The world did not quiet after the Mistress' shadow vanished.
If anything, the silence had grown sharper—like the moment before a storm tears the sky apart.
Rihan staggered to the mouth of the cavern, his boots crunching against loose stone. Below, the valley stretched endlessly, but now it pulsed with veins of crimson light. The cracks spread slowly at first, then with startling speed, splitting the earth into jagged fractures that glowed like molten wounds.
Kael came to stand beside him, jaw tight. "This isn't natural. Something beneath us is forcing its way through."
Elira followed, clutching her staff so tightly her knuckles turned pale. "The Crimson Gates… they're opening."
Mira's tail swished violently, her golden eyes narrowing. "The Saints sealed them for a reason. If that seal breaks—" She cut herself off, her ears flicking. "No… it's already breaking."
The words hung heavy in the air.
Rihan's heart thudded painfully in his chest. The familiar translucent screen only he could see flickered into existence again.
[Warning: Dimensional Rift Unstable.]
[Directive: Survive the Awakening.]
[New Condition: Strengthen Soul Link to resist corruption.]
His throat went dry. "It's… spreading faster than before."
Kael shot him a sharp look. "You keep saying things like that. Faster than what? What exactly do you see, Rihan?"
Rihan hesitated. He couldn't tell them—not yet. Not about the messages, not about the fact that he wasn't from this world. His lips parted, then closed again. "…I'll explain when I can. Right now, we have to move."
The ground shuddered beneath their feet, dust raining from the cavern ceiling. Far in the distance, horns blared—deep and resonant, carried on the cold mountain wind.
Mira's ears perked instantly. "That's not demons."
"No." Kael's eyes darkened, his hand resting on the hilt of his blade. "That's war horns. Someone else is marching toward the valley."
Elira turned pale. "Another kingdom?"
But before any of them could answer, the earth convulsed violently. From the very center of the glowing valley floor, a massive beam of crimson light exploded upward, ripping through clouds and splitting the night sky in half. The air grew unbearably heavy, pressing against their lungs like an invisible weight.
Then came the sound.
A scream—so sharp, so ancient, it felt as though the mountains themselves recoiled. It wasn't beast, nor man. It was the cry of something older than memory, a voice buried for millennia and now unchained.
Elira dropped to her knees, hands clamped over her ears. Mira hissed, fangs bared, fur standing on end. Even Kael, hardened by battle, had to grit his teeth to stay upright.
Rihan's vision blurred. He gripped his chest, feeling the Soul Link pulse violently, as though trying to shield him from a force beyond comprehension. His thoughts screamed inside his skull: This power… it's not meant for mortals to hear.
The pillar of crimson light raged higher, tearing the clouds apart and staining the stars red. From within it, faint shapes stirred—shadows with wings, horns, and eyes glowing like embers. Not fully born yet… but close.
Rihan forced himself to his feet, staring into that cursed glow. "The Mistress wasn't bluffing. The real war begins now."
No one answered him. The four of them stood at the precipice of something far greater than their battles with the Herald, greater even than the Mistress' illusion.
The seal was breaking.
And once it shattered completely, the world would never return to what it had been.
Rihan clenched his fist, his voice steady despite the fear twisting in his chest.