The voice drifted through the ruins like smoke.
"Kael…"
He stood frozen, every muscle taut, scanning the shadows between the shattered walls. Ash swirled lazily around him, muting the world to grey. That voice… it was softer now, almost hesitant, but there was no mistaking it.
It belonged to Liora.
He swallowed hard. Liora had been one of the First Choir — his closest companion in the days before the gates closed to him. She had died in the Siege of Aethern hundreds of years ago. He had seen her fall. He had carried her body himself to the pyres.
"Liora," he murmured.
The voice came again, closer this time. "You have to leave, Kael. They are coming."
He turned sharply toward the sound, his hand tightening on the hilt of his sword. "Where are you?"
No answer. Only the creak of old stone shifting in the wind.
Kael moved through the rubble, following the faint echo of her words. His boots crunched over splintered wood and bone. Every step felt heavier.
At last, he came to the remnants of what had once been a watchtower. Half of it had collapsed, leaving only a leaning spine of stone. There, beneath a jagged archway, he saw it — a faint shimmer, like heat haze over sunlit sand.
The shimmer rippled… and a figure stepped through.
It was her.
Liora stood before him exactly as he remembered — white hair braided over her shoulder, eyes like pale dawnlight, silver armor unmarred. Even the faint scar on her chin was there. But she was wrong. Too perfect. Too untouched by time or death.
"You can't be here," Kael said, voice low. "You're dead."
She smiled faintly. "Not everything that dies stays gone."
He didn't move closer. "What are you?"
Her expression softened. "I'm what's left. A fragment. The Covenant holds the rest of me."
That made his grip on the sword tighten. "They bound you?"
"They took me," she said, her voice trembling. "When I fell, I should have gone beyond. But they pulled me back — piece by piece. They've been keeping me… using me."
Kael felt a cold anger stir in his chest. "For what?"
Her gaze darted toward the east. "For the Harrower. I was the key to breaking the first seal. And I am the key to the second."
The weight of her words sank in.
"Then they'll come for you again."
"They're already here," she whispered.
Kael turned — and saw movement at the edge of the square.
Figures in black armor emerged from the mist, their helms shaped like faceless masks. Each bore a sigil of seven interlocked rings — the mark of the Black Covenant. They moved in silence, weapons drawn, spreading out to encircle the ruins.
Liora's voice grew urgent. "You have to go, Kael. If they take you—"
"They won't," he said flatly.
The first soldier stepped forward, raising a hooked spear. "Kael Ashwing," he said in a cold, inhuman voice. "You will come with us. The Covenant requires your presence."
Kael's halo flared, casting dim light over the ashen stones. "If they want me," he said, "they can come take me themselves."
The soldier tilted his head slightly, as if studying him. "So be it."
They attacked as one.
Kael moved, his sword a streak of molten gold in the grey. The first spear splintered beneath his strike; the soldier behind it crumpled as Kael's wing cut clean through him. The others pressed in, their movements unnervingly precise, like puppets on unseen strings.
But Kael was faster. His blade sang through the air, each blow sending sparks into the ash. Two fell. Then three. But for every one he struck down, two more stepped from the mist.
Liora called out, "They won't stop! They're just the hands — the master is near!"
Kael spun toward her. "Who?"
The answer came before she could speak.
A tall figure emerged from the east, cloaked in black silk that fluttered though there was no wind. A silver mask hid their face entirely, featureless except for a single, narrow slit where the mouth should be.
The soldiers drew back, forming a circle around Kael and the masked figure.
"You've made a mess of our work, Ashwing," the figure said, voice smooth as polished stone. "And you've seen too much."
Kael lifted his blade. "Then maybe you should have kept your little pet locked up."
The masked figure's head tilted slightly, as if amused. "Ah. You've spoken with her."
"She's coming with me."
The mask's slit widened into the faintest suggestion of a smile. "She's not yours to take. She is ours — as are you."
In a single motion, the figure drew back their cloak — revealing a chain of black iron coiled around their arm. The links were etched with symbols Kael recognized from the ruins: binding runes, forged for one purpose only.
The figure lifted their arm, and the chain shot forward like a serpent.
Kael swung to cut it — but the instant the blade touched the iron, pain lanced through him. The halo above his head flickered violently, shrinking, dimming. The chain wrapped around his wrist, and he felt his strength draining away.
The masked figure stepped closer, tightening the binding. "The Covenant will have its angel," they said softly. "Dead or alive."
Kael's knees buckled. The soldiers moved in.
And then —
The ground beneath them shook violently, a deep rumble building into a roar. From somewhere far off, a horn sounded — not mortal, not heavenly, but something else entirely.
The masked figure froze, head turning toward the sound. For the first time, Kael felt tension in their grip.
Liora's voice cut through the chaos, sharp and desperate:
"Kael — RUN!"
The word tore through the air sharper than any blade.
Kael wrenched his arm, feeling the black iron chain bite deeper into his wrist. The masked figure's grip tightened, but the sudden quake made their footing unsteady. Dust rained from the fractured walls, and one of the Covenant soldiers stumbled, looking up as if something massive was moving beneath the earth.
The horn sounded again — louder this time, deep enough to vibrate in Kael's bones.
The masked figure hissed under their breath and gave the chain a violent pull. "Forget the others. Bind him completely."
Two soldiers closed in from behind, dragging their own chains.
Kael's halo dimmed, sputtering like a dying ember — but it still burned. He drew on what remained, heat building in his chest. His wings flared outward, the scorched feathers catching faint fire.
The soldiers hesitated.
Kael seized the moment. With a surge of strength, he twisted his bound arm, yanking the masked figure off balance. His free hand shot to the hilt of his sword, and in one smooth motion, he drove the molten blade down into the chain coiled around him.
The runes screamed.
Light burst outward in a blinding flash, heat surging through the square. The chain snapped, fragments hissing as they struck the ground. Kael staggered back, his wrist smoking where the iron had burned into him.
The masked figure recovered quickly, their head turning toward him with icy calm. "You've just made this more painful."
Kael didn't answer. His eyes darted toward Liora. She stood just beyond the half-collapsed archway, her form shimmering faintly, as if she were fading.
"Go!" she shouted.
The soldiers lunged. Kael spun, his sword carving a wide arc that dropped two of them instantly. The others pressed forward, but another quake split the street, tearing open a jagged fissure between them. From the darkness below, a rush of cold air blasted upward, carrying with it a stench like ancient dust and stone.
Then something climbed out.
It was not as massive as the Harrower, but it was wrong in the same way — an angular, many-jointed thing that moved like it had never been taught the shape of the world. Its limbs ended in clawed hands, each finger too long, too sharp. Chains dangled from its back, dragging across the stones.
The Covenant soldiers faltered. Even the masked figure took a cautious step back.
Kael didn't wait to see who it favored. He moved toward the gap in their circle, cutting down another soldier as he passed. The creature's head — if it could be called that — snapped toward the sound, its mouth splitting open in a grin that was all teeth and darkness.
It lunged — but not for Kael.
Its claws tore through two soldiers at once, lifting them screaming into the air before hurling their bodies aside like broken dolls. The masked figure raised a hand, shouting a command in that same old, scraping language the robed summoners had used — but the creature did not obey.
"Control it!" one soldier barked.
"I am trying," the masked figure snapped.
Kael took the opportunity and sprinted toward Liora. She extended a hand, but it passed straight through his when he reached her.
"You can't touch me," she said quickly, her voice cracking. "But I can guide you. Head east — there's a hidden pass out of the city."
Another horn blast shook the air, closer now. Kael risked a glance over his shoulder — the clawed creature was advancing toward the masked figure, who now held both hands out, weaving chains from thin air.
The ground cracked again. The fissures spread like a spiderweb, swallowing chunks of the ruined square. One opened beneath a soldier, who vanished with a scream into the darkness.
"Kael!" Liora's voice yanked his attention forward. "Move!"
He did.
They weaved through the broken streets, Kael cutting down any Covenant soldier that crossed their path. The ash seemed thicker here, swirling in strange patterns, as if pulled toward something ahead.
Finally, they reached the edge of the city — or what was left of it. A collapsed wall opened onto a slope of rubble leading down into a gorge. Beyond it, Kael could see the faint glimmer of water.
"That's your way out," Liora said.
Kael started forward — but froze.
The masked figure stood at the base of the slope, cloak torn, silver mask cracked. Behind them, the clawed creature still raged in the distance, its roars echoing through the ruins.
"You cannot run from the Covenant," the masked figure said softly. "Even now, the chains know your scent. You will be bound. You will be brought before the Circle."
Kael stepped down the slope, his blade steady. "Tell your Circle I'm coming to break it."
The figure tilted their head, and Kael caught a glimpse of pale skin beneath the cracked mask. "So like your brother," they murmured.
The words hit him harder than any chain. "What did you say?"
The masked figure's eyes glimmered faintly behind the slit. "Ask him yourself — when you kneel before him."
Before Kael could move, the figure vanished into the mist, leaving only the echo of the horn and the taste of ash in the air.