"Soul Seal!"
Safa and Raze shouted at once, rushing toward Rizz. Elena was already by his side, her healing aura blooming like a sacred tree around her son.
Rizz clutched his chest, his fingers trembling against the blazing mark that had surfaced over his heart. The pain was unbearable—but more terrifying than the pain was the sensation underneath it.
Something ancient.
Watching.
Calling.
His lips parted. "Why... does it feel like I'm... not alone anymore?"
Safa knelt, her hand glowing with white-blue soullight. She pressed it to the mark, trying to calm the surge. "No, no… it's too early. The seal shouldn't be awakening yet. He's still just a child!"
Raze narrowed his eyes, channeling divine energy into a containment ward. "He tried to merge light and darkness too soon. The Soul Seal reacts when balance is forced."
Elena stroked Rizz's head gently. "It's okay, baby. Breathe. Just breathe. We're here."
The mark pulsed again—this time slower, like a heartbeat syncing with Rizz's own. Gradually, the aura of the seal dimmed, curling back into his chest like smoke returning to its flame.
Rizz gasped for breath, then looked up with sweat dripping from his forehead. "What... was that?"
Safa didn't answer at first. She looked to Raze and Elena, then nodded. "It's time we tell him."
They lifted him gently and sat in the protective shade of the garden's divine barrier. Rizz leaned into Elena's arms, his eyes still glowing faintly with both light and dark.
---
✨ A Truth Wrapped in Divinity
Safa sat across from him, her aura calm but heavy.
"Rizz… you were born with a gift and a curse," she said slowly. "The Soul Seal is not just a mark. It's a divine phenomenon that manifests only in those whose soul bears two eternally opposing truths."
Raze added, "Your soul is not just Nephalem—it is echoed. There's another rhythm inside you. A mirror self. Not a twin… not a possession… but something bonded across time."
Rizz blinked. "Another me?"
"Not exactly," Elena said softly. "But yes… perhaps a version of you that never existed in this world… or hasn't yet."
He shivered.
Safa continued. "The seal appears only when someone tries to control both light and darkness at once. It's a trial—not of power, but of will. And you passed the first stage… barely."
"Is that why I saw… things?" Rizz asked. "A woman with silver eyes. A burning battlefield. A crown—"
Raze's eyes sharpened. "You saw a vision? Already?"
Safa closed her eyes and whispered something inaudible. "Then the echoes are beginning. That's faster than I feared."
Elena held Rizz close. "We need to begin his training immediately. And not just in magic…"
Safa nodded. "But in soul resonance."
Rizz glanced at his glowing hand. "Do I have to fight… myself?"
"No," Safa said. "You'll have to remember yourself. Who you are. Who you were. Who you could become."
---
🌑 Later That Night…
Alone in his room, Rizz sat by the window, looking at the stars.
He held out his hand. The Soul Seal shimmered briefly, then faded into invisibility.
> "Another me…"
"Another soul…"
"Why do I feel like someone is watching me… through me?"
He didn't know that, far across the continent, another mark had just awakened.
And a girl with silver-fire eyes had spoken his name in a dream she didn't understand.