The Veilscar Range was unlike any land they had crossed before.No sun touched its peaks. No stars pierced the clouds above. Only the pale shimmer of mana veins, threading through the stone like molten silver, guided their way forward.
Each step into the range felt heavier than the last — not from exhaustion, but resistance. The air itself pressed against them, thick and aware.
Umbra's form drifted ahead, its body half-dissolved in the gloom. —The Veilscar remembers, it whispered. Every bond forged, every oath broken. This is where the first tamers sealed their spirits — and where their echoes still walk.
Rhea shivered despite her mana wards. "Feels like walking through a graveyard."
Arden kicked at a loose stone, watching it tumble into the abyss below. "Except the corpses here might still be breathing."
"Stay focused," Lyn said softly. "The shard's resonance is close. Whatever lies at the heart of this place… it's calling to us."
The narrow trail widened into a cavern mouth, its entrance framed by jagged crystals that pulsed faintly with blue light. They stepped inside — and the world changed.
The interior stretched endlessly, as if space itself had forgotten its boundaries. Pillars of black glass towered overhead, reflecting the group's movements in warped, shifting fragments. In those reflections, their faces weren't their own — older, battle-worn, hollow-eyed.
Umbra's voice was a whisper. —Do not look too long. The Cradle shows what could be, not what is.
"Cradle?" Rhea echoed.
—The Cradle of Shadows. The birthplace of the first pact between tamer and spirit.
Arden snorted. "If this is where it all started, no wonder the world went to hell."
As they ventured deeper, a faint humming began — not a sound, but a vibration beneath their bones. Lyn's shard flared in answer, its light pulsing through his skin. The humming grew louder until the ground itself began to glow, revealing an enormous sigil carved into the floor: eight interlocking rings surrounding a hollow center.
Lyn stepped toward it, breath unsteady. "This is it. The seal of the first covenant."
Umbra circled the symbol, eyes narrowing. —Something's missing. The heart of the seal… it was torn out.
A low rumble echoed through the chamber. From the far wall, stone cracked and peeled away, revealing a silhouette chained within the glass — a massive beast, wings folded, eyes sealed by molten runes.
Rhea's voice trembled. "Is that—"
—A spirit, Umbra interrupted. One far older than me.
The creature stirred, its voice a thunderous whisper that filled the chamber.
"Another bearer of shadow comes… carrying the echo of rebellion. Tell me, child of the Eighth Flame, do you know what you carry?"
Lyn met its gaze, though his pulse thundered in his chest. "A fragment of the Crest. A key."
"A key… or a curse. The Eighth was not forged to bind. It was forged to break."
The chains rattled, and with each tremor, waves of pressure rolled outward, cracking the crystal pillars.
Umbra growled. —Enough riddles. Why did you call him here?
"Because he is the first to hear the song again," the spirit answered. "The Eighth Flame cannot burn alone. To awaken the path, the others must answer — and each demands sacrifice."
"Sacrifice?" Lyn asked, voice sharp. "Of what?"
"Bond."
The word struck like a blade.
Umbra's wings flared, shadows whipping through the air. —You will not touch him.
"It is not I who will take," the ancient spirit said, eyes glowing beneath its seals. "The flame itself consumes what it deems unworthy. You would do well to remember that, shadowborn."
The glow from Lyn's shard intensified, searing against his palm. He hissed and dropped it — but the shard hovered midair, spinning rapidly, drawing in the ambient mana until it burst into a radiant glyph above the seal.
Rhea and Arden shielded their eyes. "Lyn! What's happening?!"
Umbra's voice thundered through the chamber. —He's being tested!
The glyph flared, and in that blinding light Lyn saw visions — fragments of his past, twisted through the lens of doubt.Umbra standing over him, fangs bared.The Council's flames consuming the village he once called home.His mother's voice, whispering, You should never have been born with a shadow's heart.
He dropped to his knees, clutching his head. "Stop…! That's not real!"
—Fight it, Lyn! Umbra's voice cut through the storm. —Your bond is not built on control — it's built on trust!
The light wavered. Lyn forced his eyes open, reaching toward the spinning shard. His voice was a raw whisper. "Then take it — take my trust!"
He pressed his hand against the glyph. The vision shattered.
Silence fell. The ancient spirit stirred once more, its chains glowing faintly with new light.
"You have chosen well. The first bond endures."
The shard descended, resting gently in Lyn's palm — now etched with a faint additional crest, the mark of the Second Flame.
Umbra's shadow solidified beside him, eyes gleaming with pride. —You faced the Cradle and lived. The world will tremble when it learns what you carry now.
Lyn rose slowly, breath ragged but steady. "Then let it tremble."
He turned toward his allies, determination hardening his gaze. "We keep moving. The next shard awaits."
Rhea exhaled shakily. "You're going to get us all killed, you know that?"
Arden smirked. "Yeah… but what a way to make history."
Umbra's laugh rolled through the chamber like thunder. —History will not remember the obedient. Only the ones who dared to burn.
And as they stepped out of the Cradle, the seal behind them pulsed once — then vanished, leaving only the echo of a heartbeat that belonged to the world itself.