The sun barely crept over the ruins of what was once the edge of Gahrawa—the ancient forest where centuries-old trees now lay scorched and broken, their trunks carved with charred runes. Crows circled overhead, drawn to the remnants of chaos left behind after Abhi's fierce battle with the second bearer. Silence had fallen across the land, but beneath that silence, a tension coiled like a living thing.
Abhi sat on the edge of a cliff, the ring faintly pulsing on his finger. His clothes were torn, his face bruised, and blood traced lines down his temple. Isha stood behind him, her hair still crackling faintly with residual energy. Neither had spoken in hours. Not since the fight. Not since the memory.
The second bearer's voice still echoed in Abhi's head.
"They burned everything I loved. They called me a monster before I could speak. So now, I will burn the world and rebuild it without them."
The image of that boy—alone, locked in chains, his violet eyes wide with terror—haunted him. It was a boy who had once believed in good. Who had once been innocent. But time had turned pain into fury, and that fury had become the Watchers' wrath.
"Isha," Abhi finally said, his voice hoarse. "Did you feel it too?"
She nodded, slowly approaching him. "Yes. His memories weren't just seen. They were... felt. Like they carved themselves into us."
Abhi clenched his fists. "How can someone with so much pain still be so wrong? What he's doing—it's not justice. It's destruction."
"But in his eyes," Isha said quietly, sitting beside him, "it is justice. And that's the danger."
The wind picked up, brushing against the ash-covered stones. Isha looked at Abhi's face and touched his arm gently.
"You stopped him. For now."
"No," Abhi whispered. "We hurt each other. That's not the same as stopping him."
He remembered the moment clearly: the second bearer's blade of violet energy clashing with the raw light from Abhi's eyes. The moment of silence—the flashback. And then, the strike that sent them both flying. If not for Isha's quick shield, Abhi might not have made it out.
Isha looked ahead. "He's searching for the other shards. The Vault of Eyes wasn't the end. It was just one lock."
Abhi blinked. "You mean... there's more?"
"Yes. The ring is one of seven keys. The second bearer has two. We have one. The rest... hidden across different regions of Naetra."
"How do you know this?"
Isha hesitated. "After the battle, I stayed back. I spoke to the Guardian again... in a dream. She said the Vault is only the beginning. The full awakening will only happen when all seven are brought together—by the rightful bearer... or the corrupted one."
Abhi's stomach twisted. "And if the second bearer gets all of them...?"
Isha didn't answer. She didn't need to.
Abhi stood up, stretching his sore limbs. "Then we don't let him. We find the shards before he does."
"There's more," Isha said, pulling a scroll from her satchel. "This came to me during meditation. The Guardian sent it. It's a map, but not like anything in our world. The paths shift. The places move. It requires both of us to unlock its direction."
As she unrolled the scroll, symbols shimmered and floated. The center held a glowing triangle—one side gold, one violet, one still dark. Around it, circles with ancient runes rotated like gears.
"The triangle... that's us and him," Abhi murmured.
"Yes. Two of the three forces awakened. One still dormant."
"A third?" he asked.
Isha nodded. "Another force that was sealed long ago. Neither light nor shadow. Something beyond them both. If he finds it... the world won't survive."
They stood in silence as the wind howled across the ruins.
"We leave at dawn," Isha finally said. "The first shard is hidden in the City of Hollow Lanterns. Beneath its catacombs."
"That's days away."
"We don't have time to rest."
Abhi turned to her, eyes burning—not with power, but with resolve. "Then we walk through fire if we must."
As they turned to leave, neither of them noticed the figure watching from the trees below. Clad in ragged robes, his eyes glowing faintly violet, a shadow curled around the second bearer like a living cloak. His wounds were healing, but his rage had not subsided.
"So," he muttered, his voice like stone scraping bone. "You felt my pain... but still you chose to fight me."
His hand opened, revealing a sliver of obsidian. It pulsed with cold energy.
"Then let me show you, Abhishek... what comes after pain."
The hunt had begun again.
To be continued...