The Sacred Northlands had always been quiet.
But quiet didn't mean peaceful.
As Rizz stood at the edge of the frozen cliff, his wings hidden beneath his cloak, the biting wind whispered secrets he didn't yet understand. Snow fell around him in a rhythm that felt too deliberate—like the land itself was breathing.
He had been sent here by the Celestial Envoys to investigate a recent rupture in the Divine Barrier—a rupture caused by a dark flare of corrupted light. But the real reason wasn't just the corruption.
It was the name the wind carried. One he hadn't heard since the Soul Seal first burned inside him.
> "Nevaeh…"
His breath caught. That name had come to him in dreams. In light. In pain. And always with the taste of frost.
Rizz reached into his robes and pulled out a glowing shard—an angelic memory fragment. A soul echo from a time before even Safa's training. It pulsed faintly now, resonating with something nearby.
> "You're not just a name anymore," he whispered. "You're close."
He moved forward, each step leaving a faint burn in the snow as his inner heat reacted to the spiritual coldness of the land. The further he walked, the heavier his shoulders felt—not from fatigue, but from expectation.
Then, the earth trembled.
Ahead of him, a series of giant, rune-carved stones cracked open, releasing waves of tainted aura. Dark mist swirled, forming shapes—twisted angels, malformed beasts, remnants of failed divine vessels.
Rizz didn't flinch.
He closed his eyes, and for a moment, the mark of the Soul Seal lit up across his chest beneath his shirt. Holy fire surged through his veins. Hellfire coiled like a blade in his hand.
> "I won't allow this land to be defiled."
The first beast lunged—a shadow bear with skeletal wings. Rizz didn't dodge. He stepped forward, meeting it with an uppercut that burned holy scripture into its hide. It disintegrated mid-roar.
Then the others came.
He spun through them, a divine blur—light and shadow dancing in harmony. Each movement was a prayer and a punishment. A lesson and a reckoning.
But the real battle began when the snow turned blue.
From beneath the battlefield, the ground split—and a girl stepped out.
She had long hair like silver threads, and her eyes shimmered with a coldness Rizz had only felt once before—from Isaac. But this wasn't him.
This was her.
The one from the mirrored dreams.
> "You're late," she said calmly, not a hint of fear in her voice.
> "You're…" Rizz narrowed his eyes. "Nevaeh?"
She nodded. "I've been awake longer than you think. Just… not whole. But now, I've remembered. And so will you."
She raised her hand. Runes erupted from her palm, light and darkness weaving together—unnaturally stable.
> "That's impossible," Rizz whispered. "No one should be able to control both like that. Not without a Soul Seal—"
He paused. Realized.
She smiled faintly. "You were never the only one marked by balance."
And in that moment, as the wind calmed and the beasts vanished into dust, Rizz understood something terrifying.
The war wasn't between light and dark.
It was between those who could bear both…
…and those who feared them.
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