The Village with No Name
Cael and Mireth follow a fading leyline eastward, seeking a neutral Essentia wellspring to stabilize Cael's increasingly erratic shard. They arrive at a ruined hamlet, half-swallowed by fog and vines.
No birds. No people. Just masks.
Wooden masks hang on every door, carved with empty eyes and spiraling glyphs.
Mireth tenses. "This place was abandoned recently. They were expecting us."
The Watchers Appear
As they explore the broken shrine in the village center, five figures in silver-threaded cloaks emerge from the mist. Each wears a different mask.
They do not draw weapons.
Their leader removes his mask—revealing a tattooed face and eyes glowing faintly with Grey Essentia, the rarest subtype tied to reflection and paradox.
"You are the Shardbearer of the Ninth Fracture," he says.
"We are the Watchers of the Unbound Path."
The Philosophy of Fractures
In a tense yet calm dialogue, the Watchers explain their mission:
"We are not cultists. We do not serve the Void. We observe it."
They speak of a time when Sealbearers were many, when scholars tried to study the Fractures without sealing them. Their order survived the purge by making a vow: to never interfere—only record.
But now, with Cael's seal destabilizing, they've emerged from hiding.
"The Void is changing. You are not a breaker, Cael Adrios. You are a bridge."
Mireth's Distrust
Mireth pulls Cael aside privately.
"They knew your name. Your Essentia signature. This is a trap."
But Cael hesitates. One of the Watchers showed him a glyph—an ancient one—his own name embedded in a diagram… etched hundreds of years ago.
"They knew I would come," he says. "Before I ever existed."
The Archive Below
The Watchers lead them into an underground chamber: a library of impossibilities.
Books that rearrange their words based on the reader's age
Maps of the world that show "unreal" rivers flowing beneath the crust
A cracked crystal labeled: "Fragment from the Third Failed Seal"
At the center: a relic box, glowing faintly.
They give it to Cael.
"This was made by another like you. We do not know if they survived."
Inside is a bone quill, humming with the same frequency as Cael's shard.
When he touches it, a phrase burns into his mind:
"Unseal me when the sun forgets its name."