A silence had settled over the ruins of the fortress. Not peace—just quiet. The kind that lingers after something ancient dies and the world holds its breath.
Kael stood at the heart of the wreckage, his hand still resting on the Graveblade's hilt. Beneath his boots, cracks stretched like veins, glowing faintly with dying aura. The ley core beneath had gone dormant, its wrath consumed in the battle.
But Kael's mind was anything but still.
That vision—the white-haired warrior standing over a battlefield of Eternals. That feeling that the Graveblade had recognized him, not just as a wielder, but as something more.
"A fragment of Vaelorn's will," Zera said behind him, her voice unusually soft. "That's what you fought. A Wraithbound. But not just any."
Kael turned.
Zera's eyes met his, shadowed beneath her hood. "You killed a fragment of a forgotten god."
Kael didn't flinch. "Good."
Drayke let out a whistle nearby, arms crossed. "Well, damn. You could at least pretend to be shaken."
Kael looked down at his hands. "I am shaken."
He flexed his fingers, and black ash shimmered faintly along his knuckles before fading.
"But I'm not done."
Lyra stepped forward, holding her hand over the cracked ground. The Sunveil Feather emitted a soft golden pulse, healing what it could. "That resonance earlier... your aura changed. Not just strengthened—evolved."
Kael nodded. "The Graveblade is more than a weapon. It remembers. It adapts."
"Like you," Zera said. "Ashen Aura. Adaptive class. You were always meant for this."
That made Kael pause.
"Meant for what?"
Zera didn't answer. Instead, she crouched near the crater where the Wraithbound had collapsed. Her fingers traced over the charred stone. "There's something else buried here."
Kael joined her.
A soft hum. Not the rage of aura—but something... older.
Zera stood and pulled out a sliver of obsidian—a shard shaped like a teardrop, marked with glowing runes that pulsed with residual flame.
"Memory Core," she said. "This is how the Wraithbound remembered Vaelorn's final moments. We can extract more from it."
Drayke stretched his arms with a groan. "Another cursed relic, huh? Love it."
Kael stared at the shard. "Will it help me understand the blade?"
Zera nodded. "And maybe help you understand yourself."
Hours Later – Temporary Camp, Ridge of Emberdeep
A fire crackled between them. For the first time in days, they weren't fighting, running, or bleeding. They sat in a ring of worn stones, the Graveblade laid across Kael's lap like a resting beast.
Zera held the Memory Core above the firelight. "The resonance of this relic is unstable. But if Kael touches it while connected to the blade... we might see what Vaelorn saw."
Lyra frowned. "That sounds dangerous."
"Everything that leads to truth usually is," Zera replied.
Kael nodded. "Do it."
Zera passed him the shard. The moment it touched his palm, the fire dimmed. Shadows stretched.
And then—
He wasn't sitting anymore.
He stood at the edge of a cliff, winds howling, sky broken. Below him, a war raged—massive figures with wings and flame tearing through armies of mortals. Eternals. Unchained.
And at the heart of it stood Vaelorn.
Cloaked in armor of molten ash, face hidden behind a helm crowned with jagged flame.
A voice echoed through the memory—not spoken aloud, but pressed into Kael's soul.
"I burned the sky to protect them. But they feared the fire."
Kael felt the Graveblade pulse again.
"So I left behind my wrath. For the one who would not fear it."
The vision fractured—breaking apart like glass.
Kael gasped and fell to one knee, clutching his chest. His aura flared involuntarily, the ash and flame spiking outward before fading.
Zera was already beside him. "What did you see?"
Kael looked up, eyes flickering with faint emberlight.
"He wasn't trying to conquer the world," Kael said. "He was trying to save it."
Drayke raised a brow. "A god trying to play hero. That's rich."
"But the world turned against him," Kael said. "So he became a monster instead."
Lyra whispered, "Like you're afraid you will."
Kael didn't answer. He stared into the fire, the Graveblade still humming gently in his lap.
"I need to grow stronger."
Zera narrowed her gaze. "Then we'll need to push further into the next dungeon sector."
Kael stood. "Where's the closest one?"
Zera didn't hesitate. "The Rift of Drowned Flame. It's a collapsed Tier-A dungeon. Dangerous. Mostly forgotten."
Drayke cracked his knuckles. "I like forgotten. Means nobody strong's guarding it."
Zera added, "It was once home to another Eternal. A beast of living magma. Something's still alive in there."
Kael's aura flickered around him like a cloak. The Graveblade whispered again.
"Good," he muttered.
"Then that means there's something worth killing."