Beneath the Stars That Watch
They walked without speaking.
For hours, the only sound was the scrape of boots on ash-covered stone and the occasional hiss of the wind curling through bones long since turned to dust.
Above them, the stars spun slowly in a spiral — no longer constellations, but eyes.
Kael felt them.
Watching. Waiting.
He didn't speak it aloud, but he knew Selene felt it too.
The world wasn't just changing — it was breathing.
And the inhale was nearly complete.
The Bloom of Rot
At the edge of the Ash Plains, they found the Bloom.
It looked like a flower at first — tall, violet, glowing faintly with life.
But it wasn't rooted in soil.
It grew from a corpse.
Dozens of corpses.
Kael stared, sickened. "What is it?"
Selene answered quietly, "A seed. Left behind by the god you rejected."
The Darksword hummed low.
Selene knelt, studying it. "It feeds on ruin. Every time you deny the sword's hunger, something like this grows."
Kael's jaw clenched. "So what? I'm supposed to give in?"
"No," Selene said, standing. "You're supposed to burn it before it blooms again."
The Songless Oracle
At dusk, they reached a ruined tower carved into a cliffside. There, they found the Oracle.
She had no mouth. No eyes. Only pale skin marked with ancient runes and a throat stitched shut.
But when she placed her hand on Kael's chest, she spoke directly into his mind.
"The end is not a wall. It is a gate."
Kael asked, "What lies beyond it?"
The Oracle turned her face to the sky.
"Yourself. Or what's left of you."
Selene reached for a dagger, uneasy. "Is she real?"
"No," Kael said. "She's a warning."
And then the Oracle shattered into smoke.
The Bone Bells Ring
That night, they heard the bells.
Not ordinary bells — these were made of bone and rang without wind or touch.
Kael rose instantly, sword in hand.
Selene stood beside him.
From the darkness, a figure emerged.
Not human.
Not living.
It had no mouth, but it smiled.
"Kael of the Broken Gate," it rasped. "The Chainmother sends her regards."
Kael lunged forward, striking true — but the creature burst apart like mist, its laughter echoing.
Selene cursed. "Spies."
"Worse," Kael said. "Heralds."
He tightened his grip on the sword.
"She knows we're coming."
A Letter That Waited
They found it inside an abandoned chapel, tucked under a candle still burning despite the wind.
Kael unrolled it carefully.
The paper was old. Familiar handwriting.
It was from Nera.
Kael,If you find this, then the sword hasn't devoured you — not fully.I know you chose not to follow the Drowned God. That choice will make you enemies. It already has.But I also know what you carry. What you are becoming.If you make it to the Hollow Throne, do not sit on it.Bury it.Burn it.Or break the world trying.
—Nera
Selene read over his shoulder and said nothing.
She didn't have to.
They both knew what came next.
The Hollow's Edge
Three days passed. The skies darkened further.
The land itself began to warp — trees bending backward, rivers running black.
Finally, they stood on the edge of a crater too wide to see across.
It was shaped like a crown.
And at the center stood a black spire — impossibly tall, humming like a heartbeat.
"The Hollow Throne," Kael whispered.
Selene stepped forward.
But the moment her foot touched the crater's edge, the ground roared.
And from below, something ancient began to rise.
The Guardian of the First Flame
It was not a beast.
It was not a god.
It was a question, given shape and fury.
The Guardian stood taller than the tower at the Citadel — all molten bone and smoldering ash. Its chest held a flickering core that pulsed like a dying star.
Kael stepped forward.
The Darksword trembled in his grip.
The Guardian spoke without sound.
"Will you carry ruin forward, or let it consume you?"
Kael raised the blade.
"I will carry what I must. But never for them."
And he charged.
Ash and Steel
The battle split the air.
Kael struck first, the Darksword singing as it cut through flame. The Guardian responded with a sweep of its massive hand, sending Kael flying into a boulder.
Selene moved like lightning, knives flashing, slicing into the creature's ribs.
But it didn't bleed.
It glowed brighter.
Kael rose, panting.
"We can't kill it," he muttered.
Selene shouted, "Then what?!"
Kael looked up at the Guardian — and then down at the Darksword.
And he understood.
He drove the blade into the ground.
The world screamed.
And the Guardian stopped moving.
The Choice Beneath
They found themselves in silence.
Not stillness — silence.
The kind of silence that comes before something truly terrible.
The Guardian was gone.
So was the spire.
Only the sword remained — lodged in the earth, humming like a sleeping beast.
Kael stared at it.
And the land whispered, "You may leave it."
Selene placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Do you want to?"
Kael shook his head slowly.
"No. But I have to."
He took the sword.
And the world opened.