Kael stood frozen, breath catching in his throat as Veyr Dallen—his father—lowered his hand, unfazed by the silence between them.
The ceremonial chamber trembled faintly beneath the Echo-pressure swirling around them. The shard pulsed in Kael's palm, responding to the proximity of Veyr's full sigil like a tuning fork caught in a storm.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"You abandoned everything. The Pact. My mother. Me."
Veyr's reply was calm, but laced with sorrow.
"No. I chose to leave. There's a difference."
---
They circled one another slowly, two fractured mirrors walking the same line.
Kael's blade remained ready, but deep down, questions warred with rage. He needed answers more than vengeance.
"You could've warned us. Told the Pact the truth."
Veyr's gaze hardened. "Warn who? The same Pact that tried to bind the Mourning Sigil to their weapon vaults? That sought to use Dream corruption as a tool for war?"
He took a breath, voice cold now. "We didn't run, Kael. We rebelled."
---
Kael's pulse quickened. "We?"
"Elira and I. And others. Wardens who saw what the Sigil really was."
Kael's voice cracked. "Then where is she?"
At that, Veyr's expression shifted—his silence said more than words.
"She's gone, isn't she."
"Her body," Veyr said quietly, "yes. But not her will."
He tapped the sigil burned into his chest.
"Elira lives in this. Her final Echo was sealed inside the last shard. She gave herself… so you could carry what we couldn't."
---
Kael stepped back, fists trembling.
"You made me a vessel."
"No," Veyr said. "You were born one. You survived the fracture as a child. Do you know what that means?"
Kael stared.
"You weren't touched by Dream-corruption. You were forged by it."
---
> Lineage Trait Unlocked: Fractureborn
Description: A rare Echo condition. The bearer was conceived or born during a Dream rupture event. Body and soul resonate naturally with high-level Echo anomalies.
Effect: Increases resistance to Dream pressure and unlocks unique Echo mutations.
Warning: You are being tracked.
---
Kael clenched his jaw. "Why tell me this now?"
Veyr nodded toward the shard Kael carried.
"Because now, you've claimed the second fragment. That means they'll come."
"Who?"
"The ones who've already found their shards," Veyr said. "You're not the only vessel. You're just the one they fear the most."
Kael's grip on his blade tightened. "Because of what I carry?"
Veyr's gaze pierced him. "Because of what you are becoming."
---
Suddenly, a pulse shook the chamber—like a heartbeat rippling through the air.
Kael turned sharply.
The walls began to bleed light.
And then—
> Intrusion Detected.
Entity: Warden-Class Unknown.
Affiliation: Sigil-Bonded
Status: Hostile.
---
Figures stepped from the far corridors—four of them.
Clad in tattered Pact armor, but their masks were wrong. Twisted. Etched with black lines of fractured Echo-sigilry.
Their voices spoke in unison, hollow and unnatural:
> "The vessel awakens. The heir stirs. He must not ascend."
Veyr stepped forward, drawing a curved blade shaped from shadowed steel.
"Time's up."
Kael didn't hesitate. He slipped the shard into his chestplate, pulled the Revenant Edge free, and met his father's side.
"Then let's see what a vessel can really do."
---
The first strike came fast.
One of the intruders surged forward, body warping mid-air, bones snapping into unnatural joints. Kael met it head-on, the Edge shifting in his hands—its blade morphing into a serrated crescent as his anger surged.
The clash shattered the ground.
Kael spun low, cutting through corrupted Echo-armor with pure force. Veyr moved beside him like a phantom, his blade singing through the air in sharp, efficient arcs.
Together, they cut down two.
But the last attacker was different.
He didn't fight.
He watched.
---
Then he raised a hand.
And the sigil on his chest ignited—fully formed, complete.
Kael's eyes widened.
"That's not a shard…"
Veyr shouted: "He's a Harbinger!"
Too late.
The world around them collapsed in a pulse of raw Echo-light.
---
Kael was thrown into memory.
Not his.
Not Veyr's.
A field of corpses. A sky of screaming stars. And standing at the center…
Kael.
But older.
Alone.
Crowned in silence.
Behind him, seven broken thrones.
And in his hand—
The completed Sigil, etched into his flesh like a brand.
---
The vision ended with a violent snap.
Kael gasped, blood leaking from his eyes, breath ragged.
Veyr knelt beside him.
"You saw it," he said.
Kael nodded, vision blurry.
"The future?"
"No," Veyr said. "The path. One of many. But now it's real—because the Harbingers are moving."
Kael sat up, heart pounding.
"Then we stop them."
Veyr stared at him for a long time.
Then, finally, he smiled.
---
"Good."
---