Gravepoint.
The name alone dripped with decay and secrets. A city wedged between three rifts, where the Veil leaked into reality like a wound that never healed. Fog hung permanently over the crumbling spires. Lanterns burned with unnatural hues. And the shadows? They watched.
Kade stared out the airship window as they descended. "This place feels like it wants to eat me."
Veyne chuckled. "That's because it does. Gravepoint's alive in a way cities shouldn't be. You'll get used to it."
Below, the city twisted like a maze. Cathedrals built atop broken malls. Veilstone towers patched with rusted steel and living wood. And people—no, things—moved through the alleys: masked, cloaked, robed. Whispering in dead languages.
As the ship docked, Lira appeared beside Kade, silent as always. "Keep your Class Signature low. Gravepoint may be neutral territory, but the rules are written in blood and forgotten faster than names."
"Got it," Kade muttered, pressing the badge Ark gave him against his chest.
It shimmered faintly, dulling the glow of his Veilmark.
They disembarked.
The docks were guarded by hollow-eyed wardens in porcelain masks. They didn't speak. Just stared. Then waved them through.
Kade leaned toward Veyne. "What are those things?"
"Ex-people. The Veil peeled away their minds. Now they just follow the last command they remember."
"...That's horrifying."
"Yep."
They moved through the city, navigating twisted alleys and shifting pathways until they arrived at a crooked tavern that looked half swallowed by the street itself. A sign hung above the door:
THE WHISPERING SLEEVE – We Trade in Secrets, Not Coin.
Inside, the air was thick with smoke and spells. Candles floated in midair. People of every shape and corruption filled the room—mages, mercenaries, even a few non-human figures that Kade couldn't name.
They were here to meet a contact.
The Broken Dawn didn't operate on loyalty alone. They needed intel.
And in Gravepoint, there was only one being with knowledge worth dying for.
A pale-skinned man sat alone at the bar, sipping from a teacup made of bone. His coat shimmered like oil, and one of his eyes ticked like a clock.
"Name's Morrik," Veyne whispered. "He used to be a Chrono-Warden before he went mad. Thinks time owes him a favor."
Morrik looked up and smiled without warmth.
"I've been expecting you."
"How?" Kade asked warily.
"I haven't," Morrik replied, sipping his tea. "But I remember your future."
Veyne dropped a pouch on the table. It hissed open with a shriek—Veilshards. Pure compressed memory.
"Information," Veyne said.
Morrik swirled the tea. "The Ash Choir has already breached Gravepoint's second rift. They're hunting a Fragment. And from the echoes screaming in your blood, boy…"
He pointed at Kade. "It's you."
Kade swallowed hard. "Why?"
"Because you're a crack in the Veil. A scar that shouldn't exist. You're not a full Key Fragment yet, but they know what you could become."
Morrik leaned in. "And they don't intend to let it happen."
Just then—
The tavern lights dimmed.
Candles flickered and died.
The floor trembled as something arrived.
Not walked in.
Arrived.
From the rift.
A voice like burning ash echoed through the room.
"KADE VIREN. COME QUIETLY."
Veyne's eyes widened. "No time to run."
Kade rose slowly, drawing his sword.
"Then we fight."
---
Elsewhere…
In a shattered temple beneath Gravepoint, a girl stirred. Shackled in silence. Her eyes opened—blazing gold.
A name left her lips.
"Kade…"
Chains snapped.
And the shadows began to burn.
---
End of Chapter 9