The Gallery Вђ“ Episode 2: Heart Of The Emberston... [POPULAR - Fix]

A sound like shattering glass echoed through the hall. The heat vanished instantly, replaced by a sudden, icy draft. The fiery tendrils retreated into the canvas, leaving Elias gasping on the floor.

When he looked up, the painting had changed. The vortex was gone. In its place was a quiet, ashen field under a grey sky. The glowing gem was now just a dull, dark stone lying in the dirt. The people were gone. The Gallery – Episode 2: Heart of the Emberston...

Across the room, the portraits of the Old Kings began to wither, their colors draining away as the Emberstone fed on their essence. The temperature in the room climbed to a fever pitch. A sound like shattering glass echoed through the hall

"You saved the collection," Silas said quietly. "But you’ve silenced the most beautiful song this gallery has ever heard." When he looked up, the painting had changed

Elias moved toward the light. In the center of the rotunda stood a canvas draped in heavy velvet. This was the , a piece rumored to have been painted with pigments ground from volcanic glass and the ashes of a forgotten kingdom. As Elias reached for the cloth, the pulsing grew stronger, a warm vibration that made his fingertips tingle. He pulled the velvet away.

Silas stepped out of the shadows, his expression unreadable. He looked at the neutralized canvas and then at the burn marks on Elias’s skin.

Elias grabbed his palette knife—a tool forged from cold iron specifically for "locking" rogue masterpieces. With a steady hand despite the searing heat, he drove the blade into the very center of the glowing Heart.