A hush broke as pressure built in the wind. Stones near Kael, cold for ages, whispered through cracks like breath returning. Still on one knee, the Titanborn glowed inside, light ebbing and flowing with something older than sound.
A presence, vast and distant, stirred into motion.
Still breathing slow, Kael couldn't quiet the storm inside. Pieces of who he once was flickered through - flashes of strength long buried. Though every truth uncovered twisted into something deeper, darker. What felt like clarity pulled him further into shadow.
Who was he, really, before they wiped him out? Could've been a king. Maybe a cruel leader instead. Or perhaps worshipped like a deity.
If he'd ever held command over time, then by what force was he bound? Or who could have locked him down?
Wind rushed across the broken walls, trailing a soft murmur behind. One breath moved stones long silent. Sounds slipped where no one walked. A hush traveled on air that cracked and faded into stillness.
"He knows."
A flicker caught Kael's gaze - something off in the air. A twist where space didn't sit right pulled his attention hard.
Fringes trembled, as if reality began to unravel at its borders.
Flickering like hot metal, the Titanborn looked that way. Breaking sooner than anyone thought, the seal was giving way
"Seal?" Kael said it quiet, almost a breath.
"Not yours. Another." The Titanborn's massive hand gestured toward the disturbance. "You were not the only one imprisoned, Sovereign."
A shiver ran down Kael's spine at those words.
A sound tore through the air before his voice had a chance. The rift split wide without warning.
A rip through the fabric of everything, like something invisible tore it open. Inside, time spins broken, caught in a loop of shimmering dark and silver.
A shape emerged slowly out of the shadowed space. Then came one single step onto clear ground.
A cold hush rolled in when the shape stepped forward. The breath of the world seemed to pause.
Cold crept in. Under that sky, old times settled into the soil like a held breath.
Stillness crept into Kael's chest. Not now - but then - flashed behind his eyes, time folding without warning. Reality blurred, layered with what had already been.
This creature had seen many years. It carried time like dust on its skin.
Time wore paths before stone cracked. Long before whispers haunted the hollows.
A shape stood there, wrapped in black metal that looked like it had never seen light. Runes - etched by hands long gone - crawled across the plates, whispering old names. Covering its head was a fractured mask, split down one side. Through the break, two empty eyes gleamed, cold and metallic, catching nothing.
A figure moved ahead - Kael closed the distance. One foot followed the other, slow but certain.
"Who are you?"
A pause stretched out, deep and still. Out of that quiet came words - each one sharp, dragging through time like steel on stone.
"You do not remember me."
A tug inside Kael's ribs began without warning. Not memory, but the echo of what vanished years ago.
"You were not the only Sovereign."
Heavy as a sword blow, those words struck Kael deeper than any fight ever had.
Fists tight, he said nothing at first. Then came the demand - make it clear
A shape in shadows shifted its head sideways. It stayed still. Just observing. Not rushing. Pausing between thoughts. Measuring what it saw without sound.
A single finger lifted first. Then the rest followed slowly.
Falling apart was everything they saw. Then silence filled the spaces where noise had been.