The black stone on the ground cracked once more, then dissolved into ash.
Kael stepped back, instincts screaming. The fog thickened around him like wet cloth—clinging to his skin, seeping into his lungs, making the air hum with unnatural pressure.
The masked figure didn't move.
"You didn't answer me," Kael said, his grip tightening around the living chain on his arm. "Who are you?"
The figure stepped forward at last. Not rushed, not aggressive—just calm. Measured. Controlled.
"I go by many names," the stranger replied, voice smooth and genderless beneath the silver mask. "But for now, you can call me… Ashen."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "What do you want from me?"
Ashen raised one gloved hand, pointing to the swirling mark now glowing faintly on Kael's forearm—the emblem of the Oblivion Chain.
"Not what I want. What they want. And what you must become before they get to you first."
A sharp pulse throbbed from the brand, as if responding to Ashen's words.
Kael winced. "You're with them? The ones watching me from the Hollow?"
"No," Ashen said, gaze unreadable. "I'm the only one trying to keep you alive."
Without waiting for a response, Ashen turned and began walking into the fog, motioning for Kael to follow.
Against every instinct, Kael did.
⸻
They moved through the Hollow as if walking through a memory. The world around them rippled and shifted—buildings rising and falling in silent decay, flickers of light showing shattered moments from someone else's life: a child crying, a hand reaching through fire, a scream with no mouth.
Kael had seen the Hollow before, but not like this.
"Why is everything… changing?" he asked, his voice muted by the fog.
Ashen glanced back. "Because the Veil is no longer stable. Your awakening sped up the process."
"My awakening?" Kael echoed. "You mean the Chain?"
Ashen nodded. "It bonded to you, prematurely. That shouldn't be possible—not without the Catalyst. And yet, here you are. Alive. Marked. Hunted."
They stopped in front of a blackened building that looked like a collapsed cathedral. Its spires jutted into the sky like broken swords, and glowing chains hung from its rafters like nooses.
"This," Ashen said, "is the Vault of Echoes. What's left of it."
Kael stared, unsure. "What is it?"
"A prison," Ashen said. "And a library."
They pushed open the rusted doors. Inside, the cathedral was hollow, save for floating platforms of stone suspended in the void. On each one, glowing glyphs hovered above burning books—pages made of shadow, words written in light.
"These," Ashen said, "are Memory Fragments. Pieces of those who bore the Chain before you."
Kael's eyes widened. "There were others?"
"Hundreds," Ashen replied. "Some rose. Some fell. One broke the cycle."
Kael stepped toward the nearest fragment. As he reached for it, the chain around his wrist tightened.
Ashen didn't stop him.
The moment Kael touched the glyph, the world exploded again.
⸻
He was standing in a desert made of glass.
Heat shimmered from every direction. In the distance, two men clashed—one wielding a silver blade of light, the other wrapped in shadows that burned like flame.
The man of light raised his weapon. "You've doomed them all, Tarien!"
The shadowed one laughed, blood running from his mouth. "No… I freed them. You just don't see the cage."
Their weapons met with a flash that split the sky. The vision shattered.
⸻
Kael dropped to his knees, gasping.
"What the hell was that?"
Ashen's voice echoed from behind him. "A memory. One of your predecessors. His name was Tarien. The last Warden to resist the Court."
Kael swallowed hard. "He lost, didn't he?"
Ashen didn't answer.
Instead, they extended a hand. In their palm rested a thin shard of obsidian, pulsing faintly.
"A piece of his soul remains. If you bind it, you'll inherit some of his strength. But it's not without cost."
Kael hesitated, eyes flicking between Ashen's hand and the memory fragment still glowing in the air.
"What kind of cost?"
Ashen's tone grew colder. "His choices. His regrets. His madness. All of it will bleed into you."
Kael clenched his jaw. "And if I don't take it?"
"You'll die before the week ends."
Kael stared at the shard for a long time.
Then he took it.
⸻
The moment he touched it, fire licked through his veins.
His mind exploded with images—cities falling, flames dancing, a girl's face screaming his name.
And in the center of it all, the same chained figure from before.
Tarien.
⸻
[New Trait Acquired: Shadowflame Core]
[Ability: Chainburn – Ignites tethered enemies, draining strength over time]
[Soul Synchronization: 34%]
Kael collapsed, his body smoking.
Ashen knelt beside him.
"You're stronger now," they said. "But you've taken in more than power. The Chain feeds on memory. And not all memories are yours."
Kael opened his eyes slowly. "Why me? Why did it choose me?"
Ashen stood, voice grim.
"Because someone bound to the future must carry the past."
They turned away.
"And because the Court fears you."
⸻
Suddenly, the world convulsed.
A scream echoed through the Hollow—high-pitched, inhuman, and full of rage.
Ashen snapped to attention.
"They've found us."
Kael pushed himself to his feet, wobbling. "What is it?"
"Not what," Ashen said. "Who."
From the fog emerged a woman—tall, draped in crimson silk, her face veiled in gold. Her eyes blazed like dying suns, and in her hand, she held a whip made of barbed light.
"Warden Draven," she said, voice like broken bells. "Return what belongs to the Chain. Or be unraveled."
Kael's blood froze.
Ashen stepped between them. "You're early, Seraphine."
The woman smiled. "The Court grows impatient. The Chain must not be allowed to evolve unchecked. It remembers too much."
She raised her whip.
Ashen grabbed Kael's arm. "Run."
Kael didn't argue.
The world twisted again as they ran through the cathedral, the Memory Fragments shattering one by one in their wake. Chains snapped from the rafters and lunged after them like serpents. Kael summoned his Shadowflame, lashing back, burning through a dozen tendrils before stumbling through the veil that tore open behind him.
⸻
They fell into reality like cannonballs.
Kael hit pavement, Ashen crashing beside him. The cathedral vanished behind them.
Ashen groaned. "We can't keep running."
Kael coughed blood. "She was one of them, wasn't she?"
Ashen nodded. "A Chain Priestess. They serve the Court and silence any Warden who rises too quickly."
Kael wiped his mouth, trembling.
"What do they want with me?"
Ashen stared at him.
"They want your memory. The Chain isn't just a weapon. It's a prison—and the more you unlock, the more dangerous you become."
Kael swallowed. "Dangerous to who?"
"To everyone."
⸻
Ashen stood slowly.
"There's one place left you need to go. One place the Court doesn't see."
Kael looked up. "Where?"
Ashen extended a hand.
"To the Flamewell. Where the first Chain was forged."
Kael hesitated, then took the hand.
"Then let's finish what they started."
Ashen smiled beneath the mask.
"Let's begin."