The glow from the runes faded slowly.
Eren stood before the obelisk, the weight of what he'd seen pressing down on his shoulders. The vision had not just shown him Cael's past it had shown him what Akreth could do to a man's soul. And it terrified him.
Elira stood nearby, her palm still lightly bleeding. She wrapped the cut with practiced ease, but her eyes never left Eren.
He broke the silence.
"What happens now?"
She looked up toward the ruined spires around them. "Now, we dig."
Eren frowned. "Dig?"
Elira pointed to the base of the obelisk. "There's a chamber beneath this place. The Veyari Order built a vault to contain the sword's core when they failed to destroy it. What you're carrying is only half."
Eren blinked, stunned. "Half?"
"Akreth was fractured during the sealing rite," she said. "The blade you carry is the physical form. But its soul its essence is bound in chains beneath Serathei."
He looked back at the sword strapped to his back. "Then what did I fight with?"
She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "The fragment is enough to kill. But not enough to understand."
Without another word, she stepped to the side of the obelisk and knelt. Brushing away dead leaves and moss, she uncovered a stone disc set into the earth. Runes circled its edge some broken, some glowing faintly.
Eren joined her.
"How do we open it?"
"With blood and will," she said. "The Order crafted this seal with intention. Only a bearer of the blade and a descendant of the Veyari can open it."
Eren hesitated. "You're a descendant."
She nodded. "The last."
He placed his hand over the disc beside hers. The moment their fingers touched the stone, it pulsed with pale blue light. The runes flared to life. A deep, grinding noise echoed through the earth, and the disc began to sink, revealing a narrow spiral staircase descending into darkness.
A gust of cold air rushed out from below, carrying with it the smell of ancient dust and something older… something forgotten.
Elira lit a small lantern from her pack, its glow golden and steady. "Stay close. The seals are old, but not harmless."
They descended together, step by careful step. The further down they went, the colder it became. Eren could see his breath, and the sword on his back began to vibrate subtly, like a beast stirring in its sleep.
After a long descent, they reached a stone corridor. Its walls were lined with script carved into obsidian plates warnings, prayers, and binding spells. Some glowed faintly. Others had been cracked wide open, as though something had tried to claw its way out.
Eren's voice was tight. "Whatever's down here… it doesn't want to be."
"No," Elira said. "But we have to face it. If we don't understand the blade's origin, we'll never control it."
They reached a final chamber circular and vast. The ceiling arched high above, lost in shadow. At the center, bound by chains made of etched silver, floated a second blade.
It was smaller than the one Eren carried. Thinner. Almost like a shard. But it glowed with pure, violent energy red light streaked with black veins, writhing like living fire.
Eren stepped forward instinctively. His own blade vibrated wildly now, nearly leaping from its sheath.
"This is it," Elira said. "The heart of Akreth."
The chained blade hovered just above a pedestal carved from stone and bone. As Eren drew closer, whispers filled the room hundreds of voices layered on top of one another, speaking languages he didn't understand.
But one rose above the others. Clear. Cold. Familiar.
"Release me."
He flinched.
Elira caught his arm. "It's trying to merge."
Eren looked to her. "Should I let it?"
She didn't answer right away.
"If you do, there's no turning back. The blade will be whole again. It will reveal everything its power, its origin, its final purpose. But it will test you. It will know you."
He swallowed. "And if I don't?"
"Then you'll never control it. It will remain a fragment, always pulling, always whispering, until you break… or give in."
Eren stared at the shard.
He remembered Cael's golden eyes. The way he had fallen. The way Elira still spoke his name like a wound that hadn't healed.
But he also remembered Lyria's smile. The promise he'd made. The reason he'd drawn the sword in the first place.
"I didn't come this far to walk away."
Elira's fingers tightened on his arm then let go.
Eren stepped to the pedestal and unsheathed Akreth.
The moment he held it over the shard, the chains broke.
Light erupted through the chamber, searing and wild. The air burned with magic. The runes along the stone walls cracked and shattered. Eren screamed as the shard flew upward, slamming into the base of his blade.
And then everything went black.