The wind carried voices that didn't belong to the living.
Kaien stood on a cliff's edge overlooking the scattered remnants of the Veil's influence in the northern reaches. The Abyss stirred within him, reacting to something ancient—something familiar.
Behind him, Iria and Solryn were silent. They felt it too.
"We're being watched," Solryn murmured, ice forming unconsciously on his arms.
Kaien nodded. "No… not watched. Judged."
That night, as they set up camp, Kaien sat alone, staring into the fire. His thoughts drifted back to Elias's final words. They hadn't spoken much about his past. Elias had always seemed more like a force than a man.
But he remembered one thing. Once, Elias had whispered a name in his sleep:
"Alteron."
The flames cracked.
From the shadows beyond the trees, a whisper slid into Kaien's mind—not a voice, but a presence. Regal. Cold. Wounded.
"You walk the path of broken light, bearer of the Abyss… Shall I guide you into truth, or into despair?"
Kaien reached instinctively for his blade, but there was no one there. The air was thick with pressure, like divine judgment.
Iria called from behind him, "Kaien! There's something—something strange in the sky!"
He looked up.
Above them, the stars had formed a symbol: a radiant heart pierced by a jagged sword. A mark once sacred. Now corrupted.
Solryn gasped. "That's… that's the sigil of the Commandment of Love. But… it's been gone for decades."
Kaien didn't speak. The symbol pulsed once, and vanished.
---
Elsewhere…
In a gilded hall carved into the bones of the world, High Priest Alteron opened his eyes.
The room was filled with prayers that echoed like chains. He stood before a statue of a woman—graceful, serene, and burning from the inside out.
He placed his hand over his chest, where a borrowed power still burned like embers.
"She has found a new shape," he whispered. "And the boy… the boy walks toward the Truth."
Behind him, a figure knelt, cloaked in silver and crimson.
"My High Priest… do we strike?"
Alteron's lips curled into a soft, venomous smile.
"No. We let them see the edge of hope. Then we show them what love truly costs."