Far above the mountain's heart, the sky was calm — deceptively calm.
Golden clouds drifted across the horizon, their glow soft and serene. But in the Heavenly Citadel, the air had grown… uneasy.
In the Hall of Judgment, the Elders of Light gathered — six silhouettes cloaked in celestial radiance, their faces hidden behind halos of authority.
At the center, the Grand Arbiter stood before the mirror of worlds, his expression tightening as ripples distorted the image of the mortal realm.
> "Something moves beneath the mountain," he murmured. "Something that should not."
A murmur rippled through the chamber.
"The Abyssal Seal?"
"Impossible. That prison has been silent for ten millennia."
The Arbiter turned, his eyes like suns. "And yet, the light wavers. Something… unholy… has breathed again."
He raised his staff, and an image shimmered into view — a flash of crimson light in the depths of darkness. A lone mortal figure surrounded by serpentine chains of flame and shadow.
The Elders' collective gasp shook the marble pillars.
> "A mortal… bearing the Chains of Heaven?"
"Those relics were lost in the war of the Fallen!"
"No… not lost. Taken."
The Arbiter's voice grew cold.
> "Send the Seraph Sentinels. Find the boy before the corruption reaches the surface."
---
Meanwhile, back in the mortal realm — Kael sat atop the Heavenly Sect's highest spire, basking in divine sunlight.
But the light today felt strange — trembling, uncertain.
He opened his eyes. His own divine aura flickered for a heartbeat, responding to something far older, far darker.
"...Arhaan," he whispered.
His hand clenched unconsciously, light energy sparking around his fingers.
He should have vanished in that storm. He should have broken.
And yet… somewhere deep in his chest, Kael felt it — a presence pulling at the edge of his soul, heavy and suffocating.
A faint voice, the echo of Heaven's Will, murmured in his mind:
> "The defect rises. You must end him."
Kael smiled faintly, though unease stirred beneath it.
"Then let Heaven bear witness," he said, standing, his golden robe fluttering in the celestial wind. "I'll finish what it couldn't."
Far below, thunder echoed from within the mountains — not from storm or rain, but from the beating heart of the abyss itself.