The silence didn't last.
Noctheron never allowed peace for long.
Beneath the lifted fog and fallen chains, something stirred deeper underground. Not a roar, not a quake—but a resonance. Like an echo calling out to something older… and darker.
Kael stood on the marsh's edge, the ash of the defeated Eternal-Spawn still clinging to his armor like soot. Soulbrand, slung at his back, pulsed softly, its edge dull for the first time in days.
"It's not over," he said flatly.
Drayke exhaled, bruised and cracked but still upright. "How do you always know when we're screwed again?"
Lyra, pale and barely able to walk, leaned on her staff. "Because he's right."
Zera, sitting cross-legged atop a crooked, rotted tree branch, didn't smile this time. Her eyes were fixed on something distant. "That was only the sentinel. You've shaken the lock. Now the door will want to open."
Kael turned to her.
"Then let's kick it down."
[Subzone: Verdant Maw – Access Granted]
They found it at midnight, hidden behind the collapse of the obelisk—an entrance revealed only after the chains fell. A spiral staircase of bone and twisted roots descended into the hollow's throat.
No aura lights worked here.
Only Kael's ashen glow cut through the dark.
Drayke spat on the first step. "Who builds stairs like these? 'Hey let's carve a staircase out of spinal cords and sadness.'"
Lyra murmured a prayer under her breath.
Kael descended first.
Each step pulsed with whispers.
"He chose death…"
"You let him fall…"
"You're not his shadow—you're his grave."
Kael didn't speak back.
He just kept walking.
[The Verdant Maw – Dungeon Core Fragment Zone]
At the bottom, they reached a cavern too large to comprehend—like the inside of a dead god's skull. Hanging from the ceiling were shattered fragments of old dungeon cores, suspended in vines that bled black ichor.
And in the center—
A heartbeat.
Not metaphorical.
Not symbolic.
A literal, glowing, fleshy heart, pierced by thousands of weapons—swords, spears, relics, even bones—throbbing with what could only be described as cursed aura.
Lyra fell to one knee, overwhelmed. "That's… that's an Ancient Dungeon Heart. A failed one."
Zera finally descended behind them. "This is where a dungeon tried to become an Eternal—and failed."
Kael took a step closer. "It's still alive."
"Yes," Zera said. "And it remembers him."
---
[Dungeon Memory Sync – Initiated]
Without warning, the heart pulsed—and dragged Kael into a memory not his own.
[Flashback – Drayke Arclight's Last Descent]
Kael stood in his brother's place.
He saw through Drayke's eyes as he entered this same chamber—alone. He saw the moment the Eternal offered him a deal: strength, at the price of everyone else.
He saw Drayke hesitate.
Then accept.
The chains were forged here.
Not to imprison Drayke…
But to anchor his guilt to the real world.
Kael gritted his teeth, his knuckles cracking in phantom rage. "You let it take you."
His brother's voice whispered in his ears. "I didn't lose myself. I gave it away—to save you."
Kael's vision snapped back to the present.
The heart pulsed once.
Twice.
Then a face emerged from its surface—one Kael recognized from ancient texts Zera had shared. Eyes made of voidlight, hair like roots, and a crown of petrified grief.
An Eternal.
But not just any Eternal.
The one who corrupted Emberdeep.
Eternal Designation: Myr'veln, the Rootbound Sovereign
"Ahh… the broken sword returns," it whispered, mouth never moving.
Kael drew Soulbrand, and it gleamed with silver ash and flickers of violet.
Drayke stepped beside him, cracking his neck.
Lyra raised her staff, trembling but resolute.
Zera? She simply vanished.
Again.
Boss Battle Initiated: Myr'veln, Rootbound Sovereign – Phase I
The Eternal's form unfolded from the heart like a blooming flower of thorns. Each petal was a memory. Each limb a weapon shaped from regret. It didn't walk. It crawled through the air.
Its first attack was silent—roots bursting from the ground, trying to bind Kael's legs.
Ash Rebirth: Afterimage Step activated.
Kael moved like smoke, dodging and countering mid-air, his blade slashing through the roots—but they regenerated.
Drayke roared and launched forward, igniting the ground with Beastflame Barrage. He hit, but the Eternal absorbed the flames like nutrients.
"It feeds on our intent," Lyra gasped. "The stronger our emotion—the stronger it gets!"
Kael didn't hesitate.
He shut his emotions down.
Stone cold.
No rage.
No grief.
No guilt.
Only focus.
Ashen Domain: Zero Flame Form Activated
His aura turned silent.
The Eternal flinched.
For the first time—it flinched.
Kael's blade didn't burn now.
It erased.
With each strike, he didn't just hurt the Eternal—he cut through its tether to Drayke's memories.
Chains began to unwind.
The battlefield warped.
Roots died.
Petals crumbled.
And then—
Kael whispered it.
"Haaah… what a strong aura."
The moment he said it, Myr'veln screamed—not in fury, but in recognition.
Kael wasn't his brother.
But he had become stronger than Drayke had ever been.
And he had come to end what his brother began.
End of Phase I. Myr'veln retreats into the Heart Core. Phase II pending.