The stairwell swallowed sound.
Each step down felt longer than the last, like time itself unraveled the deeper they went. The stone was slick beneath Kael's boots, the walls pulsing faintly with a light that didn't come from any source he could see.
Sera followed close, eyes scanning every angle, blade ready. She hated this—descending blind into a place built on riddles and old gods. But she trusted Kael.
And Kael… didn't trust himself anymore.
Iris led the way, barefoot, silent. The chains trailing from her wrists never touched the ground, but Kael could still hear them.
Clink. Clink. Clink.
They reached the bottom.
The stairway opened into a vast subterranean chamber—circular, with no ceiling, the stars above visible through a crack in the world. In the center stood five stone thrones arranged in a circle, each carved with a different sigil. Four were crumbled.
One remained intact.
Kael stared at it, throat dry. "What is this place?"
Iris turned slowly. "The Circle of the Bound. The ones who made the pact. Who sealed the Veil. Who gave their bodies to hold the gate shut."
Sera's eyes narrowed. "And you were one of them?"
"No," Iris said. "I was their scribe."
Kael stepped closer to the thrones, and something in his Eye pulsed—hard.
The intact throne pulsed in response.
Visions hit him like lightning:
A war fought in a world before memory.Creatures with wings of bone and flame tearing through cities of glass.A final stand beneath a blood-red moon.And a young man—barely older than Kael—stepping into the throne and becoming something else.
Kael hit his knees.
Sera rushed forward. "Kael—!"
His hand shot out instinctively, catching her arm—but it wasn't his hand anymore. For a second, his skin shimmered with black veins, and his veins burned gold beneath them.
Then it was gone.
Kael gasped. "I saw them. The Bound. They weren't just warriors. They were…"
"Sacrifices," Iris finished. "Each seal is bound to a soul. A life willingly given to keep the Veil closed. But they've begun to fray. One by one."
Kael looked up. "So what happens when the third one breaks?"
Iris didn't answer. She walked to the intact throne and laid a single hand on its armrest.
"It will choose another."
Kael stood slowly. "Me."
Iris nodded.
"But you said I wasn't ready."
"You're not. That's why you're still you." She turned to face him fully. "But when the seal breaks—when the third soul fails—you will either take its place… or be consumed by what slips through."
Sera clenched her fists. "There's gotta be another way."
"There isn't," Iris said. "There never was."
Kael looked at the throne.
And saw, for just a flicker of a moment, his own face reflected in the stone.Older. Cold. With eyes that weren't human anymore.
"I need to know more," he said. "I need to know everything."
Iris nodded once. "Then you must bleed for it."
She stepped aside, revealing a curved blade resting at the foot of the throne—its edge blackened, its core burning with light.
"Cut your hand," she said. "Feed the stone. Let it show you what it took from those before you."
Sera moved between them instantly. "No. He just started holding together again. This isn't a lesson—it's a test. One he might not survive."
Kael looked past her.
"I have to."
His voice was steady.
He stepped forward. Took the blade.
And sliced open his palm.
The blood that hit the throne didn't spread. It sank. Drank. The throne shuddered.
And Kael fell backward into darkness.
Kael's body remained still.
But his mind fell.
Through flame. Through time. Through the echo of lives that were never his… and yet were somehow carved into his blood.
He was standing in a burning citadel now.The sky was split. The stars were screaming.And around him were the Bound — the original five. Warriors, mages, monks, and something else.
A sixth. Unnamed. Unrecorded.Wearing a black mask, etched with runes no one should ever speak aloud.
"Why didn't they remember me?" the masked one whispered, voice flickering between male and female, old and young. "Why did they erase my name from the stones?"
Kael tried to speak, but he had no voice in this place.
"You're the new one, aren't you?" the mask said, tilting its head. "The Eye likes you. That's rare."
The scene twisted again.
Now he was in a massive underground vault. Hundreds of chained creatures screamed against invisible walls — Veilspawn, malformed and violent, their bodies twitching with energy.
Kael recognized one of them.
The beast that had nearly torn through him when the second seal broke. But now… it looked smaller. Almost afraid.
"Every seal," said the voice again, "requires more than sacrifice. It requires a lie."
The scene collapsed.
Kael's body convulsed. On the outside, Sera had dropped to her knees beside him, trying to keep him conscious, shouting his name. Iris stood over them both, expression unreadable.
Inside, Kael stood at the edge of a void.
At the center was a mirror.He walked to it.
In its reflection, his eye was gone.In its place: a gate of bone and fire, spinning with symbols.His reflection smiled.
But he didn't.
"You are the next seal," the reflection said. "You can fight it. Delay it. Pretend you're still a person."
It leaned forward.
"But the truth is this, Kael: when the third breaks, you break."
Kael screamed—
—and woke up.
He sat up fast, choking for air. Sera caught him again, holding his shoulders.
"I'm here," she said, voice low. "You're alright. Just breathe."
Kael looked around. The chamber was still intact. The throne still glowed faintly. Iris was kneeling beside the stone, her hands steepled.
He touched his chest. His heart was pounding.
But something was different.
The Eye burned with new power. The veins around it glowed faintly in the dark. He could hear the thrones now. Hear whispers from deeper places.
"They erased someone," he said hoarsely. "There were six. Not five."
Iris didn't look at him. "You weren't supposed to see that."
Kael stood. "They lied. All of them. This whole time, the order, the history—what else have you hidden?"
Iris looked up at him. "Everything that mattered."
He took a step toward her.
Sera blocked his path.
Kael's voice was ice. "Then tell me the truth. All of it."
But before Iris could answer, a tremor ripped through the ground.
Stone cracked. Dust fell.
Then, above them—
A roar.
Massive. Inhuman.
So loud it made the thrones scream.
Iris froze. "No…"
"What is that?" Sera asked.
"The third seal," Iris whispered. "It's already breaking."
They all looked up.
From the crack in the ceiling, a shadow began to descend.
The shadow bled from the ceiling like smoke given shape.Silent at first.Then the wind hit — a pressure wave that slammed Kael and Sera to the floor.
The air grew thick, metallic.It smelled like rain and rust and ash.And beneath it all, something ancient stirred.
A voice that wasn't a voice:
"ONE REMAINS."
"ONE MUST FALL."
The Eye in Kael's skull ignited. Not just with pain — with recognition.This was the thing behind the third seal.The final warden.And it was no longer locked behind the gate.
It was here.
Iris stood frozen. "This shouldn't be possible. The seals aren't all broken yet—"
"They don't have to be," Kael said, barely above a whisper. "Not if the last one's already chosen."
The smoke twisted into form — a towering, hunched figure with no face, only a jagged, spiraling hole where its head should've been. Its body was gaunt, starved, its skin translucent. Veins of violet flame pulsed through it.
And embedded in its chest—A mirror.
Sera moved instantly, glaive flashing in her hands, but the creature struck first. One swipe — not physical, but pure force — and she was blasted backward, skidding across the stone.
"Sera!" Kael shouted, lunging toward her.
The creature turned its empty head toward him.
"YOU CARRY THE KEY."
"THE GATE WANTS TO OPEN."
Kael felt it in his spine — a pull, magnetic, primal.The Eye wasn't just reacting. It was calling back.
He clutched his head as flashes tore through his vision:
The world burning.
Cities collapsing into oceans.
A sky split with light.
Himself—standing in the center—arms outstretched, and the Veil wide open behind him.
"No," he growled. "I'm not you."
The creature lunged.
And Kael moved to meet it.
The gauntlet on his left arm reacted instantly, flaring with molten glyphs. He raised it to block, and the impact echoed like thunder. Sparks flew. The mirror-chested beast reeled back.
Sera dragged herself to her feet, blood running from her scalp. "Tell me you've got a plan."
"Just buying time," Kael hissed, standing between her and the thing. "If we let it kill Iris, the seal breaks for good."
Iris, barely conscious, staggered toward the throne. "I can bind it. But only if you hold it still."
Kael didn't hesitate.
He ran straight at the creature, dodging a swipe, flipping forward and landing a strike with the gauntlet into its chest. The mirror cracked. The beast howled, rearing back.
Sera was there in a flash, her glaive slicing into its back — she moved like a phantom, faster than thought. Together, they danced around it, keeping it off balance, pushing it toward the throne.
Iris raised both arms. Symbols spiraled from her palms, searing the air.
"Now!" she cried.
Kael wrapped both arms around the creature's torso. The Eye flared, seizing his nerves, but he held tight.
Iris slammed her hands to the stone—And the thrones answered.
Chains of white fire erupted from the floor, coiling around the beast, dragging it down.
"YOU CANNOT WIN," it hissed as it was pulled into the stone.
"THE GATE IS ALREADY BLEEDING."
"YOU ARE ALREADY THE END."
It vanished in a flash of searing light.
Silence returned.
Kael dropped to one knee, gasping. His arms were scorched. The gauntlet was cracked. The Eye…
…was crying.
A single tear of black blood rolled down his cheek.
Sera ran to him. "Are you—"
"I'm fine," he said, voice rasping. "But that thing wasn't the end. It was just a warning."
Iris knelt by the cracked throne. "The seal held. But only barely."
Kael looked at the mirror left behind in the creature's wake.His reflection stared back.But it didn't mimic his movements.
It was waiting.