The sanctum began to die.
It didn't collapse all at once. That would have been mercy.
Instead, it failed in pieces,sigils shattering one by one, ancient runes screaming as centuries of layered magic tore itself apart under pressure it had never been designed to contain.
The ceiling split open with a sound like the mountain itself crying out.
Dust rained down in blinding sheets as black fissures ripped through stone. Frost crawled across the walls, then burned away in bursts of shadowfire that left the rock smoking and brittle.
Liora staggered as the floor lurched beneath her feet.
"Kael," she whispered.
The bond no longer felt distant.
It was everywhere.
Pain. Rage. Fear. Heat. Cold.
Kael's emotions slammed into her in waves so violent she nearly collapsed again. She could feel him,really feel him,his body straining against restraints, shadows ripping free and being dragged back again and again, his mind splintering under the strain.
And beneath it all,
Something else.
Something vast.
Something old.
The presence unfurled like a colossal eye opening in the dark.
Maeven staggered but caught herself, boots scraping against cracked stone. Instead of fear, her face shone with fevered awe.
"It's begun," she breathed. "The threshold has been crossed."
Serin swore viciously, bracing herself against a pillar as another shockwave rocked the chamber. "You're insane! You're going to bring the mountain down on us!"
Maeven laughed softly. "Mountains exist to be reshaped."
Aldric stumbled toward Liora, gripping his staff like a lifeline. "You need to focus on him," he shouted over the chaos. "You're the only stabilizing factor left!"
"I can feel him!" Liora cried. "He's,he's tearing himself apart!"
The bond surged violently, nearly dropping her to her knees again. She gasped as Kael's scream tore through her mind,raw, wordless, feral.
"I CAN'T HOLD IT!"
The sound wasn't just mental.
It echoed physically through the sanctum, carried by shadows that burst outward from deep below, tearing through corridors and chambers alike.
Inquisitors screamed as suppression fields failed, bodies thrown violently against walls.
Serin spun toward the exit. "We need to get to him!"
Maeven raised one hand sharply.
Invisible pressure slammed down, freezing Serin mid-step.
"No," Maeven said calmly. "If we interfere now, we lose everything."
Serin snarled. "You'll lose all of us!"
Maeven's gaze snapped to her, cold and razor-sharp. "Acceptable."
Liora's blood turned to ice.
She stepped forward,then froze as the ancient presence shifted.
The air thickened, heavy enough to press tears from her eyes. Her heart pounded painfully as something vast brushed against her awareness, not violently, not aggressively,
Curiously.
A voice followed.
Not sound.
Meaning.
YOU BROKE THE CAGE.
Liora's knees buckled.
Maeven inhaled sharply, eyes blazing. "Did you hear that?"
Aldric whispered, "Oh gods…"
Liora clutched her chest as the bond flared blindingly bright, pain and power twisting together until she couldn't tell them apart.
YOU CALLED.
Images flooded her mind.
Chains.
Locks.
Vessels carved from flesh and fear.
Countless hosts across centuries,screaming, breaking, burning out as the Order sealed, contained, erased.
Kael was not the first.
He was simply the one who survived long enough to open the door.
"No," Liora whispered. "We didn't call you."
The presence paused.
INTENT IS IRRELEVANT.
The sanctum shook violently as another massive rupture tore through the mountain. Somewhere far below, Kael roared,no longer just in pain, but in fury.
Maeven's breath came fast. "Speak to us," she demanded. "Tell us your name."
The presence turned its attention fully toward her.
The pressure multiplied.
Maeven gasped, staggering back as blood trickled from her nose.
NAMES ARE FOR THE SMALL.
Serin ripped free of the binding force and loosed an arrow blindly at the nearest sigil node. It shattered, sending a backlash of energy through the room.
The pressure faltered.
"Liora!" Serin shouted. "Choose!"
Liora looked between them,Maeven, hungry and reverent; Aldric, terrified and guilty; Serin, fierce and desperate.
And Kael.
Always Kael.
She closed her eyes.
For the first time since this nightmare began, she chose instead of reacted.
"I won't let you take him," she said aloud.
The presence stilled.
WHY?
"Because he's not a lock," she said, voice shaking but strong.
"And he's not your door."
She opened her eyes and reached,not down, not outward, but sideways, into the bond itself.
Not to draw power.
To share it.
The effect was immediate.
The bond flared not violently but clearly. The pain lessened, replaced by something fierce and grounding.
Kael's scream cut off abruptly.
Then,
"Liora?"
His voice was weak, stunned, human.
Tears streamed down her face. "I'm here."
The mountain roared.
Deep below, restraints shattered.
Chains of light exploded outward as Kael tore free at last, shadows surging around him like a living storm.
Maeven screamed in triumph. "YES!"
The sanctum floor split open completely.
A chasm yawned wide between them,
revealing a vast lower chamber torn open by shadow and force.
Kael rose from the depths.
He no longer looked entirely human.
Nor entirely monstrous.
His eyes burned with layered light,gold, black, and something deeper still. Shadows wrapped around him not like chains, but like a cloak responding to his will.
He looked up.
And met Liora's gaze.
The bond locked.
Perfectly.
Silence fell.
Even the ancient presence hesitated.
Kael spoke.
Not as a roar.
Not as a whisper.
But as himself. Mmmmm
"I didn't ask to be your key," he said calmly.
"And I won't be your door."
The presence shifted.
YOU ARE INCOMPLETE.
Kael's jaw tightened. "Then stay away."
The presence laughed,
The sound bent reality.
YOU CANNOT UNMAKE WHAT HAS BEEN WOKEN.
Shadows surged outward violently, knocking Serin and Aldric off their feet. Maeven stood her ground, eyes blazing, hair whipping wildly as she laughed.
"This is it," she cried. "This is the future!"
Kael turned his gaze to her.
The shadows stilled.
Maeven froze mid-laugh.
"End this," she whispered, reverent.
Kael shook his head. "No.
The word hit like a hammer.
The ancient presence recoiled slightly.
Kael reached for Liora through the bond,not physically, but completely.
She stepped forward without hesitation.
Together, they pushed.
The sanctum shattered.
Light and shadow collided in a blinding eruption that tore through the mountain, ripping the Nightbound stronghold apart from the inside.
When the world crashed back into focus,
The mountain was broken.
The Order was scattered.
And Liora and Kael were gone.
Far away.
Very far away.
Liora woke gasping, sand beneath her hands instead of stone. Hot wind burned her lungs as she scrambled upright.
A crimson sky stretched overhead.
Ruins littered the horizon.
Kael lay beside her, unconscious but breathing, shadows curled tightly around him as if shielding him from the world.
The bond pulsed,steady, alive.
She looked around in dawning horror.
"This isn't…" she whispered.
The ancient presence stirred again.
Closer now.
Amused.
YOU RAN.
Liora's heart pounded.
"We escaped," she said fiercely.
The presence's attention slid toward Kael.
YOU ONLY MOVED THE THRESHOLD.
Something vast shifted beneath the sand.
The ground trembled.
And in the distance,
Something enormous began to rise.