The hall of the Sky Fortress echoed with silence.
Raen stood still, the fourth shard glowing faintly on its pedestal. Before it, the one-armed man waited—robe torn, face cracked with whisper scars that glowed like dying embers.
Raen gripped the Veinblade tightly. "You said you were his disciple."
The man bowed slightly.
> "Juro. Once sword-bearer to the Last Vein God… and the man who betrayed him."
Talin entered warily behind Raen, blades ready. "Sounds like a great résumé."
Juro didn't move. "You don't need to fight me. I didn't come to take the blade. I came to warn the boy who took it."
Nira stepped beside Raen. The runes on her skin flickered faintly.
"What do you mean... betrayed?"
Juro closed his eyes. "The original Veinblade bearer... wasn't chosen by fate. He forged fate. And it broke him."
---
📜 The Story of the First Vein God
Juro slowly sat down before the pedestal.
> "He was called Sael, and like Raen, he heard the sword whisper. But instead of resisting… he embraced every shard. All twelve. He hunted the Whisper Gods who birthed them—and sealed them in his own blood."
"Every technique became his. Every memory. Every grief."
Raen's breath slowed. "He mastered all of them?"
"No," Juro said. "He became them."
> "The Veinblade wasn't cursed until he died. When it was buried in a temple of his victims."
The fourth shard pulsed faintly—like it recognized its story.
Talin frowned. "If this Sael was so powerful, how did he fall?"
Juro looked directly at Raen.
"Because in the end… his own reflection killed him."
Raen's eyes narrowed.
> "A mirror duel?"
"No. Not a mirror. Not a shadow."
Juro's voice dropped.
> "A clone birthed by the shards themselves. A self made perfect by the sword's longing for obedience."
Raen clenched his jaw. "You think that'll happen to me?"
Juro didn't answer.
He simply gestured to the shard. "Touch it, and you'll see the same path."
Raen turned to Nira and Talin.
"If I don't... we'll never stop Seyra. The Crimson Fang are already ahead of us."
Talin looked uneasy. "You sure about this? This shard's not like the others. It doesn't whisper. It waits."
Raen stepped forward.
"Then let it wait no more."
---
⚡ Contact
As his hand brushed the shard—
The world split.
He stood in a sky made of swords. Thousands.
Each floating blade held a memory.
Each memory whispered his name.
> "Raen… Raen… Raen..."
And standing at the far end of the field—
Sael.
Dressed in ceremonial armor. Face unseen. Hands holding a fully awakened Veinblade.
Raen tried to speak, but no sound emerged.
Sael raised his sword.
So did Raen.
The duel began with no warning.
A storm of blades, silent yet thunderous. Each strike felt remembered—as if Raen had fought this battle before.
He wasn't winning.
He was reliving.
> "Is this my fate?" he shouted, though no sound came out.
Sael finally paused.
Then lowered his sword.
Raen gasped for breath, blinking—
And found himself back in the Sky Fortress, hand still on the shard.
Juro watched him.
"You saw it, didn't you?"
Raen nodded slowly.
"But I also saw something else."
Nira stepped forward. "What?"
Raen looked at them both.
> "A thirteenth shard. Hidden. Watching."
Juro froze. "That's not possible. There were only twelve."
Raen looked down at his hand, where a faint silver rune now shimmered.
"No. There's one more."
> "And it's not sealed."
---
📍 Elsewhere – Crimson Fang Outpost
Commander Seyra opened her palm to reveal a black shard, pulsing quietly.
A new voice whispered within.
> "He has touched the fourth.
Now the last gate may open."
Seyra smiled. "Let him find the rest."
She looked up, where a sky tear was forming overhead.
> "I already have the thirteenth."