The sound of the cracking chain echoed like thunder rolling through eternity. Dust rained down from the blood-red sky. Each echo carried a tremor that rippled through the air, bending light, bending space.
The team fell to their knees as the ground convulsed.
Selene slammed her staff into the soil, a protective barrier bursting around them in a translucent dome of pale light. The tremors subsided slightly, though the heartbeat continued — heavy and rhythmic, like a drum from the dawn of creation.
Mara clutched her head. "It's… inside my mind!" she cried.
Jonas staggered to his feet, eyes darting across the shifting plains. "No, it's everywhere. The ground, the air — even the sky's breathing."
Liora's gaze snapped to Eris. "What did you do?"
He shook his head, sweat streaming down his temple. The silver veins on his skin glowed fiercely, tracing the shape of old runes that none of them recognized. "I didn't do anything… it's responding to something inside me."
Selene's voice was cold. "You woke the Heart of Mars."
A deep, resonant hum built beneath their feet. The fortress in the distance shuddered violently, each massive stone shifting as if pulled from within. The air around it distorted — glowing lines of crimson light spread outward in perfect geometric patterns.
Mara stumbled closer, her face pale. "That's no structure. It's a seal."
Jonas frowned. "A seal for what?"
Before anyone could answer, the fortress split down the middle.
A blinding surge of red and black energy spiraled into the sky. The sound that followed wasn't just loud — it was alive. It screamed through their bones, an unholy roar that made the stars flicker.
Liora dropped to her knees. "What… what is that?"
Selene's face turned ashen. "The Chains of Origin are breaking."
Fragments of ancient runes broke off the fortress walls and floated into the sky, burning away into ash. The temperature plummeted, their breath turning white in the crimson air.
Eris stumbled forward, drawn toward the fortress as if something were calling him. Every pulse of the Heart aligned with his own heartbeat now — perfectly synchronized.
"Eris, stop!" Mara shouted. "You'll die if you go closer!"
He didn't stop. He raised his hand, and in that moment, the ground beneath him split open.
Out of the chasm rose an enormous eye — vast, glowing, and inhuman — staring directly at him. Its pupil burned with molten gold, swirling like a dying sun.
Everyone froze.
The voice came again, this time deeper, more defined — like a god remembering how to speak:
"At last... a bearer returns."
Eris's vision blurred. The light from his veins erupted outward, casting symbols across the entire plain. The chains high above began snapping one after another — each break followed by a quake that bent the horizon.
Selene's barrier cracked. "We need to run!" she screamed.
Jonas grabbed Eris by the shoulder and yanked him back. The moment their skin touched, both were thrown across the ground by an invisible force.
The fortress rumbled again — this time splitting open entirely. Within its collapsing core, a colossal shape began to move, shadows bending around its outline.
Liora's voice broke. "It's alive… it's really alive."
The sky tore open, bleeding red light as something vast and ancient began to emerge — bound in half-shattered chains, its breath shaking the planet itself.
Selene turned to the others, her eyes glowing white. "If that thing fully awakens, Mars won't survive."
Jonas coughed blood, pushing himself up. "Then what the hell do we do?"
Selene's eyes flickered toward Eris.
"We run — and we pray he remembers whatever his bloodline sealed."