The Hollow trembled behind him, as if resisting the fact that he'd survived.
Kairo stepped out of the mist, his boots touching solid ground once more. The sun was rising—bright and golden—but it felt wrong, like the light didn't quite reach him anymore.
Something inside had changed.
> [Fragment Awakened: Thalor's Gaze – Level 1]
[Passive Ability: Equilibrium] – You can now sense imbalance in living souls and shift your power to match or overwhelm it.
> [New Skill Acquired: Soul Break]
[Cooldown: 48 Hours] – Strike a target's soul directly, bypassing physical defenses. Causes soul fragmentation. Warning: Overuse may destabilize your own soul.]
> "So now even my skills come with risks…" Kairo muttered.
His voice sounded colder to him. Detached.
He wasn't sure if it was the trial's aftermath or something deeper awakening.
---
Zevrin rushed toward him, his expression mixed with relief and dread.
> "You're back! What happened in there? You're... different."
Kairo said nothing at first. He just walked past Zevrin and sat beside the half-burnt fire.
His hand hovered above the flames—and the fire bent away from him.
> "I passed the Hollow. I unlocked the third fragment."
> "Then why do you look like you lost something instead of gaining it?"
Kairo glanced up, and for a brief moment, Zevrin flinched. His eyes—those once sharp but human eyes—were now tinged with something else. A golden hue. Like light had been poured into darkness.
> "Because power comes with a cost, Zev," Kairo said. "And I'm not sure how much of me is left to pay it."
---
That night, the world shifted.
A shudder passed through the continent. Not from tectonic plates or storms—but from awakening.
All across the Seven Dominions, people stirred from nightmares they couldn't explain. Birds flew in chaotic spirals. The moon turned red for three minutes and ten seconds before returning to silver.
In the capital of Velrith, High Seer Eldros snapped awake in his temple.
> "The Third Fragment has awakened…" he whispered.
He turned toward the temple guards.
> "Summon the Council. Immediately. The Godslayer prophecy is unfolding. Faster than we feared."
---
Back in the forest, Kairo dreamt of chains.
Not wrapped around him—but within him.
Golden restraints, cracked and leaking power like blood from open wounds. They pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat.
And then—he saw her.
Velyria.
Standing in a storm of black feathers, her white hair whipping in the wind, one hand extended toward him.
> "You're changing faster than I expected," she said softly. "But you still don't understand, do you?"
> "Understand what?"
> "What you're becoming."
She walked toward him—closer than ever in any vision—and pressed a finger to his chest.
> "You think you're still doing this for others. But I see it. The hunger. The thrill. You're becoming exactly what the gods fear."
Kairo wanted to push her away. To deny it.
But the chains inside him pulsed again.
He was no longer sure where the old Kairo ended and the new one began.
---
He woke before dawn.
Zevrin was asleep, snoring softly, unaware of the war raging beside him.
Kairo stood and looked up at the sky—still dark, but painted with the colors of impending sunrise.
> "I'm not the same," he whispered. "But I can't turn back."
His fingers curled into fists.
> "I won't turn back."
A gust of wind swept through the trees, and for the first time in a long while, Kairo didn't feel cold.
He felt ready.