The next morning, Kael stood alone in the *Veil Reflection Chamber*, a secluded vault deep within the Devourer Wing. Master Veyren had granted him access just hours after the infiltration attempt.
The walls were smooth soulglass, each reflecting not just his image but his aura. Dozens of versions of himself shimmered in fragments, shifting slightly out of sync, as if tracking the future.
At the center of the room stood the *Forge Echo*, a relic shard said to be drawn from the original Devourer Forge now long buried, or lost.
Kael approached, heart pounding.
The system whispered:
"Contact with Origin Shard will trigger latent memory imprint.
—Warning: Psychic strain possible.
—Proceed?"
He reached out.
Darkness swallowed him whole.
---
Suddenly, Kael stood in an ancient world of ash and ember, under a blackened sky. Giant ruins of obsidian towers littered the horizon. Rivers of molten soul energy flowed through channels in the earth.
In the distance, a titanic figure loomed masked, armored in crimson, wielding a blade so massive it scorched the sky. Around him were Devourers… dozens… no, hundreds. Each radiated power Kael could barely comprehend.
And at their feet, *gates*.
Massive, circular gates forged from soulsteel, glowing faintly with symbols Kael recognized from Emberfang's evolution.
They were sealed but beneath them pulsed something alive. Something… vast.
Then a voice echoed from the past.
"We were not meant to open it. The Forge was a prison. Not a gift."
The vision surged.
Kael saw a city fall into flame. A man rip Ember from his own soul to build a weapon. A young girl with silver-red eyes the same as the masked spy's crying as her house was consumed in soulfire.
Then darkness.
Kael gasped awake, staggering.
Blood trickled from his nose. The walls pulsed faintly, mirroring the echo of the memory.
Elira was there, catching him before he collapsed. "Kael! What did you see?"
His hands trembled. "The Forge… it wasn't built to create power. It was built to hold it back."
---
That evening, Kael sat with Veyren.
The old master listened quietly, hands steepled. When Kael finished retelling the vision, Veyren finally spoke:
"You've touched what no student has reached in centuries."
Kael nodded slowly. "They built the gates to keep something in. But every soul we take, every forge node we claim… we're breaking those seals."
"Yes," Veyren said. "And soon, you'll have to decide if you want to finish opening it… or stop it."
Kael looked at his palm, where Emberfang's soul mark glowed faintly. "What happens if I keep going?"
Veyren stood. "Then you'll stop being a boy wielding a weapon… and become the weapon itself."
---
System Notification:
"New Trait Stabilized: Soul Sense
—Allows detection of false auras, cloaked entities, and resonance signatures.
—Quest Updated: The Silent Gate
Objective: Locate the next Soul Node.
Location: The Hollow Crypt—beneath the East Sanctum.
Time Limit: 72 hours."
Kael stood.
"I'm going," he said.
Elira's voice was soft. "Even after what you saw?"
Kael turned to her. "That's exactly why I'm going."
---
Far beneath the academy, deep in the Hollow Crypt, a chained figure opened its burning eyes.
It whispered through the darkness:
"Another has touched the Echo. The Devourer rises once more."