The sun had not yet risen when the Unbound reached the valley of stone. Pale mist pooled between the cliffs, thick and heavy as breath held too long. The air was different here—tainted with an echo that pressed against the soul.
Lyn stepped forward, hand brushing against the fractured symbol carved into the rock wall. The mark pulsed once, faintly—like something sleeping beneath it had just stirred.
Umbra's shadow stretched beside him, the creature's eyes dim and unreadable. —This is it. The Third Seal.
"It feels… wrong," Rhea whispered. "Like it's watching us."
"It is," Umbra murmured. "All Seals are alive in their own way. They listen. They wait."
Arden knelt, examining the symbols etched in the ground. "Same pattern as the Cradle, but twisted. Whoever made this wanted to keep something in—or out."
Lyn exhaled slowly. The memories of the last Seal—the pain, the flame, the way the shadows had spoken his name—still haunted him. Yet this one felt different. Colder. Older.
He closed his eyes, reaching inward toward the bond. Umbra's presence met him there, calm and vast. "Show me," Lyn murmured.
The world tilted. The mist deepened. For a heartbeat, he stood somewhere else entirely—a black expanse where the ground was glass and the sky was bleeding light. In the distance, seven enormous chains hung from nothing, each disappearing into the void.
—The Seals, Umbra said softly. —Every one of them binds a fragment of what once was whole. Break too many… and the world will remember what it forgot.
"And what happens when we reach the last one?"
Umbra hesitated. —Then you will see the truth behind the Council's gods.
Lyn opened his eyes again. The world returned in a rush—the sound of the wind, Rhea's uneasy breathing, Arden's hand resting on his sword hilt.
He moved toward the center of the formation. "Let's begin."
The moment his palm touched the seal, the ground screamed. The mist ignited with blue fire as glyphs spiraled outward, wrapping around them like serpents of light.
"Lyn!" Rhea shouted. "It's reacting to your crest!"
He grit his teeth as the pulse of mana surged up his arm, clawing through his veins like frost. "Stay back!"
Arden drew his blades, shielding her. "What's happening to him?"
Umbra's wings flared. —He's being tested.
Lyn gasped, vision fracturing as he saw flashes—a city of glass shattering into dust, chains coiling around the moon, Umbra screaming his name through the void.
Then, a voice—low, ancient, filled with sorrow. —Child of the Eighth Flame… why do you wake the sleeping gods?
"Because they already woke us," Lyn whispered.
The seal cracked. Blue light became black flame, erupting skyward. The ground buckled, and for a moment the world split—half light, half shadow. Lyn stood at the center, eyes glowing with silver fire.
When the light finally dimmed, silence fell. The sigil beneath him was gone—erased. Only a faint hum remained in the air.
Rhea ran to him. "Lyn! Are you—"
He raised a trembling hand. "I'm fine." But the tone in his voice betrayed the lie. His eyes no longer held their usual silver hue; now, they burned faintly red.
Arden stared. "That's new."
Umbra's form flickered beside him. —The Third Seal has marked him. Each one changes its bearer. He can't undo it now.
Lyn stood still, his breath uneven. "Three Seals broken… five remain."
Rhea looked toward the horizon. "And each one draws us closer to the truth."
"Or to ruin," Arden muttered.
Lyn turned toward the mist-shrouded path ahead, voice quiet but certain. "Either way, we keep moving."
Umbra's shadow spread wider, blending with the fog. —Then step carefully, shadowborn. The next Seal lies beyond the Veilscar Plateau… and there, even the gods are afraid to dream.
The mist closed around them as they began to walk, their silhouettes fading into the shifting light—three rebels, one spirit, and a destiny unraveling by their own hands.