The Rift was quiet now. Not peaceful—just quiet.
Black stone glimmered with fading resonance as Kael stood alone, gravity gently folding around his body like a cloak. The battle was over. Elarys was gone. The throne had shattered.
But the silence didn't feel like victory.
"You didn't win," a voice said behind him.
Kael turned.
Aeris stepped from the shadows.
Still in her windsteel armor. Still as confident and unreadable as ever. But something in her eyes—guilt, fear, maybe sorrow—made her look more human than she ever had.
"I saw it all," she said. "I watched you almost become him."
"And yet you came anyway," Kael replied, not raising his staff.
"Because I had to know," she said. "If you'd break… or evolve."
Kael stared at her. "So what do you see now?"
Aeris hesitated.
"Someone who scares me more now than ever. Because you didn't just survive the throne… you rejected it."
"You still think I'll become him, don't you?" he asked.
"No," she said softly. "Now I'm afraid you'll become someone even stronger… because you finally stopped running from yourself."
A Warning Too Late
Liora arrived moments later with Sera and Darius in tow.
The look in her eyes wasn't relief. It was dread.
"Something's wrong," she said. "The energy we felt before—the one we thought came from Elarys—it wasn't just tied to the throne."
"There's another source," Sera added. "One deeper. More dormant. And now… it's waking up."
Kael's brow furrowed. "Another throne?"
"No," Liora whispered. "Another vessel."
She tapped a device and projected a map—one Kael hadn't seen before.
Deep underground, far beneath the Obsidian Rift… a second harmonic signature was rising. Faster than the last. Unstable. Loud.
Across the World
In the distant city of Vel Talem, inside a hidden vault protected by centuries-old seals, runes began to unravel. Glass cracked. Gravity shifted sideways.
A heartbeat pulsed through the walls.
And then—
A boy opened his eyes.
He was young. Maybe sixteen. Eyes pitch-black with crimson rings, hair floating weightlessly even in still air. He blinked slowly, as if remembering a dream he hadn't yet lived.
"I… know that name," he whispered. "Kael."
Then he smiled.
And the entire city's gravity inverted for two seconds — just enough to make everyone look up and wonder if the sky had shifted.
Back at the Rift
Kael felt it too.
A subtle ripple that tugged at his core. A frequency so familiar it made his stomach twist.
"What the hell was that?" Darius said.
"It's starting," Liora murmured.
"What is?"
She turned to Kael, expression grim.
"The awakening of the Third Vessel."