Snow melted underfoot as dawn broke over the high peaks. The temple behind them smoldered with a ghostly fire that wouldn't go out—Varos' last gift. The Ember Seal now hung in a rune-bound pouch at Cain's side, warm even through thick leather. But the warmth didn't reach his bones.
Ayden was the first to break the silence. "You ever wonder if maybe we were meant to die young? Like… we were never supposed to last this long?"
Lucien, adjusting his gloves, snorted. "Speak for yourself. I plan on outliving every vampire, demon, and disgruntled god we meet."
"I mean it," Ayden insisted, squinting at the horizon. "Every time we survive something impossible, the world feels heavier. Like we're dragging it behind us."
Cain said nothing. He hadn't said much since the trial. But his silence carried weight now—less reluctance, more calculation. Rei noticed the shift. She walked beside him, her eyes flicking to his face occasionally.
"You saw something," she said.
"I always see something," he replied. "That's the problem."
Corin walked behind them, arms crossed. "Whatever's waiting at the next seal, it's watching us already."
"Do you feel it too?" Rei asked.
Corin nodded. "Like static in the blood. Like teeth scraping the inside of your head."
They followed the ridge path until they reached the edge of a broken monastery—The Monastery of Crimson Bones, once sacred to the Order of Silver Flame, now desecrated and drowned in frost. Spires jutted like broken swords from snow-drowned stone. It wasn't on any map Rei had ever read.
Inside, shadows clung to the walls like living things.
A woman stood in the center of the shattered courtyard. Pale skin. Hair like obsidian rivers. Crimson robes twisted with living threads that writhed on their own. Her eyes… they were completely white, as if seeing beyond the world.
She smiled.
"You carry the Ember Seal," she said, voice soft and syrupy.
Cain stepped forward. "Who are you?"
"I'm Velessia. High Priestess of the Forgotten Mouth. Keeper of the Maw Between Worlds. And the one who will relieve you of that burden."
Ayden laughed dryly. "Could've just said demon."
Velessia's smile widened.
With a whisper, the ground split open. From it crawled creatures—twisted mockeries of humans, their bodies stitched with thorns and bone, their mouths filled with far too many teeth.
"Split!" Cain shouted.
Corin vanished into smoke, reappearing behind one of the monsters, his spirit blade already plunging into its neck. Lucien unleashed a torrent of shadowflame, igniting a row of enemies as they howled in pain. Ayden spun through the fray with twin daggers, fluid and precise.
Rei whispered a word—and a spectral serpent erupted from her hands, wrapping around Velessia.
But the priestess laughed. "You don't understand. You're not fighting me. You're waking it."
The air cracked.
A pillar of bone erupted from the earth.
The sky dimmed.
Something enormous stirred beneath the monastery—a titan of flesh and bone, sealed centuries ago by the Order of Silver Flame.
Rei shouted over the din, "We need to close the Maw! There's a seal buried here too!"
Cain nodded. "Find it. We'll hold them."
The boys stood back-to-back.
Monsters closed in from every side.
And they fought.
Lucien bled shadow. Ayden danced through the chaos. Cain summoned flame, his eyes glowing like twin suns. Corin moved like a phantom, striking only to kill.
Rei, guided by instinct and ghostlight, followed ancient symbols carved into the floor. They led her to the altar—a black stone drowned in centuries of ice. She placed her hand against it.
"By the blood of flame. By the eyes that see the unseen. I seal the Maw."
Light exploded.
Velessia screamed as her body cracked with divine light. The creatures shrieked, collapsing into ash. The pillar of bone shattered.
Silence fell.
Cain collapsed to one knee, breathing hard. Lucien caught him.
"You alright?"
"I think," Cain gasped, "I just pissed off something older than gods."
Rei stepped toward him. "You did more than that. You woke something. I felt it leave."
Corin frowned. "Where did it go?"
Rei's voice was low. "South. Toward the capital."
Ayden rubbed his eyes. "Of course it did. Because things weren't bad enough already."
Lucien glanced toward the broken horizon. "So we keep going."
Rei nodded. "There are more seals. More monsters. More choices. But we're not alone anymore."
Cain stood, eyes still flickering with fire. "Then let's make sure we end this before the world does."
And in the ruins of the monastery, beneath forgotten stars, the sons of a devil began to walk again.
Toward the next war.
Toward destiny's blade.