They found Seln in the outskirts of a forgotten village at the edge of the Ruptured Spire, where the sky bled crimson during dusk and the Laws faltered every few seconds. No guards. No wards. Just a quiet house built from salvage and silence.
Aion stood outside, his pulse heavy.
He'd dreamed of this moment.
To demand answers. To scream. To understand.
But when the door creaked open, and Seln stood there—older, weathered, but still carrying that quiet strength—Aion couldn't speak.
Seln simply said, "Come inside."
---
The inside was simple. Shelves filled with fragments of lost Lawscrolls, Nullbound trinkets, and broken swords. A place built by a man who had seen war and chose stillness instead.
Seln poured tea.
Kael blinked. "Are we seriously doing this now?"
Seln looked up. "The world ends often enough. Let it wait a few more minutes."
Aion finally spoke. "I saw him. Vaelith."
Seln's hand paused mid-pour.
"So… the Hollow Prince stirs again."
---
The truth came slowly. Bitter, layered, unflinching.
Vaelith was the first to fully awaken the Null in recorded history. Not through training, but by instinct. He could unwrite cause and effect. Erase armies from time. And when he turned on the Empire, nothing could stop him.
Until Seln.
Because Seln wasn't just Aion's guardian.
He was once Cardinal Seln of the Inquisition—a Lawmaster who betrayed the Empire from within. He sided with the Fractured Circle in secret, helping seal Vaelith in the void-tomb after witnessing what the Null could become.
"I left because I saw where it leads," Seln said, voice low. "Not just power. Oblivion."
"You raised me," Aion said, eyes burning. "Why hide it?"
"Because I wanted to break the cycle. I thought if I kept you away from both sides—Null and Law—you could live free."
"But I'm not free," Aion whispered. "I am the Null."
---
Outside, Kael watched the horizon flicker. The sky twitched. A low hum echoed beneath the dirt.
Something was coming.
---
Seln placed something in Aion's hand. A fragment of Nullsteel. Shaped like half of a broken key.
"I was given one half. The other is in Vaelith's crypt. Together, they can unseal the vault."
Aion stared at it.
"If I take this… I'm choosing the path you ran from."
Seln nodded. "Then walk it better than I did."
---
Far away, in the buried sanctums of the Crimson Engine, Maelrik's eyes snapped open.
He could feel it.
The Vault Key was awakening.
And the Nullborn was stepping through every gate they sealed.