The waters of the Verdant Maw moved in patterns that mirrored Malik's pulse. Rings of teal and black spiraled outward, warping the once-calm surface into shifting fractals. The Black Barge trembled as the unnatural currents spread.
Rin gripped the railing tightly, her knuckles white. "This isn't normal. The whole basin is… alive."
Elara's gaze never left Malik. She had seen men wield power before—cruel men, cunning men, even men who thought themselves gods. But what stood before her now was something beyond even those delusions. Malik wasn't just holding power. He was becoming it.
He stood silently at the center of the bone path, his shadow twisting unnaturally beneath him. The Fifth Shard within his core pulsed with a new rhythm—deeper, heavier, resonating with an unseen lattice. Every breath he took carried a faint echo, like two voices layered imperfectly over each other.
When Malik finally spoke, the air hummed.
"It's gone," he said simply, referring to the Heart Shard. His tone was calm, but his eyes burned with a strange, unplaceable light.
"Gone?" Rin asked cautiously. "You mean… you destroyed it?"
"No," Malik answered. "I took its place."
Elara's grip on her coral sabers tightened. "You merged with it?"
"I rewrote the thread it anchored," Malik said, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "The Keeper is no longer the sole weaver of this place."
Rin took a hesitant step closer. "Malik… what does that mean for you?"
He turned his head slightly, and for a split second, Rin saw something in his gaze—an abyssal depth, threads spiraling like constellations within. It wasn't entirely Malik looking back at her.
"It means," he said quietly, "that the Verdant Maw listens to me now."
As if to confirm his words, the currents shifted. The bone paths that had been submerged moments ago rose from the waters, forming an intricate spiral maze around the basin. Structures that had been hidden for centuries surfaced—ruins of coral fortresses, hollowed leviathan skulls, and half-buried obelisks carved with alien glyphs.
Elara stepped cautiously onto one of the newly risen paths. "This… this is a city," she murmured, realizing the scale. "No, more than a city. It's an entire lattice domain."
Malik nodded slowly. "The Vault wasn't just a lock. It was a gate. A fragment of something larger."
"And you opened it," Rin said, her voice trembling between awe and dread.
Before Malik could reply, the air shifted.
A low, resonant hum filled the basin—not from the Maw this time, but from above.
They looked up.
Dark silhouettes were descending from the spiral skies. At first glance, they resembled birds, but as they came closer, it was clear they were something far more twisted. Their wings were tattered membranes of coral and bone, their heads crowned with jagged spines, and their eyes glowed with faint lattice threads.
"Sky-Binders," Elara hissed. She raised her sabers instinctively. "I've only read about these in forbidden archives. They're keepers of the higher threads."
Malik watched silently as the flock of Sky-Binders circled the basin. Their movements were precise, almost ritualistic, forming a pattern overhead. Then one of them—a larger creature with six wings and a hollow mask-like face—descended directly toward him.
Rin stepped back. "It's coming for you."
"I know," Malik said calmly.
The creature landed with a bone-shaking thud. Its masked face tilted as it regarded him. Then, to Rin and Elara's shock, it knelt.
The six-winged Sky-Binder lowered its head, extending a single lattice-threaded claw toward Malik.
Rin's mouth went dry. "It's… bowing?"
Malik placed his hand on the creature's claw. The Fifth Shard within him resonated faintly, and a silent exchange passed between him and the Sky-Binder. When he pulled his hand back, the creature let out a low, vibrating hum, then turned to the others in the flock.
In perfect unison, every Sky-Binder dipped its head.
Elara's eyes narrowed. "You didn't just take the Heart Shard, did you? You usurped the Keeper's command over them."
"Yes," Malik said simply. "They're mine now."
The weight of his words hung in the air.
For a moment, there was silence, broken only by the faint hum of the basin. Then Malik turned toward the maze of bone paths leading deeper into the ruins.
"There's more," he said. "The Heart Shard was only the first step. The Vault is just a fragment of the greater Lattice Vein. And if I can rewrite this thread…"
Rin shook her head, realizing his intent. "You want to go deeper. To find more shards. To take all of it."
Malik didn't deny it. "Every Keeper is just another thread in a larger weave. If I take them all, I control the whole tapestry."
Elara stepped in front of him, blocking his path. "And what happens to you in the process? How much of you will still be you when this is over?"
Malik's gaze was unreadable. "That doesn't matter. What matters is who holds the loom at the end."
Before Elara could argue further, a ripple passed through the basin—a warning.
From the far edge of the Verdant Maw, a new presence emerged.
At first it was just a shadow beneath the water. But it grew larger, darker, until the surface broke—and something colossal rose.
It was not a Leviathan Shard. It was far beyond that.
A full Bone Leviathan breached the waters, its skull adorned with a crown of coral spires, its hollow ribcage housing a pulsing lattice core. Unlike the shards, this one bore a Keeper Sigil burned into its forehead. It was a true guardian of the deeper layers.
Elara's breath caught. "That's… an Arch-Leviathan."
Rin's voice cracked. "We can't fight that."
Malik stared at the creature as it fixed its hollow gaze on him. For a brief moment, he felt the Keeper's lingering will through it—resentful, amused, challenging.
Little thief, the voice whispered faintly in his mind. You think you can replace me? Then prove it.
The Arch-Leviathan roared, and the basin erupted in chaos.
Sky-Binders scattered. The bone paths shattered under the force of the wave. The Black Barge was tossed like a toy.
Malik didn't hesitate.
"Stay on the ruins!" he shouted to Rin and Elara. "I'll handle it."
Rin's eyes widened. "Are you insane? You can't take that thing alone!"
"I'm not alone," Malik said.
He leapt into the air, the Fifth Shard flaring violently. The Sky-Binders responded instantly, diving toward the Arch-Leviathan in a coordinated assault. Their claws tore at its coral spires, distracting it just enough for Malik to land on its massive skull.
The Arch-Leviathan thrashed violently, sending waves crashing across the basin. Malik drove his blade into one of the Keeper Sigils etched into its bone, but the blade barely scratched the surface.
It's bound by a deeper thread, the Fifth Shard whispered in his mind. You cannot cut it with steel. You must weave over it.
Malik closed his eyes briefly, focusing. He could feel the Leviathan's thread—a massive, knotted tangle anchored deep in the Lattice Vein. To rewrite it would take more than brute force. It required precision.
The Fifth Shard extended his perception. Threads of resonance appeared around him, glowing faintly against the Leviathan's monstrous form. He saw the pattern that held it together.
And he began to weave.
Using the stolen Echoes of the Leviathan Shards he had consumed earlier, Malik overlaid a new thread across the Arch-Leviathan's core pattern. It resisted violently, its roar shaking the ruins, but Malik pressed on, forcing his will deeper.
"Yield," he whispered.
The Arch-Leviathan thrashed harder, but the Sky-Binders coordinated their assault, buying him precious seconds. Malik's resonance surged, feeding on the very lattice of the Maw. Slowly, agonizingly, the Leviathan's sigil dimmed.
Then—click.
The knot unraveled.
The Arch-Leviathan froze mid-roar. Its glowing core flickered… then stabilized under Malik's thread.
And then, slowly, it lowered its massive head in submission.
The basin fell silent.
Rin stared, wide-eyed. "You… rewrote an Arch-Leviathan?"
Malik jumped down onto the bone path, his boots echoing against the ancient surface. He looked at the creature now kneeling before him—once a guardian of the Keeper, now his.
"Yes," he said. "It belongs to me now."
Elara's voice was quiet, almost hesitant. "Malik… do you understand what you're becoming?"
He turned to her, his expression unreadable. "I'm becoming what this world has always needed—a weaver without a master."
The Fifth Shard pulsed within him.
More threads await, it whispered. Beyond the Maw. Beyond this fragment.
Malik looked toward the horizon, where the waters of the Verdant Maw met the endless spiral sky. He could feel the pull of other vaults, other fragments of the Lattice Vein waiting to be claimed.
This was only the beginning.
With the Arch-Leviathan now under his command and the Sky-Binders circling like silent sentinels, Malik turned back to Rin and Elara.
"We're leaving the Maw," he said. "There's a greater vault beyond this. And I intend to take it."
Rin swallowed. "And if something even worse waits for us there?"
Malik's faint smile was colder than the sea. "Then I'll rewrite it too."
The Arch-Leviathan sank into the waters, forming a massive, living platform for them. Malik stepped onto its back without hesitation.
Rin and Elara exchanged a look. They both knew there was no turning back now. Whatever path Malik was on, it was leading them deeper into a web of power older and darker than anything they had ever imagined.
And yet… they followed.
The Arch-Leviathan began to move, carrying them away from the Verdant Maw and toward the next Vault. The Sky-Binders formed a silent escort above, their shadows cutting across the fractal waves.
As they left, the Maw itself shifted, closing behind them like a wound healing shut. The Keeper's voice was gone.
But the silence it left was far more ominous.
Malik stood at the prow of the Leviathan, his eyes fixed on the horizon.
More shards. More threads. More power.
And somewhere in the depths of his mind, the Fifth Shard whispered with quiet hunger.
The loom awaits.