The light that had engulfed Saphine's group faded like an exhaled breath. The ruined cathedral trembled once, then stilled—leaving behind the faint hum of lingering resonance.
But elsewhere, far beyond their reach, the world was no longer the same.
Aerin's Timeline — The Past
Veltharion stood unbroken. The sun glimmered off its glass towers, and the city thrummed with divine hymns. It was an era of splendor—before ruin, before betrayal. But beneath the glory, whispers crawled like cracks through marble.Inside the Saintess's citadel, Aerin Valmont knelt beside his spear, Meline standing guard at his back. Verradine Calvess leaned on a balcony rail, her calm face shadowed by the light. Solmar and his shadow, Kaelith, sifted through a pile of old documents, their expressions tight.
"She's been gone for weeks," Aerin said quietly, his fingers brushing the haft of his spear. "And yet no one has said a word."
Meline's tone was sharp. "It's more than that. They've rewritten her absence as pilgrimage. Even the temple records have been altered."Verradine turned, her dark hair catching the sun. "Because admitting the Saintess is missing would fracture Veltharion's unity. The nobles would tear each other apart to fill the void."
"And someone wants that," Aerin murmured. His gaze swept across the banners of white and gold fluttering above the courtyard. "Someone benefits from silence."
The door opened—one of the Saintess's high clerics entered, bowing stiffly. His eyes were shadowed, trembling slightly as he set a sealed scroll before them.
"This message was to be delivered to the heirs… should the Saintess not return."Aerin broke the seal. A single sentence glowed upon the parchment in faint golden ink:
"Find what I lost beneath the Sanctuary."
"The Sanctuary?" Solmar whispered. "That's forbidden ground."
Aerin rose. "Then we go."
Before anyone could object, the ground shuddered. Cries erupted from the lower halls. The guards who had been posted outside now screamed—not words, but warped tones of pain.
Aerin's spear spun into his hand as the door exploded inward, revealing creatures draped in tattered prayer cloths—corrupted knights, their visors leaking golden ichor."Her own guards…" Verradine's voice was low, horrified. "Turned."
Meline moved first, her twin short swords flashing. "Then we purify them."
The battle was a blur of metal and sanctified screams. Aerin's spear carved arcs of silver light, sweeping through corrupted armor, while Solmar's echo lit the air in burning sigils. Yet even as they fought, Aerin's mind burned with one question:
"Why was she missing all this time?"
Each blow he struck felt like trying to carve through an answer the world refused to give.Korrin's Timeline — The End
Far in the future—or perhaps beyond it—silence reigned.
The ruins of Veltharion were a desert of glass and ash. The wind whispered through skeletal spires, carrying no hymns, no life.
Korrin Thalvek trudged through the devastation, his coat torn, his expression grim. His shadow, Ilyra, walked beside him, her eyes constantly scanning the broken skyline.
"Echo readings are faint," she murmured, pressing a small orb that flickered with dying light. "There's barely anything left here."
"There's something," Korrin replied, voice low. "Something that killed everything."Ahead, they found what might once have been a plaza. Statues of angels lay toppled and half-buried, each one defaced with the same sigil—an inverted halo scorched into the stone.
Ilyra knelt beside a shattered fountain. "These marks—they weren't made by monsters."
"No." Korrin crouched, tracing a faint crimson residue with his gloved hand. "They were made by people."
He straightened, the weight of realization sinking into his chest. "This wasn't destruction. It was erasure."
As if in response, the air shimmered—and for a heartbeat, Korrin saw a shadow move across the ruined square.It wasn't human.
It wasn't even alive.
A figure of pure distortion, identical to the black mist that had cloaked Janus, drifted between the broken pillars, whispering fragments of voices. The orb on Ilyra's wrist cracked in two.
The same interference flickered across all timelines.
Saphine's Timeline — The Verge
In the cathedral, Saphine glanced up suddenly, her heart pounding. For an instant, the air around them distorted.
Seloria frowned. "Did you feel that?"Eris's expression darkened. The Grand Gaze shimmered faintly behind his eyes. "Something's bleeding through the Hollow's layers."
Saphine turned to him. "From the other heirs?"
"Maybe. Or maybe from something that shouldn't exist here."
The words fell heavy. Around them, the Saintess's daughter stirred faintly in Saphine's arms, whispering a name that none of them recognized—"Veltharion's Hollow."
Eris's gaze sharpened. "This… isn't over."Intercut Voices
"How did the Saintess die without anyone noticing?"
— Saphine Vale
"Why was she missing all this time?"
— Aerin Valmont
"Why is there no survivor if it was a simple case of framing?"
— Korrin Thalvek
The questions echoed through three different skies, across centuries and ruins.
And somewhere, beyond the Resonant Hollow's fractured veil, something heard them—and smiled.The same black mist that once surrounded Janus pooled in the void between timelines.
And from it, a faint voice whispered:
"The trial has only just begun."