The figures stepped through the mist like ghosts dressed in flesh. Their silver masks shone faintly in the dim light. Blood-red glyphs pulsed on their chests, marking them as something more than human.
Bloodbinders.
Rael felt the pressure the moment they arrived. The air thickened. His veins ached. The Cradle's heartbeat began to stutter behind him, no longer calm but alarmed.
"They are inside the Cradle's veil," Maerin said. "That should not be possible."
Rael took a step back. "What do they want from me?"
Maerin's eyes stayed locked on the approaching figures.
"Your blood. Your lineage. Everything you are."
The leading Binder stopped ten paces away. His voice was smooth. Calm.
"Rael of Hollowmere. Born to silence. Awakened in blood. You stand at the edge of ruin."
Rael straightened. "Who are you to judge me?"
"We are not here to judge. Only to bind."
Rael's heart pounded louder. The glyphs on his arms shimmered in warning.
"You mean to take what's mine."
The Binder tilted his head. "What is yours is dangerous. The First Vein nearly ended this world once. We will not let it rise again."
"You think I'm a weapon?"
"You are a wound," the Binder replied. "One we were trained to seal."
Rael's voice was quiet but steady.
"Try."
The moment the word left his lips, the valley exploded into motion.
Maerin raised his staff. A wall of spectral flame erupted between them and the Bloodbinders. Rael felt the surge before it happened. His blood called to the earth, and the Cradle responded. Vines laced with glowing runes burst from the ground, coiling toward the attackers.
The lead Binder stepped through the fire unharmed. Glyphs spun across his mask, forming a shield of light.
Maerin growled, "He is Veinscarred already."
Another Binder hurled a sigil into the air. It burst into threads that wrapped around Rael's legs, trying to bind him.
Rael didn't move. He closed his eyes.
He did not need to fight like a swordsman.
He fought like blood.
The glyphs on his arms lit fully. The bindings snapped. His veins surged outward, forming a barrier of raw force. His hand rose, and the ground beneath the Binders cracked.
One of them fell, writhing as Rael's presence pulled their blood out of sync.
"You would cage me," Rael said, "but you do not even understand me."
The lead Binder faltered. For the first time, Rael saw hesitation.
"He is reaching into the Echo," Maerin whispered. "He is already changing."
Rael's eyes flared silver.
"I am not your enemy. But I will not bow."
With a roar, he thrust his hand forward. The Cradle itself responded. The altar behind him erupted, unleashing a wave of force that threw the remaining Binders off their feet.
The survivors scrambled to retreat. Their voices echoed across the valley.
"He is beyond Flicker. Beyond Awakened. He is Echo-bound."
Rael stood in the silence that followed, chest heaving.
Maerin approached slowly. "You just declared war on every House that created them."
Rael looked at his hands. The glyphs had faded again, but the power remained.
"I did not choose this," he said. "But I will finish it."