The wind howled through the cliffs of Elarith Peaks.
Cold. Biting. Relentless.
But none of it mattered to Kael Arclight as he stood at the edge of the broken spire, staring down at the valley below. The land still bore the scars of the Harbinger's influence—blackened trees, twisted stone, and corrupted remnants that pulsed faintly with leftover aura.
He clenched his fist.
His aura was changing again.
It wasn't just the Ashen anymore. It was evolving, mutating with every battle, with every life he took. Beast Flame. Celestial Light. Cursed Mist. Even fragments of the Harbinger's abyssal echo now coiled inside him. It made him stronger—faster, more adaptive—but it came with a cost.
He could feel his soul thinning.
"I heard you didn't sleep again," Lyra's voice called from behind.
Kael didn't turn. "I don't need sleep."
"You need balance," she said gently. "What you're becoming… It's not just power. It's consuming you."
Kael looked at his palm, watching as strands of multiple aura types spiraled around his skin. "I don't have the luxury of balance."
A silence settled between them. Then Lyra stepped forward, placing the Sunveil Feather in his hand.
"You saved me in that dungeon," she said. "I trusted you then. I still do. But if you keep walking this path alone, you'll lose what made you worth saving."
Kael looked at her—really looked. The worry in her eyes wasn't for the mission. It was for him.
"I can't promise anything," he muttered.
She nodded. "Then just promise you'll try."
Down in the valley, Drayke was sparring with a group of Sunspire trainees. His aura flared wildly, flames erupting with every strike. The trainees couldn't even touch him.
"Too slow!" Drayke shouted, ducking under a swing and slamming his gauntlet into the ground, sending a shockwave of fire across the clearing.
Zera leaned against a ruined column, arms crossed, observing the scene with a quiet intensity.
"He's testing them," she said as Kael approached. "Testing us all, really."
Kael raised an eyebrow. "For what?"
"For the war that's coming," Zera replied. "The Harbinger's message wasn't just prophecy. It was a countdown."
Kael sat beside her. "You knew this was coming, didn't you?"
Zera's lips curved into a faint smirk. "I suspected. That sigil he left—it was one of the Seventh Sigils. Each marks a tether point between the Eternal Realm and ours. When all seven awaken…"
Kael finished, "They break through."
"Exactly."
He sighed, the weight settling in again. "Then we stop the next sigil from awakening."
"It's not that simple," she said, eyes glinting. "Some of them are already active. Hidden. Guarded. And not everyone wants them sealed."
Kael looked at her sharply. "You mean there are humans trying to bring the Eternals through?"
She nodded. "Cultists. Forsaken Hunters. Exiles. And worse—there's another Revenant."
That night, a meeting was called inside the newly reclaimed Sunspire outpost.
Veyl Solane stood at the head of the war table, her presence commanding. The Vanguard had suffered heavy losses during the Harbinger incursion. Morale was frayed, and the Alliance between the major cities hung by a thread.
"The sigil left behind has confirmed our worst fear," Veyl said. "We're in a prelude to the next cataclysm. We've found traces of a second one—beneath the ruins of Lirael's Divide."
An audible gasp spread across the room. That region had been off-limits for years. Too dangerous. Too corrupted.
Kael leaned forward. "Send me."
Veyl's eyes locked onto his. "You just came back from a Harbinger fight. You need to recover."
Kael shook his head. "There's no time. You need someone who can adapt. Someone who can match the darkness."
Zera nodded. "And he has the Ashen Thread. If another Harbinger appears, he's our only shot."
Veyl hesitated, then finally relented. "Fine. But you don't go alone."
She looked at Drayke, Lyra, and Zera. "This is now a sanctioned team under Sunspire's banner. Your mission is to locate and contain the second sigil. If possible… destroy it."
Three days later, the team stood at the edge of Lirael's Divide.
The landscape was twisted beyond recognition—ancient trees bent like skeletal claws, rivers that flowed with dark ichor, and the constant sound of whispers that came from nowhere and everywhere at once.
"This place… it feels like a graveyard," Lyra whispered.
Kael drew his blade. "No. It's worse."
They began their descent.
As they walked, Kael began to feel something gnawing at the edge of his consciousness. Whispers… but not from the realm.
From within him.
A revenant… not alone… broken… incomplete…
He clutched his chest. His Ashen Aura pulsed violently.
Zera caught his stagger. "You okay?"
"Something's here," Kael growled. "Something like me."
Suddenly, the ground shook.
A massive glyph exploded beneath them, flaring with corrupted light.
From the shadows, a figure rose—cloaked in dark crimson, a mask of bone split down the center. His aura was like Kael's—ashen and abyssal, a fusion of death and flame.
Kael's breath caught.
"No way…"
Drayke stepped up, fists igniting. "Another Revenant?"
Zera's face paled. "No. That's not just any Revenant."
Kael whispered the name he didn't know he remembered.
"Riven."
The battle exploded without warning.
Riven moved like Kael—but faster, crueler, unrestrained. His blade was jagged, forged from the bones of dead monsters, each swing carrying a chorus of the damned.
Kael barely blocked the first strike, the force sending him flying backward into a crumbled statue.
Drayke charged, roaring, only to be flung into a cliffside with a flick of Riven's hand.
Zera vanished into mist, launching chains of cursed aura—but Riven absorbed them, laughing.
"Your tricks are weak, shadow-born," he mocked.
Lyra unleashed a burst of healing light to protect Kael, but Riven slashed through it with a grin.
"Light only burns if you believe in it," he sneered.
Kael pushed to his feet, rage building.
He wasn't just fighting an enemy.
He was fighting what he could become.
The air split as Kael unleashed Ashen Domain—a storm of adaptive aura that warped the battlefield. The sky darkened. The winds howled with embers and light.
But Riven smiled.
"I see it now. You're not a threat. You're just the seed. I'm the bloom."
Their blades collided, aura roaring around them like a storm.
The world trembled.