The attack came at dawn—or what passed for dawn in the Seventh Realm.
Kael and Lyra were crossing the Obsidian Wastes when the sky split open and Theron descended with an army at his back. Not the small hunting party from before. This was a legion. Hundreds of warriors, each one deadly, each one sworn to Theron's cause.
"Run won't work this time," Theron called out, his voice carrying across the wasteland. "I've learned from our previous encounters. This time, there's no escape."
Lyra immediately positioned herself between Kael and the army. "Get to the Palace. I'll hold them off."
"I'm not leaving you," Kael said.
"You have to." She looked at him, and her silver eyes held something Kael had been too blind to see before. Not just determination. Not just duty. Something deeper. "Everything we've done, everything we've risked—it's all for nothing if you don't reach the Palace. If you don't find the answer."
"Lyra—"
"Promise me you'll find it. Promise me this won't be for nothing."
Kael wanted to argue, wanted to stay and fight beside her. But he knew she was right. The mission mattered more than any single life. Even hers. Even his.
"I promise," he said.
And then he ran.
Behind him, he heard Lyra's battle cry, silver light exploding as she met Theron's army alone. The sounds of combat followed him as he fled—metal on metal, screams, the crackle of power unleashed.
He wanted to look back. Wanted to help. But he kept running, tears streaming down his face, because looking back would mean failing everyone.
The Palace of Echoes rose before him faster than it should have, as if the realm itself was pulling him toward it. It was a structure that hurt to look at—too many angles, too much depth, existing in more dimensions than his mind could process.
Kael stumbled through the entrance and the doors slammed shut behind him.
Silence.
Complete, absolute silence that pressed against his ears like water.
The Palace was empty. Or maybe it just looked empty. Kael could feel presences here—memories, echoes, things that weren't quite ghosts but weren't quite alive either.
"Lyra," he whispered, but the silence swallowed her name.
He moved deeper into the Palace, following an instinct he didn't understand. The walls were covered in writing—thousands of languages, thousands of years of history etched into crystal that glowed faintly green.
And then he found it. The central chamber.
The Heart of All Things hung in the air before him, suspended in layers upon layers of seals. It looked nothing like he'd expected. Not a jewel or an artifact. It was pure light—no, not light. It was potential. The possibility of anything and everything, captured and contained.
It was beautiful.
It was terrible.
And it was calling to him.
"Don't touch it."
Kael spun to find a figure emerging from the shadows. Not the Sorceress. Not Theron. Someone else. Someone whose face he recognized from the memories he'd seen in the Frozen Sea.
Aldric Ashford. His ancestor. Or rather, an echo of him, preserved by the Palace itself.
"You're not real," Kael said.
"Real enough." Aldric looked tired, just like the Sorceress had. Worn down by impossible choices. "I've been waiting here for three thousand years. Waiting for one of my descendants to finally come. To finally face what I did."
"You made a mistake," Kael said, and there was no accusation in his voice. Just understanding. "You sealed the Seventh Realm because you couldn't figure out how to separate it from the Heart."
"Yes." Aldric moved closer to the Heart, though he didn't touch it. "The Heart was bonded to the realm. Fused with it. I had days, maybe hours, before it corrupted everything. So I did the only thing I could think of—I locked it all away. Realm and Heart together."
"But you meant to come back. To find a way to fix it properly."
"I did. I spent the rest of my life searching. But I never found the answer." Aldric looked at Kael, and in his eyes was three millennia of regret. "I failed them. I failed everyone."
"Maybe you didn't," Kael said. "Maybe you just weren't meant to be the one who solved it. Maybe that's me."
"And what makes you think you can succeed where I failed?"
"Because I have something you didn't." Kael thought of Lyra, fighting an army alone to buy him time. "I have people who believe in me. Who are willing to risk everything to give me a chance. That has to mean something."
Aldric smiled, sad and proud at once. "You remind me of why I did it. Why I made the choice. Not because it was right. But because it was necessary." He reached out, and his hand passed through the seals around the Heart. Being an echo apparently had advantages. "The Heart can't be destroyed. But it can be moved. Transferred to something that can contain it without being corrupted."
"Like what?"
"Like a person with Ashford blood. Someone already touched by the Heart's power." Aldric looked at Kael meaningfully. "Someone like you."
Kael felt ice in his veins. "You're saying I have to become the container? That's the same as being the seal."
"No. Not the same. The seal is permanent, unchanging. A container can carry the Heart until a better solution is found. You'd still be yourself. Still be human. Just... changed."
"How changed?"
"I don't know. No one's ever tried it. But it's the only way I can see to save both realms." Aldric's form began to flicker. "My time here is ending. But know this—whatever you choose, you're braver than I was. Because you're choosing with full knowledge of the cost. I chose in ignorance and fear. You're choosing in wisdom and hope."
"Wait," Kael said. "If I take the Heart, will it free the Seventh Realm?"
"Yes. The seal will break. The realm will reconnect to the others. Your people and theirs will be able to coexist again."
"And if the Heart corrupts me?"
"Then you'll become the very thing we feared. The thing that could destroy all seven realms." Aldric's form was almost transparent now. "I can't tell you what to choose, descendant. I can only tell you that whatever you decide, it will echo through eternity."
And then he was gone.
Kael stood alone before the Heart of All Things, feeling its pull, its promise, its terrible potential.
Outside, he could hear the sounds of battle drawing closer. Theron had broken through. Lyra was either captured or dead. Time was running out.
He could run. Could try to escape, leave the Heart sealed, leave everything as it was. Let the Seventh Realm continue its slow death. Let his world remain safe but ignorant.
Or he could take the chance. Trust that he was strong enough to contain the Heart. Trust that being a container was different enough from being a seal to matter.
Kael thought about his father's face when the stars fell. About Mira's fear. About Lady Crimson's centuries of grief. About Lord Azure's fractured existence. About the Sorceress's lost daughters.
About Lyra, who'd given everything to get him here.
He reached out.
The moment his hand touched the Heart, the seals shattered.
And Kael Ashford became something more than human.