Arin's blade trembled in his hand, not from fear — but from rage that felt too large for his chest to contain. The blue glow around the steel pulsed violently, reacting to his heartbeat. The bodies around him… the blood that soaked into the broken stone… the burned banners of the Veilbreakers fluttering weakly in the smoke-filled wind…
It was all too much.
His knees threatened to collapse under the weight of the scene.But he did not fall.
He pointed the tip of the blade at the Wraith's throat.
"You will explain," Arin said, voice cracking with fury. "Or I swear— I swear I'll kill you even if it kills me."
The Wraith did not speak.
He simply stared, unreadable behind the faint shimmer of silver energy drifting off his shoulders. Behind him, the newly-repaired Veil flickered faintly as the last traces of corruption faded.
The others stood several steps behind Arin — silent, shaken, barely able to breathe after what they had witnessed.
Eira's hands trembled over her frost blade.Kaien's wind aura sputtered weakly.Lynx lowered his bow, eyes red from tears he refused to shed.Razan gripped his spear until his knuckles turned white.Draiven's roots coiled protectively around his feet, quivering like frightened animals.
Every single one of them had lost people today.
People they had eaten with.Trained with.Laughed with.People who had protected them, guided them, believed in them.
And now those people lay scattered across the courtyard like broken dolls.
Arin's voice cut through the silent devastation:
"You knew. You knew this seal would break before we reached it. You knew those creatures would slaughter everyone. You knew — AND YOU LET IT HAPPEN!"
The Wraith remained still.
Eira stepped forward, voice trembling."Arin… don't do something you can't take back."
"Can't take back?"Arin laughed, a hollow, broken sound."What do we even have left to take back?! LOOK AROUND YOU!"
His voice echoed across the ruined headquarters.
Burned walls.Collapsed towers.Crushed bodies.Half-eaten corpses.Blood smeared across shattered stone.
Veilbreakers — some of the strongest warriors in the world — had been massacred like livestock.
"And you—" Arin snarled at the Wraith, "—you show up AFTER they're all dead. You appear just in time to save US. Not them. JUST US. WHY?!"
The Wraith finally spoke.
"…Because I needed you alive."
Arin flinched as if slapped.
The blue flame around his blade surged higher.
"You NEEDED us alive? And the others? The commanders? The warriors who died fighting those monstrosities? What about them?!"
The Wraith did not answer.
Arin stepped closer, blade nearly touching the Wraith's throat.Silver energy hissed against blue flame.
"I'm giving you one chance," Arin whispered."One."
The Wraith slowly — very slowly — lifted his eyes to meet Arin's.
"Then listen."
The air shifted.
Everyone straightened unconsciously as the Wraith finally, finally lowered his guard — not physically, but in presence. His posture softened, his voice lost its cold metallic sharpness.
And for the first time…
He sounded human.
"Arin," the Wraith said, "if I had come earlier, I could have saved them."
Arin's grip tightened.
The Wraith continued:
"But if I had saved them… every other seal would have broken by now."
Silence.
Wind rustled through the ruins, lifting ashes into the air like gray snow.
Arin frowned. "What do you mean?"
The Wraith stretched out his hand. A silver projection flickered above his palm — a map of the world. Thirteen glowing dots spread across it.
Twelve of them pulsed red.One pulsed blue — the one they stood before.
"Today," the Wraith said softly, "nine seals collapsed at the same hour. Three more are moments away. This one — your headquarters — is located in the exact center of the global Veilgrid."
Kaien stepped forward, voice thin. "Meaning…?"
"Meaning," the Wraith said, "all the other seals provide part of their sealing power to this seal, so more the other seals will break the more damage it will cause to this seal.In order to protect this seal, you have to protect all the others or... the Veil will fall. All three layers. Every creature from beyond the Third Veil would spill into your world without resistance."
Lynx swallowed hard. "So… you chose to defend the outer rings first."
"No."The Wraith shook his head.
"I fought on the second ring — where the collapse would be catastrophic. I repaired three seals alone. I held back creatures that would erase continents. Had I come here sooner, I would have lost those seals — and the world would already be dead."
Arin's blade lowered an inch.
Eira whispered, "So… it wasn't a choice."
"It was," the Wraith replied quietly."A cruel one. And I made it."
He looked at the bodies scattered around them.
"And this… is the price."
Arin's chest tightened painfully.
He wanted to hate the Wraith.He wanted to blame him.He wanted someone to answer for this massacre.
But a small, horrible part of him understood.
If the Wraith had rushed here first… the world would already be gone.
Arin's hand shook.
He lowered the blade — but only slightly.
"That still doesn't explain," Arin choked out, "why you saved us. Why only us. Why leave them to die instead of helping them fight?"
The Wraith's eyes darkened.
"Because you," he said, "are necessary to save everyone who is still alive."
Arin froze.
The Wraith stepped closer — not threateningly, but with a weight of truth behind every word.
"The Veil recognizes you. It reacts to you. It bends around you. Your existence distorts it. That is why creatures are drawn to you. Why your power awakened. Why the seal obeys you."
Eira touched Arin's arm, eyes wide.
Kaien whispered, "You're… chosen?"
"No," the Wraith corrected."Not chosen. Born."
Arin's breath caught.
"Born… for what?"
The Wraith raised his hand.
"For this."
Silver energy burst outward — not violently, but like a ripple through reality.
The ruins around them faded.
The sky darkened.
The world shifted.
And suddenly the six of them found themselves standing within a vision:
Twelve seals shattered.Twelve temples burned.Darkness poured freely into the world.Cities collapsed.Oceans boiled.Skies tore open.Gigantic silhouettes — Third Veil gods — waded across continents, devouring light like smoke.
A nightmare.
Arin gasped as the vision dissolved.His knees buckled, and Eira caught him.
"That," the Wraith said quietly, "is what happens if the next seal breaks."
Razan cursed under his breath.Lynx's jaw clenched.Draiven breathed shakily.
Arin looked up, trembling."So… we're all that's left?"
The Wraith nodded once.
"You — and the few scattered Veilbreakers who still live. I need you all. The world needs you."
Arin stared at the ground.
Bodies.Blood.Ruins.
His people.His home.
Gone.
The blue aura around his blade dimmed to a trembling glow.
"…I wasn't strong enough."
Eira knelt beside him."You did everything you could."
"Not enough," Arin whispered. "Not even close."
The Wraith stepped forward and crouched so he was at Arin's eye level.
"Arin," he said quietly."You cannot save what is already gone."
Arin's eyes filled with tears he couldn't hold back.
The Wraith continued:
"But you can save what remains."
Arin swallowed hard.
"What if I fail again?"
The Wraith stared at him — and for the first time since any of them had met him, he spoke not as a weapon of the Veil or a creature of power…
But as something that understood loss.
"Then the world ends," the Wraith said honestly."But if you rise — truly rise — then this world still has hope."
The words struck deeper than Arin expected.
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then a scream shattered the silence.
A surviving Veilbreaker — badly wounded, crawling across the rubble, reaching toward them with a trembling hand.
"P-Please… help… please…"
Arin stood up immediately and rushed to him.
He knelt, lifting the dying man's head gently.
"It's okay," Arin whispered. "I'm here."
The man's eyes filled with tears.
"I tried to hold them off… tried to save them… but the Second Veil beast… gods… gods, it was impossible…"
"You did enough," Arin said, voice cracking. "You fought bravely."
"I… was waiting for you…"His breathing grew shallow."Tell Commander Seris… I'm sorry…"
Arin's heart broke further.
"She would be proud," he whispered."She always was."
The man smiled weakly…
…and died.
Arin lowered his body gently to the ground.
Eira covered her mouth, tears falling silently.Kaien wiped his eyes angrily.Lynx looked away, shoulders shaking.Razan bowed his head.Draiven whispered a prayer in the old tongue of the earth spirits.
Arin stood slowly — and something inside him changed.
The grief was still there.
But beneath it…something new began to burn.
Resolve.
The Wraith spoke:
"Are you done questioning why I didn't save them?"
Arin turned to him.
"No."
The Wraith blinked.
Arin's blue aura flared sharply.
"I understand your reason. I understand the logic. I even accept that the world might have ended if you had acted differently."
He lifted his blade again — but this time, not trembling.
"But understanding doesn't erase what happened. And it doesn't erase your responsibility."
The Wraith tilted his head."Responsibility?"
"You said the Veil reacts to me," Arin said."But the Veil reacts to you too. You are its guardian. Its ruler. Maybe its prisoner. But you knew what would happen. You have power beyond anything we've seen."
He stepped closer, blade lit with cold blue fire.
"So if you want us to trust you — if you want us to follow you — then you're going to tell us EVERYTHING."
Silver sparks flickered around the Wraith's eyes.
"You are demanding answers."
"I'm demanding the truth."
The Wraith exhaled softly.
"Very well."
Arin lifted the blade's point again.
"Swear it."
The Wraith raised an eyebrow. "Swear?"
"Swear on the Veil," Arin said."Swear you'll tell us everything next. No more secrets. No more last-minute reveals. No more manipulating us for your plans."
The Wraith's eyes narrowed.
Behind the blue glow of Arin's blade…
Behind the smoke of ruined headquarters…
Behind the grief…
He saw something new in Arin.
Not weakness.
Not potential.
But leadership.
After a long moment, the Wraith lifted his hand.
Silver light gathered around it.
And he spoke:
"I swear on the Veil itself."
Arin held his gaze.
The Wraith's voice deepened.
"In the next breath… I will tell you everything."
Arin's blade pulsed.
"Good," he said.
"Start talking."