Glae's form shimmered as she enveloped V and Sage in an icy cocoon, pulling them through frost and shadow into a hidden chamber beneath the volcanic cavern. The walls glistened like glass, frozen veins spiderwebbing across the black stone. The air was so cold it burned.
She laid V carefully against the wall before kneeling beside Sage. Her hands glowed, not with fire, but with concentrated cold so potent it steamed.
"This will hurt her," Glae murmured.
Before V could question, Glae's hand plunged into Sage's side, extracting a single rib in one fluid motion. The bone gleamed, crystalline and impossibly perfect. Sage didn't scream, she was unconscious, but V felt it, deep in his chest, like the echo of his own pain.
Glae held the rib aloft, and with a sharp squeeze it cracked, splintered, and collapsed into a single glowing bulb of Killiden, pure and radiant. The bulb floated upward, hovering over her head, before phasing into her chest like a second heart.
Her entire body flared with light, the frost on the walls spreading like wildfire until the whole chamber was frozen solid. Then Glae planted her foot.
The ice shattered.
A wave of freezing air blasted outward, carrying with it a power that made the stone hum. Glae stood taller now, her presence oppressive and divine.
She turned her storm-lit gaze on V. "Do you know what those Weapons were doing?"
V shook his head.
"It was not random bloodshed. It was a rite," she said, her tone sharp and commanding. "The Rites of Severance. A ritual meant to unmake a Weapon's bond to its Remnant, strip them of the essence they were forged with, leave them hollow and ready to be remade. It is forbidden. It is sacrilege. And it means one thing."
Her voice dropped to a low, resonant growl.
"There is another Remnant on this Earth. One who is hosting these rites. One who is gathering. And I have an idea of who it is."
V swallowed. "Who?"
Glae's expression hardened, ice fracturing across the ground as though reacting to the name in her mind.
"Malfious," she said at last. "The Betrayer of Order. The Father of the Fallen. He has been whispering through cracks in the Vault's design since before you were born. If he is here, these rituals are not accidents. They are the first steps toward a rebellion that could shatter this realm entirely."
Inside V's head, Nazz stirred. His voice was rougher, quieter than usual. "Malfious…" There was no mockery in his tone, no sarcasm. Just recognition.
V sat silently, letting her words sink in. The room was so quiet that he could hear the soft rush of Sage's breathing.
Then… she stirred.
Sage's eyes fluttered open, her gaze darting between V and Glae before she flinched back in fear.
"You're safe," V said quickly, kneeling beside her.
"Safe?" she whispered, her voice raw. "After what I just saw?"
V opened his mouth, but no words came. He still felt the echo of the blade splitting bone and flesh, still saw the limbs scattering on the volcanic stone.
Before he could answer, Glae spoke, her voice like cracking ice.
"You are more than safe. You are necessary. Whatever Malfious plans, you are now bound to the counterweight that will stop him. Whether you want to be or not."
Sage's breath quickened, her hand instinctively going to the missing rib.
"And if I refuse?" she asked, her voice shaking.
"Then he will find you first," Glae said. "And he will finish what they started."
The silence that followed was heavier than the ice around them.
The chamber was still frozen, though the air felt heavy with breath.
Sage lay quietly now, her wide eyes darting between Glae and me, but I barely saw her. The frost beneath my knees reflected my face, obsidian-black, still humming faintly from what I had done.
I swallowed hard, my throat tight.
"Glae," I said slowly, forcing the words out. "You said it. Since before I was born. Since before any of this even started. Why?"
Glae's pale head turned toward me. "Why what?"
"Why me?" My voice cracked. "Why was I even born if this is all I was meant to become? What purpose do I serve in this? What importance does my existence have in defeating Malfious?"
The question echoed against the frozen stone.
Glae did not answer immediately. She stood perfectly still, her breath misting in the cold air, her massive silhouette backlit by the faint glow of the killiden bulb still pulsing faintly in her chest.
When she spoke, her voice was softer than I expected, but it cut just as deep.
"Because you were not born the way mortals are. You were written. Etched into this realm's pattern like a scar long before you took your first breath."
My stomach turned.
"You were made to be a counterweight," she said, her frost-lit gaze pinning me to the ground. "Malfious is rebellion given form. He bends the thread of reality toward collapse. To defeat him, something had to be made that could bend it back—just enough to break him without shattering everything else."
Her head tilted slightly. "That is you."
I stared at her, my breath fogging, my chest heaving.
"You're telling me my entire life, every pain, every death, every friend I've buried, was just a plan?"
"Yes," Glae said simply. "Every trial you endured, every memory you fear to touch, every ounce of chaos Nazz has fed you since birth—it all leads here. To Malfious. You are the fulcrum. The one that decides whether this world stays broken or becomes something worse."
Inside, Nazz stirred. His voice was low, almost amused.
"See? Even she admits it. You were never just V. You were forged for this."
"I didn't ask for this," I said, though my voice felt small.
"No one asks to be a blade," Glae replied, her tone like cracking ice. "But when the war comes, the blade must still cut."
The words sank in like hooks. My chest felt tight, not from the cold but from the weight of her answer.
I was not just someone who had been thrown into this war. I was the war.
And I wasn't sure I could live with that.
The ice cracked softly as Sage stirred
Her breathing was uneven at first, then steadied. Her eyes opened, darting between the three of us before locking on me.
"What… where the hell am I?" she asked, sitting up.
Her voice was hoarse, dry, like she'd been screaming for hours.
"The last thing I remember…" she rubbed her temple, wincing. "I was running. Away from you."
I opened my mouth but nothing came out. Glae's towering figure loomed behind me, silent as a glacier, her pale glow casting the whole chamber in a strange light.
"You were taken," I said finally, voice rough. "Captured by other Weapons. They were doing something to you… a ritual."
Sage blinked rapidly, confusion flaring into anger. "A ritual? What are you talking about?"
"She means The Chrysalis Rite," Glae said, her voice cutting through the air. Her presence made the temperature drop several degrees.
Sage turned sharply toward her. "Who the hell are you?"
"I am Glae," the remnant said, tone level but resonant. "The one who kept you alive long enough to wake."
Sage's jaw clenched, but she stayed quiet.
"The ritual you were subjected to," Glae continued, stepping forward until the frost beneath her groaned, "is an invocation. A way to prepare a Weapon's soul as an offering. The one performing it was not acting alone. This means there is another Remnant on this earth, one powerful enough to coordinate the Rite."
Sage stared blankly for a moment, then looked at me.
"Is this true?" she demanded. "Is all of this true? This… this ice age? These things? This war?"
I didn't answer right away. My throat felt tight.
"V." Her voice cracked slightly this time. "Tell me it's not real."
I met her gaze, and whatever was holding me back snapped.
"You think I did?" I growled.
My right arm twisted, darkening to obsidian in an instant. The Blade ripped itself from the ground, slamming into my palm and igniting with that familiar, violent glow. Sparks of kinetic energy crackled along my forearm, rippling through the chamber.
Sage took a step back, startled.
"You think I asked for this?" I said, voice sharp, burning as hot as the blade. "You think I wanted to be forged into something I don't even understand? Glae just told me I was written into existence for one reason, to stop Malfious. Not because I wanted to. Not because I chose it. Because I was made to."
My voice softened as I spoke, the edge dulling, the fire cooling. I lowered the blade, though it still pulsed faintly with energy.
"I didn't ask for any of this," I said, quieter now. "But if this is what I am, then I have to use it."
The obsidian sheen on my arm receded slowly, as though even Nazz had calmed down with me.
Sage's expression shifted—less anger now, more fear and a strange sympathy.
"That's what this is about?" she asked carefully. "Stopping Malfious?"
"Yes," Glae answered before I could. "And the three of us standing here are the only ones left with the means to do so."
Nazz's presence coiled around my thoughts, his voice low and amused.
"She still doesn't believe. Let her. Soon she will have no choice."
I shut him out.
"We have to move," I said, gripping the blade tight enough to make my knuckles ache. "Whoever performed that ritual won't stop. And Glae thinks she knows who it is."
Glae's pale eyes glimmered with an icy certainty.
"Yes," she said. "And if I am right, you will not survive meeting them unless you accept what you are.
Her words froze the air between us.
Sage's breathing quickened, her eyes darting between me and Glae, like she was trying to decide which of us was more dangerous.
And for a moment, I wasn't sure which answer I wanted her to choose.
Sage's breathing slowed. She looked around again, at the frozen walls, the faint glow of Glae's body, at me with the blade still faintly humming in my grip.
"I… I don't remember much," she said, her voice softer this time.
"Then let's start small."
I crouched down in front of her, keeping my voice steady, measured. "You remember running. Good. What else? Who was with you?"
She shook her head. "No one. Just me. I was… I was in the snow. Cold. And then-" She stopped, closing her eyes.
"Focus," I said. "Breathe. Let it come back. Who grabbed you?"
Her brow furrowed as she fought to remember. "There were shadows. Not… not shadows. Weapons. Four. Maybe five. They pinned me down, and then…"
Her hand went to her ribs where Glae had taken the bone.
"They cut into me," she said, her voice trembling. "I felt something being pulled out of me. Like… like light, but not. Like they were stealing something and pouring it into the
ground.
I nodded, letting her see me take her words seriously. "That was the ritual. The Chrysalis Rite."
Her eyes opened, sharp and confused. "What does that mean?"
"It means they were trying to turn you into something else," I said, piecing it together aloud as much for me as for her. "They were trying to make you a vessel. Or maybe… break you. So that whatever they worship, whatever they serve, could fill the space left behind."
Sage swallowed hard, the color draining from her face.
Behind me, Glae stood motionless. Her icy form radiated a quiet pressure that filled the room, but she didn't speak. She just watched, those pale, cosmic eyes unblinking.
It made the silence heavier, sharper.
"They wanted you weak," I continued, keeping my tone low, calm. "They wanted to hollow you out. If I hadn't gotten there.."
I let the sentence die. I didn't need to finish it.
Sage hugged her knees to her chest, staring at the floor. "So I was just… bait? A tool?"
"Not bait," I said. "A key. You're made of pure Killiden, Sage. That makes you valuable. Dangerous. The fact that you survived the Rite at all means they didn't finish. They will come for you again."
She looked at me, fear in her eyes now, but also something else, resolve.
Glae finally moved, her voice slicing through the chamber like a shard of ice.
"She must be protected until the time comes," she said flatly. "And that means you must both be ready. What happened today will not be the last attempt."
Her words carried no warmth, no comfort. Only inevitability.
I tightened my grip on the blade. My arm still ached from earlier, and Nazz stirred faintly in the back of my mind, listening, grinning.
Sage looked at me again, as if trying to measure whether I believed any of what I was saying.
I didn't tell her, but the truth was, I wasn't sure if I did either.