The rain hadn't stopped since dawn.
It fell softly over the valley, washing the scent of battle and ash into the earth. Kael stood beneath a half-broken tree, his cloak heavy with water, watching the distant mountains disappear into mist. Lira sat by a flickering campfire, her hands outstretched toward the heat, though the flames were barely holding against the downpour.
It was peaceful — too peaceful.
After what they had just escaped, the silence felt unnatural.
Kael's fingers brushed the side of his neck, where the mark of the Origin Sigil faintly glowed beneath his skin. It pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat — steady, but ominous. Every pulse whispered fragments of words he didn't fully understand.
> "Return the light… Return what was stolen…"
He closed his eyes, willing the voice to fade. "Not now," he muttered. "Just let me breathe for a moment."
But the whispers never truly left.
"Talking to yourself again?" Lira's voice cut through the rain, light but edged with exhaustion.
"Better than talking to the universe," Kael replied, forcing a half-smile.
She huffed softly. "Fair. The universe doesn't listen anyway."
He turned to her. "You're injured. You should rest."
"Already did," she lied, tightening the cloth around her shoulder. "You think I'll let you wander into your thoughts and summon another cosmic disaster?"
Kael chuckled, low and dry. "Tempting, but no. I'm done breaking worlds for now."
The words hung between them — too casual for something that heavy.
Lira studied him quietly, eyes catching the faint golden glow under his wet hair. "That light in your eyes… it's stronger than before. Every time you use that power, you change a little. Don't you feel it?"
Kael hesitated. He wanted to say no. He wanted to pretend that he was still the same person who'd once just wanted to survive. But deep down, he knew the truth.
Every time he called upon the Origin Force, something ancient inside him stirred — something that remembered more than he did.
"…Yeah," he said finally. "It feels like I'm remembering someone else's life. Someone I don't want to be."
Lira looked into the fire. "Maybe it's still yours. Just buried too deep."
Kael didn't answer.
---
The night stretched long and quiet until Kael's exhaustion finally pulled him under.
In the darkness of sleep, the world shifted.
He found himself standing in a hall made of white stone, vast and echoing — the Celestial Chamber, though different from before. Its walls pulsed with faint light, and at its center stood a woman cloaked in silver, her back turned toward him.
He knew her before she even spoke.
> "Kael."
Her voice was soft — too human for a goddess.
"Seraphine." He breathed her name like a curse and a prayer all at once.
She turned slowly, her face radiant and weary. The faint golden cracks along her skin glimmered like old scars. "You're still alive," she said quietly. "Good."
"That's debatable." His tone was sharp, but his eyes betrayed the mix of anger and confusion boiling inside. "You knew what the Shard of Eos would do to me. You sent me into that Rift knowing I'd almost die."
Seraphine lowered her gaze. "You had to awaken it. Without that, the cycle would continue endlessly."
"Cycle?" Kael's voice rose. "You keep saying that — like I'm part of some divine equation. Tell me the truth, Seraphine. What am I?"
Her eyes flickered, a storm of light and sorrow. "You're what remains of the first flame. The beginning before beginnings. The gods called you Origin because you were the spark that allowed creation to exist. When you rebelled… they tore you apart and scattered your essence across the worlds."
The words hit like a hammer. "Rebelled? Against what?"
"Against us," she whispered. "Against the gods who thought they could rewrite destiny. You wanted freedom — for mortals, for everything that lived. But freedom meant chaos. So they erased your name from the stars."
Kael's throat tightened. "And now you bring me back? Why? Out of guilt?"
Seraphine stepped closer, light rippling with her movement. "Because the gods you once fought are returning. The world is falling out of balance again. And I… I don't want to watch it burn a second time."
He wanted to hate her — to scream, to call her a liar — but something in her voice cracked open the walls around his anger. Regret. Real regret.
"I don't know if I can be that person again," he said quietly. "I don't even know if I want to be."
Seraphine smiled faintly. "You were never meant to be a god, Kael. Just a light that chose its own path. That's what made you different."
The chamber began to dissolve, light scattering like feathers in the wind. Her form flickered, fading.
"Wait," Kael said quickly. "What happens now?"
Seraphine's voice echoed as her body vanished.
> "Find the next Shard… before He does."
> "Who?"
> "The one who inherited your shadow."
---
Kael woke with a gasp. The campfire had burned to embers, the rain finally stopped. The world smelled clean — too clean, as if something sacred had passed through.
Lira stirred beside him, rubbing her eyes. "Nightmare?"
"Something like that."
He stood, staring at the horizon where faint light bled into the clouds. The dawn painted the land gold, and for a moment, everything felt painfully alive.
Seraphine's words echoed in his mind.
Find the next Shard.
Before he does.
But who was "he"?
As if to answer, a faint tremor rippled through the ground. Birds scattered from the trees. The air shifted — heavy, wrong.
Kael's instincts flared. He grabbed his weapon instantly. "Get up."
Lira blinked. "What—?"
"Something's coming."
The forest fell silent. Then, out of the mist, a figure emerged — tall, cloaked, his presence oppressive yet eerily familiar.
Kael's breath caught. The man's aura was golden, like his own, but twisted — corrupted.
When the figure spoke, his voice sent a chill through Kael's spine.
> "At last… the lost flame returns."
Kael's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"
The man stepped forward, lowering his hood. His face — eerily similar to Kael's — smiled faintly. "You wouldn't remember me. But I remember you, brother."
The word hit Kael like a blade. "Brother…?"
The stranger extended a hand. Golden energy swirled around his palm, identical to Kael's Origin Force but darkened with shadows.
> "I am Eryndor — the Shadow of Origin. The part of you that chose to end creation, not protect it."
Lira drew her sword instantly. "Another Kael? Great. Because one wasn't complicated enough."
Eryndor ignored her, his gaze locked on Kael. "You don't understand yet. You're incomplete. Every shard you claim only makes you more like me. Eventually, there will be no difference."
Kael's grip on his weapon tightened. "Then I'll stop before that happens."
"You won't." Eryndor's tone was calm, almost pitying. "Because the light inside you already remembers the truth. You and I are not enemies, Kael. We're inevitability."
With that, he raised his hand — and the forest exploded in golden flame.
Kael reacted instantly, erecting a barrier of Origin Force. The impact blasted him backward, searing heat licking his arms. Lira screamed his name, but the shockwave drowned everything.
When the smoke cleared, Eryndor was gone — only the echo of his laughter lingered.
Kael dropped to one knee, panting, the world spinning.
Lira ran to him. "Kael! Are you—"
He raised a trembling hand. His skin burned with golden light, the mark of the Origin pulsing violently as if trying to escape his body.
"Lira…" His voice was hoarse. "He's not lying. I felt it. The power inside him — it's mine."
She swallowed hard. "Then what do we do?"
Kael looked up at the horizon. The storm clouds were gathering again, black and endless.
"…We find the next Shard," he said softly. "Before I become what he already is."
---
Far beyond the mortal world, in the Celestial Realm, Seraphine stood before the Mirror once more. The image of Kael and Eryndor flickered within its light.
Her hands trembled. "It's begun…"
Behind her, another god — cloaked in crimson — spoke coldly.
> "You should have destroyed him when you had the chance."
Seraphine's eyes glistened. "No. He deserves the chance we never gave him."
The crimson god's gaze hardened. "Then may your mercy doom us all."
The mirror cracked, light spilling out like blood.
---