For a long moment, no one breathed.
Elara froze, staring at the figure being dragged down the Sanctuary steps—
the boy with silver-black hair, runes scorched into his skin, shackles burning with sealing magic.
Kael's fingers dug into her arm, trembling with a violence she had never felt from him before.
"That's impossible," he whispered.
His voice wasn't loud.
It wasn't angry.
It was broken.
Elias stepped forward, disbelief etched into every line of his face.
"Kael… you never said—"
"Because he was dead," Kael forced out.
"They told me he died during the Eclipse War. They buried an empty coffin."
The chained boy lifted his head, barely conscious, eyes glazed with pain.
His gaze drifted, searching—and then locked on Kael.
A faint, broken smile cracked across his lips.
"…Brother…"
The sound of that word shattered something inside Kael.
His shadows erupted violently, spiraling like a storm.
The Sanctuary guards immediately raised their staves.
"Stand down," Elder Valryn commanded sharply. "Shadowborn, restrain your darkness."
Kael ignored her.
"Let him go," he growled, stepping forward.
The guards tightened the chains around the boy, eliciting a muffled cry.
Kael lunged—
Elara grabbed him, both hands pressed to his chest.
"KAEL!" she cried. "Stop!"
His shadows whipped outward, but Elara's glow flared instinctively—
The Mirror-binding caught his darkness, softened it, pulled it inward.
Kael gasped, stunned. "Elara—?"
"Look at me," she pleaded. "Not them. Not the chains. LOOK at me."
He did.
And she saw everything—
Fear.
Shock.
Rage.
Hope.
Despair.
A storm inside him.
"Breathe," she whispered. "I'm right here. I'm anchoring you."
He sucked in a ragged breath.
The shadows eased… slightly.
Not fully.
But enough.
Elara wrapped her fingers around his trembling hand. "You won't lose yourself. Not now."
He swallowed hard.
"That's my little brother," he whispered.
"He was only fourteen when I last saw him. He wasn't supposed to have a curse. They told me… they told me only I carried it."
Elara's heart cracked.
Kael reached toward the boy again—hesitating only when she tightened her grip, reminding him softly:
"Let's understand what's happening first."
The Elder's Truth
Elder Valryn descended the steps, robes brushing the stone. Her presence felt heavy, commanding, as if the mountain itself bowed to her.
"Kael Varran," she said, "your brother—Aren Varran—is under the Third Seal's direct corruption. It began during the First Shattering. As the original vessel weakened—"
Kael snarled. "You mean ME—"
"—the curse sought a secondary anchor," Valryn finished calmly. "The Shadowborn bloodline was already attuned. The Devourer's hunger marked the next nearest vessel."
"AND YOU LET IT HAPPEN?!" Kael roared.
Tamsin stepped back. Elias grabbed his sword.
Elara held Kael firmly, voice soothing but strong.
"Kael, let her finish—"
Valryn continued as if Kael's fury were nothing more than a passing breeze.
"When the corruption began, we intervened. We contained Aren. We used ancient sealing rites to slow the progression."
"Sealing rites?" Kael's voice cracked. "You imprisoned him."
"We saved him," Valryn corrected sharply. "Had we not intervened, Aren would have become a Hollowborn Titan before he reached adulthood."
The chained boy—Aren—flinched at the word Titan.
Kael's throat tightened. "You tortured him."
"We preserved him," Valryn repeated. "We kept him alive beyond the curse's natural limit."
Elara stepped forward, eyes shining with anger.
"You kept him alive for WHAT purpose?"
Valryn's gaze turned to her.
"To stabilize Kael," she said simply.
"The Third Seal feeds on balance. It needed a secondary vessel. Without Aren absorbing part of the hunger, Kael would have succumbed centuries ago."
Kael staggered.
"No," he whispered. "No, that can't be—"
Elara caught him again as his knees buckled.
Tamsin covered her mouth, horrified. "You… you split the curse between them?"
"Yes," Valryn said coldly. "It was the only way to extend the seal's life."
Elara's voice shook with fury. "You used a child."
"We saved the world," Valryn snapped.
Marcellus stepped forward, eyes hard. "At what cost?"
Valryn's gaze didn't waver.
"Whatever cost was necessary."
Aren Varran
The guards pushed Aren forward.
He stumbled, nearly collapsing. The chains glowed red-hot from the Third Seal's struggle inside him. He shivered uncontrollably.
Kael tore free from Elara, rushing to him.
"Aren!" he cried, falling to his knees and catching him before he hit the stone. "Aren—look at me—please—"
Aren blinked, focusing on Kael's face.
It took him a moment.
Then his lips parted—
"Brother… you're real…"
A choked laugh escaped him.
"You look old."
Kael let out a sound Elara had never heard from him—a broken sob.
"You're alive," he whispered, pulling Aren close. "I thought—I thought—"
"That I died?" Aren's voice was raspy. "I wished I had, sometimes. It hurts so much, Kael…"
Elara's heart twisted painfully.
Aren's eyes flickered with shadow—
the same unnatural glow Kael had when the curse surged.
But Aren was younger. Smaller. Frailer.
The curse ate him alive day after day.
Kael gathered him into his arms. "I'm here now. I won't let them take you again."
Valryn stepped forward.
"You misunderstand, Kael. We didn't bring Aren to torment you."
She pointed her staff at Elara.
"We brought him because the Mirror can either save him—
or doom him."
Elara froze.
"What?" she whispered.
Valryn's cold gaze assessed her.
"Your Mirror-binding intertwines your magic with Kael's curse. That curse is linked to Aren's, through the Third Seal."
Elara's pulse stumbled.
"If you reinforce the seal to stabilize Kael," Valryn said slowly, "Aren may die."
Kael's entire body recoiled.
"NO," he snarled. "Absolutely not—"
Valryn continued as if he hadn't spoken:
"If you weaken the seal enough to free Aren—Kael becomes unstable and risks becoming the Devourer's vessel."
Elara's breath hitched.
Kael whispered, "No… don't do this to her. Don't make her choose."
Valryn spread her hands.
"The world may not wait for her choice. The Mirror is already affecting the Third Seal."
Aren whimpered, clutching his chest.
Kael pulled him closer, rocking him slightly.
"I won't let him die," Kael whispered fiercely into Aren's hair. "Do you hear me? I won't."
Aren's voice trembled.
"I knew… you'd come…"
Kael's arms tightened.
Elara bowed her head.
Her heart ached for both of them.
The Mirror Responds
Suddenly—
Elara's mark flared blinding gold-blue.
Aren's chains ignited in the same pattern.
He screamed.
Kael jolted. "Aren—AREN—"
Elara rushed forward—but the closer she came, the brighter her mark burned.
"No," Kael gasped, pulling Aren away. "Elara—the Mirror—your presence is triggering him!"
She froze.
"Why?"
Valryn answered grimly.
"The Mirror recognizes Aren as part of the Third Seal. Your presence destabilizes the binding he carries. The Mirror wants to unify the curse—into one vessel."
Elara paled.
"What does that mean?"
Valryn met her eyes.
"It wants to give Kael ALL of Aren's curse. The Mirror seeks one Anchor, one Sealbearer."
Kael stiffened.
Aren whimpered.
Elara's breath stuttered.
"That would kill him," she whispered.
Valryn nodded.
"It would."
Elara clasped her glowing mark, trying to suppress the energy.
"No. No, I won't let it. I won't choose between them."
"You may not have a choice," Valryn said. "The Mirror is alive. It has instinct. And its instinct is to consolidate magic. It will fight to merge the vessels."
Elara shook her head, tears burning her eyes.
Kael looked up, desperation etched into his face.
"Elara… don't come closer. If it kills him—"
Aren's hand reached weakly toward her.
"No…" he gasped. "Don't… let me be the sacrifice…"
Elara knelt where she was, heart splitting.
"We'll save you both," she whispered desperately. "I swear it. I will not choose one over the other."
The Vault's warning echoed in her mind:
"When the Mirror mends a seal, it will take from both."
Elara stared at her hands.
What if the Mirror didn't have to take from just them?
What if it could take from her?
Her voice shook.
"There is a third way," she whispered.
Kael's head snapped up.
"Elara—what are you thinking?"
Valryn frowned.
Elara lifted her glowing palms.
"I hold light. I hold shadow. I can bind both of you. Not by dividing the curse—
but by carrying part of it myself."
Silence fell.
Tamsin gasped. "Elara, no—your body—"
"My body is changing," Elara said quietly. "My father said I was meant to balance. The Mirror-binding proves it. I can anchor a third of the seal."
Marcellus shook his head. "You'll die."
"Not immediately," she whispered. "Not if I control it. Not if the Mirror balances us."
Kael surged toward her.
"NO."
His voice cracked.
"Absolutely not. I will not let you carry my curse. It will destroy you."
She reached up and held his trembling face.
"It will destroy him if I don't," she whispered.
Aren's faint voice drifted through the cold air.
"Sister… please…"
She couldn't ignore that word.
Kael shook his head violently. "Elara—you are not taking this burden. If anyone absorbs Aren's curse, it will be me."
"You won't survive," she whispered.
"Then neither will you," he said fiercely.
Their foreheads nearly touched—
Two broken hearts refusing to break one another.
Elara closed her eyes.
"We don't have time," she whispered. "The Mirror is already pushing."
Aren convulsed.
Kael cried out. "AREN!"
Elara stepped forward despite Kael's desperate grip.
The Mirror-binding ignited—
a halo of shadow and gold
and fate—
And all three seals pulsed at once.
The Devourer stirred beneath the earth.
The Shadowborn King felt the shift.
The Sanctuary gasped.
And Elara whispered:
"I choose all of us."
The Mirror exploded.