"When the heavens fracture, mortals mistake it for victory."
— The Broken Sky Prophecies, Fragment I
🌌 The Silence After the Storm
The Cinder Spine Peaks no longer stood as mountains—they were ribs of stone jutting into the heavens, carved apart by divine lightning.
The once-circular arena now lay in ruin, its runes burned into molten glass.
For a moment, all was still.
No dragons.
No thunder.
Just the faint hiss of cooling earth and the heartbeat of a world holding its breath.
Jin stood amid the wreckage, the seven glowing Seals pulsing faintly across his skin. Each pulse echoed through the ground like a drumbeat, resonating with something ancient and distant.
Lin Xue, Su Ren, and Ash-Eye emerged from the ash storm, faces pale with disbelief.
"You… ended it," Lin Xue said quietly.
"No," Jin murmured, eyes fixed on the horizon. "I only woke what was already waiting."
⚙ The World Reacts
As his final words left his mouth, the sky cracked.
Not lightning—something worse.
Through the fissures in the clouds, veins of starlight leaked downward, fracturing the heavens like a shattered mirror.
Spectral dragons flickered in and out of existence, their roars sounding more like cries.
The Sea-Bound Host fell to one knee.
The monks began chanting ancient mantras, trying to suppress the shaking of their own cores.
Ash-Eye clenched his spear. "The dragons weren't bound here—they were sealed from something else."
Jin's brow furrowed. "You mean—"
"You broke the last barrier between the Hollow Realms and the Void Sea," Su Ren finished grimly.
🕊 The Whisper
A whisper rippled through the air, light and cold, carrying on the wind.
"Return us…"
It was not one voice, but many—woven together like the sighs of forgotten gods.
Everyone froze.
Even the Leviathan Blade vibrated faintly in Jin's grip.
The whisper came again, closer now, almost within his skull.
"Return what you took, Oathbreaker…"
Jin fell to one knee as pain lanced through his mind. Visions struck—images of a vast gate of bones beneath a black sea, dragons chained to its pillars, and a single figure standing before it—himself, in another life, sealing it shut.
🌊 The Gate of the Hollow Sea
"The Gate…" Jin breathed. "It's waking."
The Seals along his arms began to burn, one after another, like brands trying to tear free of his flesh.
Streams of light rose from each rune, swirling above him before forming a circle.
The Leviathan Blade's voice—ancient, rumbling, yet faint—echoed in his mind:
"To open the Gate is to return the dragons… but also what they imprisoned."
Lin Xue grabbed his arm. "Then stop! Don't—!"
"I can't," Jin said, voice shaking. "The seals act on their own… they're fulfilling the accord."
⚔ The Return of the Sky Rift
A column of light shot into the air from Jin's body, piercing through the cracked heavens.
The fissure widened.
Through it, the outline of an inverted continent became visible—black cities hanging upside-down, their lights glowing red like embers of a dying sun.
The watchers screamed.
Even the cultivators of the upper sects began to flee, realizing this was not a divine omen—it was a summoning.
Ash-Eye's voice shook.
"The Broken Sky Realm… it's real."
🐉 The Dragons' Cry
The wind howled as seven dragon roars merged into one final chorus.
Their spirits appeared once more—half-transparent, half-wreathed in starlight.
"Reclaimer," they spoke as one. "You have done as promised.
The Gate reopens, and the Realms will burn anew.
Hold fast to the Oath… or lose everything again."
The light dimmed.
The dragons vanished into the sky fissure.
The Gate pulsed once, then twice—then went still.
🌑 The End of the Gathering
Jin collapsed to his knees, smoke rising from his skin where the Seals burned brightest.
Lin Xue caught him before he fell, voice trembling.
"You brought them back, Jin. The dragons… and something else."
He looked up at the shattered sky, eyes hollow yet burning with purpose.
"Then we'll follow it.
The Hollow Realms will never kneel again."
🕯 Epilogue: The First Whisper of War
Far beyond the broken peaks, in the Northern Spine Fortress, a council of sect masters gathered before a mirror of ice. Within it reflected Jin's awakening—and the Gate's opening.
A single figure cloaked in darkness spoke:
"The Hollow Flame walks again.
Send word to every land. The War of Realms begins anew."