There were places in Caldrath even the rats wouldn't go.
Places where air grew thin, and the walls whispered with voices no longer tied to bodies. It was there, far below the surface, that the Failed One moved—silent, crawling like a thought that wouldn't die.
The Veins remembered pain.
And now they remembered him.
A Stirring in the Dark
The Failed One did not breathe.It did not hunger.But it felt.
It felt the boy's return.
The same blood. The same silence. The same legacy that once rejected it—Voidborne.
It had waited. Bound in glyphs. Sealed in silence.
But now, the glyphs were cracking.
"He walks above," it whispered to the void."And the walls remember his name."
The creature moved toward the old gate—the one with thirteen noble crests carved in ash-stone. One crest had begun to glow.
A broken crown eclipsed by a crescent void.
Kieran's Training, Interrupted
Far above, in a quiet chamber beneath Serel's sanctuary, Kieran meditated.
The air around him shimmered faintly. His breathing was steady.
Then something shifted.
A voice—not quite his—whispered.
"You walk forward. But your shadow sharpens behind you."
His vision dimmed.
He was standing before a mirror made of onyx. His reflection stared back—calm, hollow-eyed, void-bathed.
Then it stepped forward.
"This is your next gift," it said."Not for glory. Not for show. For judgment."
A symbol burned into his palm: a spiral of blades forming a single eye.
Shadow's Murderer Intent(An enemy's strength is only as firm as their will. Break that, and everything crumbles. All status reduced by 25%.)
Kieran blinked.
He was alone again. The chamber silent.
But his heart wasn't racing.
It was ready.
The Whisper Returns
Serel rushed into the chamber. Her usual stillness was gone—replaced by a strange urgency.
"The Failed One… it's moving."
Kieran stood. "Where?"
"Toward the foundation of House Halven. The old sewer gates—it's drawn to their crest. It remembers."
He tightened his cloak. "Then it's not hiding anymore."
Serel shook her head. "No. And the nobles still won't admit it exists."
"Then they'll feel it."
Far Below: A Name Carved in Flesh
The Failed One reached the gate.
It placed a hand—if it could be called that—on the symbol of Halven.
And began to burn it.
From within the stone, it carved a word not spoken in over two decades:
VEYRON.
Then it turned toward the surface.
"I am not your first mistake," it whispered."I am your second chance… to beg."