Thanex understood in that moment.
The realization arrived quietly.
Not with anger.
Not with shock.
Just a cold, undeniable clarity.
Legate Valerius had never intended to save them.
The truth settled into Thanex's mind as steadily as he kept falling through the abyss.
Canaries were expendable.
Everyone knew that.
The word itself carried the meaning.
Tools.
Disposable bodies sent ahead of real warriors.
People who carried supplies, triggered traps, and died when something went wrong.
And tools could always be replaced.
Thanex's body tumbled endlessly through the void, the cold air rushing past him like shards of ice.
The darkness pressed in from all sides, thick and suffocating, swallowing every sound and every flicker of light.
His skin prickled with the chill, and the taste of dust and ancient stone filled his mouth, bitter and dry.
The silence was absolute, broken only by the faintest echo of his own ragged breathing, distant and hollow.
His limbs flailed instinctively, grasping at nothing but the void, the sensation of weightlessness disorienting and cruel.
Time lost all meaning; seconds stretched into eternity as the abyss consumed him.
Yet amid the endless fall, his mind sharpened, focusing on the bitter truth that had settled like ice in his chest.
He was nothing more than a canary.
A tool.
A sacrifice.
The bitter irony was that everyone saw the resonants as champions of the human race, people of unparalleled strength and virtue.
Thanex couldn't even fathom why someone as power as Legate valerius would just let them die. That dude literally had the power to save them all.
Weren't they humans too?, was it because they were mundane, humans without power?
Sure the people who would usually sign a contract for the job of a Canary, were people from the outskirts, the lowly class.
But weren't people from the outskirts humans?, weren't those who signed up for the dangerous trips through the rifts; the canaries, humans?
Thanex was pretty sure they were all humans, he knew he had right to live as much as the resonants or the other citizens who lived a better life in the main city.
But now, as the darkness closed in, Thanex knew better.
The canaries were always meant to fall.
---
Far above, Legate Valerius stood alone.
The last of the canaries had vanished into the swirling mass of the dark rift, their desperate screams and struggles swallowed by the abyss without a trace.
The marble floor beneath Valerius's feet groaned and cracked, fractures spiderwebbing across the ancient stone like frozen lightning.
The temple chamber was dying, collapsing piece by piece into the void below.
Chunks of marble tore free, sliding silently into the abyss. Each fragment disappeared instantly, as if the darkness consumed not just flesh and bone, but stone and memory itself.
No sound.
No echo.
Just silence.
The golden glow that surrounded the Resonant flickered, dimming slightly as the power that sustained the temple waned.
In one hand, Valerius held the small relic case. It gleamed faintly under the fading light filtering through the shattered dome above, as a beacon of fragile hope amid the ruin.
He turned the case slowly, inspecting it with a calm precision that betrayed no hint of the chaos around him. The relic was intact. Secure.
Satisfied, he clipped the case to his belt.
The simple action felt final.
Behind him, the remaining Resonants gathered near the portal, their faces pale and tense.
The Rift exit hovered at the far side of the chamber—a swirling circle of unstable light suspended in the air.
Its surface rippled violently, distorted by the growing Subrift that tore through the temple's heart.
One of the Resonants glanced nervously toward the widening fracture beneath their feet.
"We should leave," he said, voice barely above a whisper.
Another nodded quickly. "The whole structure is collapsing."
Dust fell in thick clouds from the broken ceiling as another section of marble crumbled into the void.
The Subrift had grown larger, a massive wound tearing through the center of the temple. The abyss churned below like a storm made of darkness, its pulling force growing stronger by the second.
Valerius did not move.
He stood calmly amid the chaos, the wind from the Subrift tugging gently at the edges of his cloak. The other Resonants had already gathered near the portal, waiting, watching.
The air was thick with the scent of ancient stone and dust, mingled with the faint metallic tang of the relic case at Valerius's side.
The temperature dropped noticeably as the Subrift expanded, a cold draft whispering through the shattered dome, carrying with it the faintest echoes of distant screams and the crackling of breaking stone.
The temple's vast chamber seemed to shrink, the walls closing in as the Subrift's darkness spread like a living shadow.
The golden light that had once bathed the room flickered and dimmed, casting long, wavering shadows that danced across the fractured marble floor.
The air grew heavier, charged with an almost electric tension that prickled the skin and tightened the chest.
Valerius's eyes remained fixed on the relic case dangling from his belt, his expression unreadable.
The calm in his stance was a stark contrast to the chaos unraveling around him.
The wind tugged harder at his cloak, carrying with it the faint scent of ozone and the distant rumble of collapsing stone.
Behind him, the other Resonants shifted uneasily, their breaths shallow and quick.
The sound of crumbling marble echoed louder now, a relentless drumbeat marking the temple's demise.
Dust swirled in thick clouds, catching the fading light and turning it into a hazy golden mist that hung in the air like a shroud.
The Rift exit flickered, its unstable surface rippling like disturbed water.
The circle of light pulsed weakly, a dying star struggling to hold its place against the encroaching darkness.
The Subrift's pull grew stronger, a silent force that seemed to reach out with invisible hands, tearing at the very fabric of the temple.
Valerius's gaze shifted briefly to the portal, then back to the widening fracture beneath his feet.
The marble cracked deeper, jagged lines spreading like veins through the ancient stone. The ground trembled faintly, a subtle warning of the inevitable collapse.
"We must leave," one Resonant urged again, voice trembling.
Valerius finally nodded, his movements deliberate and slow. He turned away from the relic case, his cloak billowing as the wind intensified.
The other Resonants moved swiftly toward the portal, their footsteps echoing hollowly in the vast chamber.
As they approached the Rift exit, the swirling light flickered violently, threatening to collapse.
The air grew colder still, the chill biting through layers of fabric and armor.
The temple's walls seemed to pulse with the Subrift's dark energy, the very stones groaning under the strain.
Valerius paused at the threshold, casting one last glance back at the temple.
The fractures had widened into gaping chasms, swallowing entire sections of the marble floor.
The abyss below churned like a storm made of shadows, its depths unfathomable and endless.
Then, without hesitation, he stepped through the portal.
The swirling light enveloped him, distorting his form as he vanished from sight.
Behind him, the temple groaned one final time before the Subrift closed in, swallowing the chamber whole.
The void sealed like a wound.