#Chapter 127: The Broken Seal

The lockbox looked like it had been pulled from a grave. Its iron sides were eaten with rust, hinges stiff, a faint sour smell clinging to it. Nathan carried it into the strategy room and set it on the war table, his gloved hands deliberate. Richard and I leaned in while he worked the lid open with careful pressure. The squeal of the hinge sounded too loud for the hour. Inside, wrapped in a mildewed cloth, was a seal. Bronze, dulled with time, but the lines were still visible. A circle carved through with jagged intersecting lines, the sigil I had seen in fragments before. The Hollow Council. I reached out without thinking. Richard caught my wrist gently before I touched it. Nathan slid a vial of tracer ink from his coat. “We tag it now. Anyone who tries to move it will be marked.” He brushed the liquid across the grooves. Under lamplight the green shimmered faintly. I swallowed. Seeing it changed things. It was proof, undeniable, heavy enough to pull the air down around us. “Wha