The tremor grew into a violent quake. Dust rained from the vaulted ceiling, and the golden veins within the obsidian walls flickered erratically, pulsing like a dying heartbeat.
Celestine's breath came quick. "Malrik is breaking the seal?"
Veyrion nodded, stepping down from the throne with measured grace. His silver eyes locked onto hers. "If the Ritual of Severance is completed, the barrier keeping this place beyond time will collapse."
Elias cursed under his breath. "And let me guess—that's bad?"
Veyrion's expression remained unreadable. "If the First Sanctum returns to the waking world, the Council will come for it."
Alistair clenched his jaw. "And they'll erase what's left of it."
Celestine felt the weight of the revelation settle on her shoulders. The Council had already wiped the Architects from history once. If Malrik's ritual was successful, they'd have a second chance to finish what they started.
She turned to Veyrion. "How do we stop it?"
For the first time, a shadow of uncertainty flickered across his face. "The core of the Sanctum is tied to the Nexus Vault above. The ritual is unraveling its anchor." His gaze darkened. "But I do not know how far it has progressed."
A sudden crack split the air.
The obsidian walls fractured, golden light spilling from the wounds like molten fire. A distant roar echoed through the chamber, deep and otherworldly.
Celestine's heartbeat thundered. Something was coming.
Veyrion turned sharply toward the gate. "We are no longer alone."
Elias drew his dagger, his usual smirk nowhere to be found. "Please don't say 'ancient horrors that should have stayed buried.'"
Veyrion didn't answer.
That was not a good sign.
The Architect beside them shimmered, its form flickering as if the disturbance in the Sanctum was weakening it. "Intruders breach the threshold." Its voice was strained. "Beings that should not exist here."
A second tremor rocked the ground, and this time, the darkness beyond the gate shifted.
Celestine barely had time to react before the shadows moved.
Figures emerged—twisted, half-formed things with elongated limbs and eyeless faces. Their bodies rippled like smoke, but their claws were very, very real.
Elias inhaled sharply. "Never mind. Ancient horrors it is."
Alistair stepped in front of Celestine, blade raised. "They're voidborn."
Celestine had only ever heard of them in myths—remnants of a war older than time itself. Creatures that should have faded with the fall of the Architects.
Yet here they were.
Veyrion's expression hardened. "They have sensed the Sanctum's weakness." His voice was calm, but his hands curled into fists. "They will not stop until they consume it."
The voidborn moved as one, their inhuman forms gliding across the chamber, silent except for the low hum of reality unraveling in their wake.
Then—they attacked.
The first voidborn lunged, its body distorting unnaturally as it shot toward Celestine.
She barely had time to raise her hand before a golden pulse of energy erupted from her palm, slamming the creature backward. It shrieked, its form flickering violently before dissolving into nothing.
Celestine's chest heaved.
What—?
Veyrion's gaze snapped to her. "You wield the Architect's flame." His voice was unreadable. "And you did not know."
Celestine didn't have time to process that.
A second voidborn lunged for Elias. He twisted out of the way, but the creature's claw grazed his arm, and where it touched, reality itself seemed to unravel.
Elias gritted his teeth. "I really, really hate this."
Alistair's sword flashed, cutting through another voidborn. But instead of bleeding, the creature shattered, its body disintegrating into dark mist.
Celestine turned back to Veyrion. "How do we stop them?"
Veyrion's eyes gleamed with something dangerous. "We do not stop them." He lifted his hand, and a wave of golden fire erupted from his palm, sweeping across the chamber like a living force. The voidborn screeched as they were consumed, their forms unraveling into nothingness.
For a moment, silence.
Then, the Sanctum shuddered.
Veyrion exhaled, his hand lowering. "They were only the first."
Celestine turned toward the glowing fractures along the walls. The golden light spilling from them was growing brighter.
Elias glanced between the damage and Veyrion. "So, uh… any chance this place isn't about to collapse?"
Veyrion was silent.
Alistair muttered a curse.
Celestine closed her hands into fists. No.
She wasn't going to let this place fall—not without a fight.
She turned to Veyrion, eyes blazing. "Tell us how to stop the ritual."
A pause.
Then Veyrion spoke.
"You must ascend to the Core."
The chamber pulsed with an unseen force.
And somewhere above them, the Ritual of Severance continued.