The wind howled like a chorus of lost souls as Kairo stood before the entrance of the Tomb of Shadows.
It was nestled deep in the Forsaken Peaks, a valley that hadn't seen sunlight in centuries. Thunderclouds churned overhead like beasts at war, and black birds circled in silence, as if nature itself was holding its breath.
The entrance was a gate of obsidian stone, cracked down the center, with faint runes glowing a sickly purple. A chill ran down Kairo's spine—not the kind of cold from his frost powers, but something ancient. Watching. Waiting.
He touched the runes with his hand.
Lira's seal glowed on his chest, pulsing in response. The tomb groaned as the gate cracked wider and opened, revealing a staircase spiraling into darkness.
No turning back.
---
Kairo descended into the dark, his blade drawn and aura tense. The air was stale, as though the tomb was sealed in time. Whispers echoed faintly—but there were no voices.
Just... memories.
He passed walls etched with scenes of ancient battles: warriors wielding fragments, cities reduced to ash, gods crumbling beneath mortal rage.
Then came the first illusion.
---
He blinked—and suddenly, he was in Serenthia again. The city was whole. People smiled. Children ran through the streets.
A voice echoed beside him.
> "Why fight? You could have this again."
He turned—and there stood his parents, alive.
Kairo's breath caught. "No… you're gone."
> "We're here," his father said. "If you leave the fragments behind… if you stop chasing the gate…"
His mother reached for him.
> "We could be a family again."
Kairo clenched his fists, his eyes wet. "You're not real."
Ice flared from his Fragment—shattering the illusion in a scream of light.
He stood alone again in the corridor.
> "The tomb tests the mind before the body," Lira had warned. "Your pain is its weapon."
---
He pressed forward.
The air grew colder, thicker, like wading through invisible fog. His Fragment pulsed harder now, reacting to something nearby.
The next chamber opened wide, circular, with floating shards of crystal suspended in midair. In the center stood a sarcophagus—ancient and black as void.
It opened.
And from it rose a figure in armor of jagged onyx, its face hidden by a featureless silver mask.
The Shadow Reaver.
> "You seek what you do not understand," it said, voice hollow. "The Fragment of Shadow cannot be wielded by one blinded by light."
Kairo stepped forward, sword drawn. "I don't need light. I have purpose."
The Reaver moved in a flash—shadow blurring around it like smoke. Its sword met Kairo's with a clang that echoed through the tomb.
Each strike from the Reaver left trails of darkness that tried to bind Kairo's limbs. His frost powers flared to counter them, but the room bent with the Shadow's will—walls shifting, the floor vanishing beneath his feet.
> "Your fear betrays you," the Reaver hissed.
Kairo slid across nothingness, catching a ledge of solid ice he formed with sheer will. "Fear makes me stronger!"
He surged forward, driving his sword through the Reaver's chest.
It screamed—and split into three versions of itself.
> "Then face your shadow!"
---
The illusions attacked together—each as fast and brutal as the original. Kairo fought like a man possessed, drawing every shred of training Lira gave him. Each slash cut through mirage and steel alike.
But he was tiring.
He dropped to one knee, breath ragged.
> "You cannot claim the Fragment," said the final Reaver. "You are still chained… by guilt."
Kairo looked up, eyes blazing.
> "Maybe I am. But I'll use that guilt—to burn down everything that threatens the weak."
With a roar, he plunged his blade through the final Reaver's mask. Darkness exploded around him like ink in water.
When the smoke cleared, a fragment hovered in the air—pure obsidian, pulsing with a violet glow.
The Fragment of Shadow.
It floated to Kairo, embedding itself next to the Frost mark on his skin. Pain seared through his veins—but he didn't scream.
He absorbed it.
And rose.
---
As he left the tomb, night had fallen. But Kairo's aura now burned with both frost and shadow. He looked toward the east—toward the next Fragment's resting place.
> "I'll gather them all," he whispered. "And end this war."
Somewhere far away, the Nine stirred.
Another bearer had risen.