The journey took hours through a forest that felt older than time itself. Vines wrapped around ancient stones, glowing with strange runes that dimmed as they passed.
"Where exactly is this Mark Keeper?" Raya asked, stepping over a crumbling pillar.
"Where no creature of shadow dares follow," Eren replied cryptically.
Eventually, they reached a narrow trail carved into a cliff wall. Below was nothing but swirling darkness—like a bottomless pit.
Raya's voice hitched. "Eren… that's not fog down there."
"No. It's the Void."
His tone was grim.
"Don't fall."
"Wow, comforting," she muttered.
They walked the cliff path until they reached a carved archway, half-swallowed by moss. Strange runes glowed faintly as they approached.
Inside was a shrine—small, dim, and freezing. It felt like stepping into another world entirely.
Then she saw him.
A man—or something shaped like a man—sat cross-legged before a stone altar. His eyes were swirling silver fog, his hair long and white, floating slightly as if suspended in water.
Eren bowed deeply.
"Master Lyren."
The Mark Keeper opened his strange eyes and inhaled sharply.
"The Flame-Bearer."
Raya froze.
"You… know me?"
"I knew you before you were stolen," he murmured.
He stood slowly, robes whispering across the ground.
"You carry the Sovereign's Claim in your blood. But you wield a flame that does not obey him."
Raya stiffened.
"I don't obey ANYONE."
Lyren smiled faintly.
"Then you are exactly as the prophecy described."
She felt Eren tense beside her.
"What prophecy?" Raya asked.
Lyren circled her slowly.
"The Child of Flame.
The Marked Unbound.
The one who can free the world from the Sovereign's dominion…
or become his eternal throne."
Raya's breath stopped.
"I don't want either!" she cried.
Lyren touched her mark, and her skin pulsed under his finger.
"You m
ay not want destiny," he said softly,
"but destiny wants you."