The rain did not stop.
It fell in sheets—cold, relentless, whispering across the ruined sky as if the world itself were exhaling in dread.
Aiden pulled his cloak tighter around his shoulders as he, Aidem, Lysa, and Seris stepped deeper into the obsidian ravine. The walls were jagged stone, carved smooth only where something enormous had scraped through.
Hours ago.
The remnants of its passing still pulsed with residual heat.
Lysa knelt, brushing her fingers across a molten groove.
"Dragons haven't flown this region for centuries," she murmured.
Her eyes flicked toward Aiden. "Something drove it this way."
Aidem didn't stop walking.
"It wasn't driven," he said.
"It was fleeing."
A hush fell.
Seris swallowed. "From what?"
Aidem paused—eyes glowing faintly in the dim, violet light bleeding through the storm clouds overhead.
"The Harrow King's vanguard," Aidem said. "They've crossed the Veil."
Aiden's pulse hammered. He tasted metal on his tongue—the same bitter sensation he felt whenever the symbols on his chest stirred.
He had hoped for more time.
But time, it seemed, had other plans.
---
The ravine opened into a clearing of cracked stone, white roots bursting from beneath like bones twisting toward the sky. A shimmering fissure flickered at the center—an unstable tear in reality, like glass fracturing but never breaking.
Aiden stepped closer.
"This is where the worlds overlapped," he whispered.
Aidem nodded.
"The Harrow King is hunting for the crossing points. If he gains control of enough of them, he won't just invade—he'll merge the worlds entirely."
Lysa's grip on her spear tightened.
"That can't happen. Even the Ancients never attempted something that reckless."
Aidem's expression darkened.
"The Harrow King is not an Ancient."
Something in his tone made the air colder.
Aiden opened his mouth to ask—but the fissure trembled.
Then—
A low growl rumbled from within.
Seris stepped back, hand flying to her dagger. "Something's coming through—"
"No," Aidem whispered.
"Something's being forced through."
The fissure stretched—distorted—as jagged hands of shadow clawed outward, dragging something massive behind them.
Aiden felt the symbols on his chest ignite in warning.
His breath caught.
"Is that—"
A dragon—charred, trembling, half-corrupted by voidfire—lurched through the tear, collapsing onto the cracked stones. Its scales flickered between silver and black, as if the creature were losing a battle with itself.
Its wings scraped the earth.
Its eyes—once ancient and wise—were clouded with shadow.
Lysa gasped. "A Starborne Drake… infected by void corruption?"
Aiden stepped forward instinctively, hand outstretched.
"Aiden—don't!" Seris hissed.
But the dragon lifted its head—struggling—then focused entirely on him.
It wasn't attacking.
It was pleading.
Aiden felt the warmth in his chest flare—hard—like sunlight breaking through a storm.
The dragon rasped words that tore through the air like broken metal:
"Chosen… of the Triad… Hear us…"
Aiden froze.
Aidem's eyes widened.
"No," Aidem whispered. "It's too early—he's not ready—"
The dragon's claws dug into the stone, cracking it.
"The Harrow King… seeks the Eclipsed Throne… He will unmake the Cycle…"
Aiden's voice trembled.
"What cycle?"
The dragon exhaled a plume of fractured starlight—its dying breath—and whispered:
"The cycle of kings."
Silence.
Then the fissure behind it surged violently.
A second figure stepped through.
Tall.
Armored entirely in shadowlight.
A helm shaped like a broken crown.
A presence so cold Aiden felt it on his bones.
Lysa stumbled back. Seris froze. Aidem's fists tightened.
The figure's voice reverberated:
"Aidem."
Aidem's face hardened.
"Harrow King."
Aiden's heart felt like it punched his ribs.
That's him? Already—?
The Harrow King's gaze shifted to Aiden.
And though no face was visible beneath the helm, Aiden felt it.
Recognition.
"Ah…" the Harrow King murmured.
"The boy of two souls."
Aiden's blood went cold.
The Harrow King stepped forward.
"Aiden of the Triad. Your existence… complicates what should have been inevitable."
Aiden swallowed.
"My existence? You mean—my connection with Aidem?"
"No," the Harrow King said.
"You are the key because you are the last heir of Erased Worlds."
Aiden's vision spun.
His knees nearly buckled.
"What… what are you talking about?"
The Harrow King lifted an obsidian blade.
"Come with me willingly," he said softly.
"And I will show you truths Aidem never dared reveal."
Aiden turned sharply to Aidem.
"You knew something about this?"
Aidem didn't answer.
And that silence was louder than an explosion.
The Harrow King extended a hand.
"You belong to my realm, Aiden. Not his."
Aiden's heart pounded.
His breath trembled.
The symbols on his chest pulsed like fire trying to escape his skin.
Aiden stared at Aidem—loyal, secretive, powerful—and the Harrow King—terrifying, but offering answers.
Aiden closed his eyes.
And made his choice.