Kael drifted in darkness.
Not unconsciousness.
Not sleep.
Something in between.
A vast, echoing void where memories drifted like shattered glass and thoughts barely held shape.
He tried to move.
His body didn't respond.
His voice didn't exist.
Only sensation—
pain
heat
cold
and the distant hum of something ancient pulsing inside him.
A voice drifted through the dark.
Soft.
Icy.
Familiar.
You lived.
Kael couldn't see the Echo,
but he felt it—
a colossal silhouette watching him from within his own mind,
shards orbiting it like a dying star.
Two Monarchs tested you.
Both failed to break you.
Good.
Kael tried to speak, but no sound formed.
His thoughts bled like cracked mirrors.
The Echo whispered again.
Rest.
Your rise has begun… even if your body cannot keep pace.
The void tightened—
a pressure gripping his chest—
until it all shattered.
Kael gasped awake.
He sucked in air like someone drowning, chest heaving violently.
Cold wind struck his face immediately.
Sky.
Clouds.
Stone dust.
He blinked until his vision sharpened.
He was lying on a makeshift bed of wind-woven cloth inside a half-collapsed chamber high on the spire—
the remnants of a broken platform suspended by Riven's improvised anchors.
Riven sat nearby sharpening her blade.
The sound—
scrape, scrape—
was rhythmic, grounding.
She didn't look up.
"You're awake. Took long enough."
Kael tried to rise.
His muscles screamed.
His ribs burned.
His veins crackled with residual lightning.
Riven finally looked at him—
and immediately frowned.
Her expression softened for a half-second, then hardened again.
"You look like hell."
Mr. Han sat on the other side, worry deep in his eyes.
"You nearly died, boy."
Kael coughed, tasting blood.
"What happened?"
Riven sheathed her blade.
"You fought Seryn.
You survived.
Barely."
She leaned back against a cracked wall.
"He disappeared before he delivered a killing blow.
If he hadn't…"
Mr. Han added quietly,
"We'd be carrying a body instead of speaking to you."
Kael shut his eyes a moment.
The fight came back in jagged pieces—
the storm folding
the air slicing
the blade that cracked the sky
and Seryn's calm promise.
"When you reach Floor One Hundred…
I will kill you properly."
Kael's jaw tightened.
He opened his eyes.
They glowed faintly.
The imprint inside him stirred just beneath consciousness.
Riven's voice cut through the tension.
"What Seryn did wasn't a fight.
It was a message."
Kael looked at her.
"What message?"
"That you're on the Eleven's radar now."
The words dropped like stones.
Even Mr. Han flinched.
Riven continued.
"And they don't warn people.
They erase them.
Quietly.
Completely."
She stood, pacing.
"You sitting on the throne wasn't supposed to be possible.
Your imprint forming this early wasn't supposed to be possible.
Cracking a Monarch blade with E-tier strength wasn't supposed to be possible."
She turned toward him.
Her voice dropped.
"You're breaking rules that have existed since the Labyrinth was created."
Kael's fingers curled slightly.
"Good."
Riven stopped, staring at him.
"You… enjoy this?"
Kael shook his head slowly.
"No."
His gaze hardened.
"But I won't kneel for them."
Riven exhaled sharply.
"You fight them unprepared, you won't get a second chance. Not like with Veyra.
Not like with Seryn."
Silence settled.
Only the wind howled outside through broken walls.
Mr. Han cleared his throat softly.
"What do we do now?"
Riven faced Kael.
"You stabilize.
You heal.
And you prepare."
Kael nodded.
"How?"
Riven pointed toward the highest tower visible through the shattered wall.
Its peak vanished into storm clouds.
Wind arcs spiraled around it like a colossal cage.
"The Guardian Spire.
The floor's heart.
The purification shrine is inside."
Mr. Han's voice trembled with hope.
"Then… my corruption—?"
Riven nodded.
"It can cleanse you.
But…"
Kael raised his head.
"But what?"
Riven hesitated.
Then told the truth.
"After Seryn, the Spire is awake.
And it knows you're coming."
Kael stood.
Pain screamed across his back—
but he stood.
His fractured shadow rose with him.
A taller silhouette.
Sharper.
Still half-formed—
but growing.
Riven watched it and swallowed hard.
"You don't understand, Kael.
If the Spire's Guardian recognizes the imprint, it will treat you like an enemy Monarch."
Kael stepped toward the open wall.
Wind whipped around him.
The storm crackled above.
Lightning flashed across the sky-floor.
"Then I'll make it bow."
Riven stared at him.
"You're not a Monarch."
Kael's shadow pulsed behind him—
the crown glinting.
"Not yet."
Mr. Han struggled to his feet, leaning on Riven.
"Then let's go.
Before the sky itself throws another monster at us."
Kael walked toward the spiraling bridge leading to the Spire.
Riven followed reluctantly.
The storm thickened overhead.
Lightning converged on the tower.
Wind spiraled in unnatural patterns.
Riven whispered,
"The floor is preparing for you."
Kael didn't slow.
"Good.
So am I."
They stepped onto the bridge.
The path to the Guardian Spire began.
And high above, something ancient opened its eyes.