The stars did not shine. They trembled.
Kael drifted through the fractures of silence, the System's symbols bleeding into the void around him like cracks in a mirror.
> [Fragment Recovered.]
[Designation: The Devourer's Oath.]
[Tier: ??? (Sealed)]
The shard pulsed in his hand. Not metal. Not stone. A sliver of something that was never meant to exist outside eternity. Its surface reflected nothing — only swallowed light.
The System spoke again, colder than ever:
> [Warning: Item beyond current Vessel parameters.]
[Use without ascension will trigger annihilation.]
Kael's chest tightened. His instincts screamed to destroy it, yet his hunger whispered the opposite. The shard sang to him, faint and terrible, promising that it was not a weapon… but a door.
Then, the voice returned. Not the System. Not human. Something older:
"Fragments are never given. They are stolen. Each piece carries a debt. Are you willing to pay yours, Kael?"
The void around him trembled, and shadows coiled into shapes of chains. The more he stared, the more they resembled hands reaching for him.
The System glitched.
> [New Quest: Debt of the Infinite]
Requirement: Carry the fragment without breaking.
Cost: Unrevealed.
Reward: ???
Kael laughed bitterly, though no sound escaped in the void. A quest with a hidden cost. A shard that threatened annihilation.
And yet… he closed his hand around it.
Chains rattled. Somewhere in the dark, something stirred awake.
---