The Weeping Hollow groaned like something alive.
Its breath was the fog, its heartbeat the low pulse of the chained obelisk above it—one rhythm away from rupture. The air thickened the deeper Kael and his squad moved, weighed down not just by the marsh's dampness, but by the pressure of something ancient watching… remembering.
Drayke clicked his tongue, eyes locked on the massive chains. "Five left. The sixth snapped a few minutes ago."
Lyra's fingers trembled over her Sunveil Feather. "Each link has… names. Etched into the metal."
Kael stepped closer.
One link read: Veyl Solane.
Another: Drayke Arclight.
And then…
His own name.
"...What the hell is this place?" Drayke muttered.
"A prison," Kael answered. "Or a judgment."
A gust of wind howled through the hollow, and with it came laughter—not malevolent, but mocking. The sound of something that had already seen how the story ended.
Then the chains shuddered again.
Another snapped.
Four remaining.
Above the Hollow – Obelisk Awakening
The obelisk pulsed violently, and aura flared across its surface in tendrils of violet and black. Something was forming beneath it—a shape coalescing from the shadows.
It had wings.
Not feathered.
Not leathery.
But woven from regret and broken promises.
A creature halfway between spirit and god.
An Eternal-Spawn.
Kael's grip on Soulbrand tightened.
He didn't need a lecture from Zera to know what this meant.
Once an Eternal-Spawn fully manifested outside a corrupted dungeon, it meant the veil between dimensions had thinned. Meaning the other side was leaking through—and that meant something, or someone, was pulling the strings.
Lyra's voice cracked. "Kael… it's trying to speak."
The spawn didn't move its mouth.
But Kael heard it all the same.
"Did you like what you saw? That little reflection in the fog?"
"Do you understand now… why the strong fall?"
"You wield your brother's sin like a sword, Kael Arclight. But your chains are breaking too."
And then it screamed.
Not in pain.
In celebration.
Combat Initiated – Eternal-Spawn: Chainweaver of Noctheron
It descended like a comet—pulling chains from the obelisk, wielding them as whips of cursed aura. The marsh exploded in a radius of pure gravitational collapse. Trees shattered. The ground dipped into itself.
Kael activated Ashen Domain—but even his aura flickered under the creature's crushing pressure.
Drayke, already grinning, launched forward with a boosted Infernal Surge, fists blazing. "If I die here, I'm kicking your ghost's ass, Kael!"
The impact blew back the fog—but the Chainweaver barely flinched. One of its limbs twisted into a spear of coiled guilt and struck Drayke mid-air.
Lyra cried out, activating her Solar Shield Veil, catching Drayke just in time before the spear pierced his core.
"I can't hold it long," she gasped, radiant aura flickering. "Its attacks eat light!"
Kael was already moving. Burnout Dash. Soul Scorch. Fading Step.
He didn't fight the creature head-on.
He aimed for the chains.
Each one anchored the creature's physical form. If he severed them—
Clang.
Soulbrand struck the first.
It resisted, but a pulse of his brother's aura—buried deep in his soul—broke through.
One chain down.
The creature roared.
Kael's voice was quiet.
"Haaah… what a strong aura."
He didn't say it with awe this time.
He said it with intent.
Flashback – Ember Brood's Last Day
Kael stood in the flames of the Ember Brood's collapse.
His brother, Drayke Arclight—not the ally—but the founder, screamed at the sky.
"They abandoned us! We bled for them!"
Kael tried to pull him away from the throne chamber, but the Eternal whisper had already poisoned his brother's mind.
That day, Kael severed his bond.
But he didn't kill his brother.
He couldn't.
He walked away.
And that regret, that failure, was one of the chains.
Back to Present
Kael's body ignited—not in flame, but in Ash Rebirth, a technique he hadn't mastered until now. His aura twisted, adaptive, dragging in the Eternal-Spawn's own energy and repurposing it as fuel.
Two chains down.
Three.
The creature flailed. Whipped. Screamed.
Lyra fell to a knee, bleeding aura from her eyes. Drayke was back on his feet, using sheer rage to stay upright.
And Kael?
He had no words left.
Only purpose.
He broke the fourth chain.
And then—
The creature lunged.
Its heart exposed.
Kael struck with Soulbrand, not with power.
But with forgiveness.
The blade slid through the core.
And the Eternal-Spawn screamed.
Not in pain.
In peace.
It shattered into dust.
Silence.
The chains that had held the obelisk all fell.
But not from weakness.
From release.
The Hollow pulsed one last time, then went still.
The fog lifted slightly.
Only slightly.
Hours Later – Camp Perimeter
Zera appeared beside their small fire.
Unannounced, as always.
"You broke the loop," she said.
Kael stared into the embers. "What was that thing?"
"Your brother's guilt. Twisted by the marsh. Given voice by the thing that still waits."
"Still waits?"
Zera's smile was thin. "The Eternal behind the fall of Emberdeep. The one you haven't met yet."
Kael didn't flinch.
He simply nodded.
Then stood.
"We find them next."