“A New Development”
Episode 11: The War Table
April 4, 2025
The moment Korrin Vale threw the lever, everything ignited at once.
Flames erupted from every wall, ceiling, and floor—streams of fire blasting out in a sudden, blinding inferno.
The heat slammed into him, scalding his skin and ripping the breath from his lungs. Korrin staggered. For one agonizing moment, he thought it might be the end.
The stone beneath his feet trembled. Gears groaned to life. The entire floor began to rotate as the scorched walls cracked apart and receded into the floor and ceiling. The chamber was transforming.
Korrin gasped, smoke clinging to his clothes. His cloak was scorched, his arms blistered. Pain laced through every movement. But he was alive.
New walls rose to take the place of the old—smooth and cold this time. The air filled with dust and the faint scent of oil. The roar of flame faded, replaced by the slow, thunderous churn of unseen machinery locking into place.
Then—silence. The mechanism stopped. The new chamber was sealed.
He now stood in a square room, dimly lit by thin slits in the stone ceiling above. Each wall held a massive mural, depicting a king at war—armies frozen mid-charge, their banners raised in carved defiance. There was too much detail to absorb all at once. They demanded study.
In the center of the room stood a massive stone war table, raised to waist height. Four distinct armies were arranged across the battlefield in poised formation. At the heart of the map were four ancient playing cards, each face up. All Kings. Each bearing the symbol of a different nation: Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, and Clubs.
His burns throbbed. His head ached. The last trial had already cost him dearly.
The puzzle had changed. And Korrin wasn’t sure what came next. He would need time to figure it out.