The shadow at the door dissolved into the mist like smoke, leaving the forge wrapped in a silence so thick it pressed against Kaden's eardrums.
The usual clatter of the market, the distant bray of a mule, even the creak of the wind through the eaves—all had been swallowed whole.
Only the drip-drip of rainwater from the roof and the faint, acrid tang of burnt metal lingered.
Serena's charcoal scraped against the floorboards, the sound sharp in the quiet.
They weren't dead.
They were… woken.
Kaden's throat tightened as he read the words, his gaze lifting to meet hers.
Her brown eyes, warm as they'd always been, now held a ring of gold around the pupils—flickering, like embers refusing to die.
He knew that glow.
It was the same that had flared in his own eyes when the system first activated, when the forge's ancient power had surged into him.
Understanding coiled cold in his gut.
His master had left him this place not as a refuge, but as a lure.
To stir something from its slumber.
And now—whatever "it" was—had found them.
Serena's fingers trembled as she set down the charcoal, her gaze steady despite the gold in her eyes.
In that look, Kaden saw echoes of his master: the same resolve that had squared the old man's shoulders the night the hunters came, the night he'd shoved Kaden into the cellar and told him to run.
"This isn't over," Kaden said, his voice low.
She nodded, her fingers brushing the edge of her charcoal.
No, she wrote.
It's just beginning.
He sealed the cellar door with fresh iron bars that afternoon, hammering each rivet until his palms ached.
The system's psychic barrier hummed in the back of his mind, a faint pressure like a hand between his shoulder blades—protection against the mental intrusion that had clawed at them the night before.
But as he stepped back, wiping sweat from his brow, he noticed Serena lingering near the forge, her fingers trailing over the anvil as if listening to a song only she could hear.
Night fell, thick and heavy.
Kaden slept with one eye open, the system's alerts buzzing in his mind like a caged bee.
Then came the sound: a soft shuffle, the creak of a floorboard.
He sat up, heart thudding.
Serena stood by the forge, her bare feet silent on the wood.
Her eyes were open, but unseeing—fixed on the dying coals as if they held a vision.
A low, guttural murmur slipped from her lips, words he didn't recognize but felt in his bones: ancient, metallic, like the groan of strained steel.
"Serena?" He moved toward her, reaching out.
Her skin was hot—too hot—as he took her arm, like she'd been gripping a red-hot poker.
"Wake up."
She didn't respond.
Her free hand rose, hovering over the coals, and Kaden saw the tips of her fingers glisten with something—molten?
No, it was sweat, but threaded with a faint silver sheen.
The system pinged: ABNORMAL PSYCHIC WAVE DETECTED.
SUGGEST IMMEDIATE "SOUL RESONANCE" TO STABILIZE.
Kaden didn't hesitate.
He'd learned the hard way to trust the system's warnings.
Closing his eyes, he pushed a sliver of his own spirit force into the forge's flame—tentatively at first, then more firmly, like striking a tuning fork.
The coals flared.
Serena gasped.
Her body went rigid, then sagged against him, her eyes fluttering open.
The gold in her pupils dimmed, but didn't vanish.
Her fingers, when he checked, were still warm, but no longer burning.
"What… happened?" she mouthed, her voice a silent shape.
He didn't answer. Not yet.
Morning brought new dread.
The cellar door, which Kaden had sealed with iron and magic, now bore fresh cracks—spidery lines snaking through the metal, as if something had pressed from the other side.
A thick, black fluid oozed from the gaps, smelling of blood and rust.
Kaden crouched, studying the liquid.
When he touched it, his skin prickled, as if the substance recoiled from his fingers.
Nearby lay the iron nail he'd found outside the door the night before, its surface etched with runes he couldn't read.
He tossed it into the forge.
ANALYZING MATERIAL… the system intoned.
SUBSTANCE CONTAINS "FORGE GOD'S SOUL SHARD." RECOMMENDED FOR AWAKENING RITUAL.
NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: PSYCHIC LINK BLOCK.
Psychic link block.
To sever unwanted connections—like whatever was drawing Serena into that trance.
He had to try it.
That evening, he set up a simple square on the forge floor: chalk lines, a circle of iron shavings, the soul shard nail glowing in the center.
Serena sat cross-legged inside, her hands resting on the anvil.
Her eyes were wide, but calm now—too calm.
"Ready?" he asked.
She nodded.
Kaden activated the skill.
A cold tingle spread from his palms, threading into the array.
The shavings lifted, spinning slowly.
Serena's breath hitched.
Her fingers dug into the anvil, knuckles white.
"Kaden…" she whispered, her voice raw.
"It's—"
A scream tore from her throat.
Black mist poured from her mouth, coiling like smoke, and Kaden staggered back as a wave of nausea hit him.
The mist dissolved into the air, leaving Serena limp,