "They weren't searching for us specifically," Morgana answered, her voice dropping to a near-whisper. "Statistical analysis suggests they're checking all Balance Chambers after discovering our interest in the archives. Standard Phoenix contained-area sweep protocol."

  "We need to move," Willem insisted. "Is there another exit?"

  Sister Hekate moved to the chamber's far wall, her fingers tracing patterns in the stone that corresponded to images I'd glimpsed in my connection with the dais. "Emergency egress passage. It will require blood recognition to open."

  Of course it would. Nothing in this adventure had come without literal blood price.

  As Mourne's voice became audible in the approach tunnel, issuing precise instructions to his team, I quickly pricked my finger with the knife Hekate provided and pressed the blood against a seemingly solid section of wall. The stone recognized my bloodline, revealing a narrow passage that presumably led to another access point elsewhere in the temple complex.

  "Go," I urged the others. "I'll trigger Circe's distraction devices."

  "Seventy-eight percent chance of capture if you remain," Morgana warned, already ushering Willem toward the exit.

  "Then let's improve those odds," I replied, stepping back onto the dais for a brief moment.

  The connection reestablished immediately, and I focused on the simplest possible instruction—a momentary increase in the chamber's ambient energy, nothing manipulative, just enough to overwhelm detection equipment.

  The blue patterns flared brightly, then subsided as I stepped away and hurried toward the exit where the others waited. Behind me, Circe's "distraction devices" activated with sounds like a dozen startled cats and flashes of light that painted impossible colors across the walls.

  Our escape passage proved to be another maintenance tunnel, this one sloping upward rather than down. Unlike the access tunnels beneath the palace, this one showed no signs of recent use—a lucky break, suggesting the Phoenix hadn't yet discovered all the system's secondary routes.

  When we finally emerged through a hidden door disguised as a storage closet, we found ourselves in a rarely-used section of the temple complex—a garden for private contemplation reserved for senior monks. Willem immediately scouted a path that would return us to public areas without drawing attention.

  "Well," he said as we made our way back toward temple grounds now busy with mid-morning worshippers, "that was illuminating in the most literal sense. Did you learn anything useful, or just that you glow blue in mysterious chambers?"

  "Both," I admitted, the weight of partial knowledge settling uncomfortably on my shoulders. "I understand more about how the system works now—and how little I can actually do to influence it without proper training."

  Sister Morgana walked beside me, her amber eyes calculating as always. "The temple chamber connection was sixty-seven percent more stable than your palace experience. Your control is developing, though manipulation capabilities remain rudimentary."

  "In other words, I can feel the currents but not direct them," I translated. "Like knowing a river exists but not how to build a dam or dig a canal."

  "A simplification, but essentially correct," she agreed. "Probability analysis suggests continuing exposure to the Balance Chambers will accelerate your developmental timeline, though not sufficiently for immediate practical application."

  "Then what was the point?" I asked, frustration slipping through my carefully maintained composure. "We risked Phoenix capture to confirm I'm still useless against whatever they're planning."

  "Not useless," Sister Hekate corrected. "Awakening. Thy connection to the Balance Chamber was stronger than anticipated, even if thy control remains limited. The knowledge gained serves purposes beyond immediate manipulation."

  She was right, of course. Understanding the system's design and purpose was valuable in itself, even if I couldn't yet work the controls effectively. The Phoenix might be pursuing the wrong approach entirely—attempting to force results that the system wasn't designed to produce.

  As we exited the temple grounds through a side gate, Captain Dureforge rejoined us, her expression grim. "Mourne himself is here with a team. They entered through the main gates fifteen minutes after you. We should move quickly before they realize they missed their quarry."

  I nodded, glancing back at the golden dome gleaming in the morning sun. The temple housed one of the few remaining undamaged nodes in the current network—a fact that suddenly seemed far more significant than before.

  "The Phoenix doesn't just want me for my bloodline abilities," I said as realization dawned. "They need access to the Balance Chambers, and the Central Chamber beneath the palace. Places only Ley Line Walker blood can fully activate."

  "That would align with observed Phoenix behavioral patterns," Morgana agreed. "Ninety-one percent probability that their containment teams have orders to secure access to all system control points."

  "Then we need to reach the other Balance Chambers before they do," I decided. "Not because I can use them effectively yet, but because we can't afford to let the Phoenix gain control of the entire network."

  As we made our way back toward the Covenant safe house, I couldn't shake the sensation that had come over me in the chamber—the profound connection to something older and larger than myself.

  The currents weren't just sources of magical energy; they were the lifeblood of the land itself, flowing through hidden channels my ancestors had worked alongside rather than merely exploited.

  Whether I wanted it or not, I had inherited not just ability but responsibility. The question now was whether I could grow into that inheritance fast enough to matter.