The containment facility fell silent after the battle alarms faded.
The eastern perimeter was secured — but at a cost. Three soldiers had vanished into the fracture before it closed, leaving behind only molten sand and a metallic echo that refused to fade.
Sid stood in the training chamber again — a place that was never meant for rest.
The chamber wasn't ordinary steel or concrete. It was alive.
Constructed from an adaptive dimensional core, the walls shifted and pulsed, reacting to the user's psyche. A creation of the organization's founder — the Blackbind Room, where the strongest underwent "mental reinforcement."
But Sid knew what it really was.
A cage.
A mirror that forced you to face the parts of yourself you couldn't control.
Lucien's voice came through the speaker above.
"We're beginning the synchronization test. The Chains of Binding Flame are stable at seventy percent. You will proceed until the entity's resonance level reaches critical threshold. Do not lose focus."
Sid's chains pulsed faintly beneath his skin — glowing lines of molten light encircling his chest, arms, and spine. They felt heavier today, the burn deeper.
He exhaled. "Understood."
The floor split open. Liquid light surged upward, forming shifting pathways — corridors twisting like veins, spreading into an endless labyrinth. Each turn pulsed faintly with dark flame.
Sid stepped forward, the sound of his boots echoing into infinity.
The labyrinth changed with every step.
At first, it showed memories.
He saw Lucien's laughter echoing across the training fields — Nox's hand reaching through the smoke of battle. He saw the others — the faces of people he had failed to save.
The air shimmered. A familiar voice — smooth, calm, terrible — filled the space.
"Reality is relative, little vessel."
Ravh'Zereth's voice.
It was quieter now, almost gentle.
Sid's steps faltered. The flame marks along his arms began to thrum in response.
"You keep walking toward the light as though it will save you. But light burns too, doesn't it?"
The walls began to melt — stone becoming molten, then shadow, then faces. Dozens of them, each whispering his name.
"Sid."
"Sid Arkwood."
"Vessel."
He ran. The labyrinth shifted, corridors folding in on themselves. His breath came ragged. Every time he turned a corner, a new version of himself stood waiting — one bound in chains, one bleeding from his eyes, one kneeling before an unseen flame.
One version smiled — a cruel, perfect smile.
"Do you know what you're becoming?"
Sid's pulse thundered. "Enough!"
He unleashed a burst of dark energy — the Blackbind Flame. The labyrinth shuddered, its walls cracking apart. But instead of dispersing, the fire changed color — deepening from black to a burning crimson-red.
Sid froze.
The crimson flame spiraled around him like veins of living blood.
Lucien's voice crackled through the intercom — distorted.
"Sid… the readings are fluctuating — that's not Ravh'Zereth's pattern! It's..."
The signal cut.
Ravh'Zereth's laughter rippled through the crimson air.
"He's watching, isn't he? Velgrin. He's always watching."
Sid gritted his teeth. "Get out of my head."
"You think these chains are yours?" the voice whispered. "You think they bind me? They bind you. They are his gift, not your salvation."
The chains around Sid began to glow, searing brighter. The pain drove him to his knees.
He felt it then — a pulse beneath the surface of the chains. Not Ravh'Zereth. Something else.
A rhythm that matched Velgrin's flame. Cold, precise, patient.
Images flashed before him — a storm of silent fire swallowing cities, a sun that made no sound, and a throne of crimson light where Velgrin waited.
Sid gasped, pressing his hands to the ground as the chamber trembled.
"No… not him… not inside me—"
"He's already here," Ravh'Zereth said softly. "You opened the door when you chose the chains."
The labyrinth began to collapse. The corridors fell inward, dragging Sid into a void of burning light.
He saw Yara's face — her mark flaring as she screamed his name.
Lucien shouting orders through static.
Nox's faint whisper from somewhere far away — "Sid, wake up!"
He reached toward the sound. The crimson flames swallowed his arm.
When Sid came to, he was lying on the cold metal floor of the chamber.
Smoke coiled from his body. The walls had been scorched black.
Lucien stood over him, face pale. "You lost control."
Sid's eyes flickered open. "No… something else took control."
Lucien hesitated, glancing toward the monitors. "The flame changed color. The system recorded… dual resonance. Demon-class and divine signature both."
Sid sat up slowly, wincing. The chains glowed faintly along his arms.
"Velgrin," he said quietly.
Lucien frowned. "You're saying Velgrin's energy interfered with your seal? That's impossible — the containment wards—"
Sid looked up, eyes burning with crimson light.
"The wards don't stop what's already inside me."
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then Nox's voice came faintly through the comm-link, trembling.
"Lucien… we just scanned something. The Blackbind Chamber's energy signature matches the Fourth Flame's readings."
Lucien's expression darkened. "That's not possible."
Sid stared at his hands, the faint crimson fire still dancing across his skin.
His chains — his supposed safeguard — now pulsed in time with Velgrin's rhythm.
Ravh'Zereth's whisper echoed faintly in his mind:
"Tell me, vessel… when the flame burns black and red, which master will you serve?"
Sid clenched his fists, forcing the flame down, voice breaking through his teeth.
"Neither."
But even as he said it, the chains tightened — glowing brighter, almost alive.
And for the first time, Sid felt something truly terrifying.
The chains weren't just restraining him anymore.
They were learning.