The ground's crack yawned wider. Dust hissed into the night air, glowing faintly with that same oily light which pulsed in El Como's skin.
The Eagle Knight raised his lance. His visor burned, but his voice came steady.
"Stay behind me, intruder."
El Como blinked. Then laughed.
"Oh, how sweet. You've finally decided to protect me. Was this part of the service package? Or are you just hoping if I don't get eaten, you'll still get to punish me later?"
The Knight didn't look back. "You are the key. If you fall, the seal falls."
"Wonderful," El Como said. "So now I'm the special snowflake everyone wants. Exactly the kind of attention I've spent my whole life avoiding."
From the fissure, the first clawed hand emerged. Long, jointed wrong, feathers shedding like ash. It gripped the edge of the earth and pulled.
The voice rose again—rasping, hungry, yet strangely amused.
"My children have guarded me long. Now one of them wears the script. The door creaks open."
El Como clutched at the runes streaking across his body. "Excuse me, door? No. Absolutely not. At best I'm a very stubborn window. Maybe a locked drawer. Definitely not a door."
The Knight's helm tilted slightly. "You hear it?"
"Yes, I hear it," El Como snapped. "I also hear my stomach, which is saying, 'This was a bad idea and you should've stayed home with soup.'"
Another hand gripped the ground, then a head lifted free—avian, skull-like, with hollow sockets burning black. Its beak opened, creaking like an old gate.
The Knight spread his wings wide, shielding El Como. "Back, Sealed One. Your age ended."
The creature's laughter clattered through the trees.
"And yet here you are. A knight of feathers, still playing gaoler. Did your masters not teach you? Every seal breaks. Every promise rots."
The Knight's grip on his lance tightened. "I made the promise. And I endure."
El Como raised his hand timidly. "Hi. Yes. Sorry to interrupt your millennia-long grudge match, but maybe you could stop involving me? I'm just the unfortunate bystander here. An extra in the apocalypse play. Ignore me."
The creature's gaze fixed on him. Those hollow sockets widened, and his runes flared so bright his skin seemed transparent.
"You bear the marks. You are the ink of my contract."
El Como stepped back. "Correction: I bear nothing. They bear me. I'm the victim here. Exhibit A." He waved his glowing arms. "Do these look like voluntary tattoos? No, they do not."
The Knight's wings snapped tight against his back. "Do not answer it, intruder. Resist."
"Resist?" El Como barked a laugh. "Oh, sure, let me just politely tell the cursed scribbles on my skin to calm down. That always works."
The ground shook as the creature dragged more of itself free. Its body stretched and warped, feathers sprouting in ragged patches, bones jutting through like broken spears.
"Give me the vessel," it crooned. "And the School will crumble. The world will kneel."
The Knight lifted his lance in defiance. "You will touch nothing."
"Again," El Como muttered, "really feel like I should've brought soup."
The standoff thickened.
The Knight braced for combat. The creature dragged itself higher. And El Como's runes blazed like fireflies on parade, betraying his every thought of escape.
Finally, El Como threw up his hands.
"Alright, alright, let's just talk about this like civilized… whatever we are. Knight, Bird-Demon, Unwilling Human Candle. Dialogue fixes everything, doesn't it?"
The creature tilted its broken head.
"Speak, little key. What bargain will you strike?"
"Oh, bargains. My specialty," El Como said brightly, ignoring how his knees shook. "Here's one: you go back underground, take a nice eternal nap, and I promise not to sue you for spiritual harassment. Deal?"
The creature's beak stretched, not into a smile but into something worse.
"I hunger. Your flesh will be my tongue. Your bones my quill. You will not sue—you will serve."
El Como grimaced. "See, that's what I call a one-sided contract. I've read shady merchant fine print with better customer service."
The Knight jabbed his lance forward. Sparks crackled. "Do not answer it further!"
El Como glared at him. "Stop telling me not to answer! You think I want to be the chosen errand boy of Creepy Bird Grandpa? What do you suggest I do, mime my way through this conversation?"
The Knight's visor glowed hotter. "Silence strengthens you. Sarcasm weakens you."
"Then I'm doomed," El Como said flatly.
The ground split wider. Roots tore up like veins, earth crumbling in sheets. The creature's torso emerged, impossibly tall, wings like rotting sails.
"I smell the School," it hissed. "The cage built of oaths. I will eat its walls."
The Knight stepped forward. "You will not pass."
And then—shockingly—the Knight turned his helm slightly to El Como.
"Run."
El Como froze. "Wait. You want me to… what? Just—what? Run? Didn't you literally chase me across the continent for running?"
The Knight didn't answer. His stance was locked on the Sealed One.
El Como blinked, then glanced between them. "Ah. Yes. Wonderful. Two unstoppable bird-themed maniacs, one sarcastic mortal in pajamas. This is exactly how bedtime stories are supposed to go."
The creature lunged. The Knight's lance met it with a scream of light.
And El Como—betrayed by his own survival instincts—turned and bolted into the trees.
But he didn't get far.
The runes dragged him down like chains. His legs buckled, and he collapsed in the dirt. His arms seared, symbols crawling into new shapes, rearranging themselves with every heartbeat.
"No, no, no, don't you dare alphabetize yourselves," he hissed at them. "I am not letting you spell anything!"
The forest around him flickered. For a moment, he wasn't under trees at all, but under that vast feather-throne he had glimpsed in the stream. Shadows knelt around him, faceless, whispering his name.
"El Como."
"El Como."
"El Como."
He clapped his hands over his ears. "Stop chanting me like I'm a discount saint!"
When he blinked, the vision was gone. But the runes… had written a new line across his chest. He didn't recognize the symbols, but he felt them. Like a lock clicking open.
From behind, the clash of Knight and monster shook the air. Feathers, steel, light, darkness. The sound of two promises colliding.
And El Como… laughed, weak and bitter.
"I knew I should've stayed home with soup."
The clash of lance and claw split the clearing with thunder.
The Eagle Knight stood like an unyielding pillar, his lance blazing arcs of searing light, while the monstrous bird-thing shrieked with laughter that made the forest wilt.
El Como, crouched in the dirt, yelled at nobody in particular:
"Fantastic! Just fantastic. I'm a glowstick on the floor while Birdzilla and Shiny McFeathers have a romantic duel over my body. You know what? Next time I'm reincarnated, I'm coming back as a rock. Rocks don't get invited to seals."
The creature slammed a wing into the Knight, knocking him back a pace.
"You tire, gaoler. Your oath rusts."
The Knight's visor flared white. "My oath sharpens. It is your bones that rust."
They collided again, light and darkness ripping across the trees.
El Como shielded his eyes. "You two need therapy, not combat. Have you tried sitting down with a nice tea and working through your eternal bird-issues?"
The Sealed One turned its skull-like face toward him mid-fight.
"Silence, vessel. Your tongue already belongs to me."
El Como pointed at his own mouth. "Do you see a lease agreement here? Do you? Because I'm pretty sure I still own this tongue. And let me tell you: you wouldn't enjoy the rent—it's mostly complaints."
The Knight barked—not laughter, never laughter—but a sharp command: "Stay silent!"
El Como threw up his arms. "And again with the silence thing! Both of you hate my voice but neither of you can stop talking at me. Hypocrites, the lot of you."
The fight dragged closer. Trees shattered under the Sealed One's wings. Feathers fell like ash, each dissolving into shadows that writhed on the ground. The Knight cut them down with ruthless efficiency, but more kept falling.
The runes on El Como's body pulsed brighter with every feather that touched the soil. He doubled over, groaning.
"Oh, no. No. Don't you dare connect me to this mess. I'm not your power outlet. Find another extension cord!"
The Sealed One laughed, a grinding, hollow sound.
"You are my spark. Already you bleed my song."
El Como tried to crawl backward, but his arms burned, symbols racing across his skin like fire ants spelling curses. "I told you, I'm not into duets! I'm tone-deaf! My only song is whining!"
The Knight drove his lance deep into the creature's side. Black ichor hissed into the air. "You will not claim him. Not while I endure."
The creature barely flinched.
"Then you will not endure."
It smashed the Knight with one massive wing. The armored figure went crashing through a tree, splintering it in two.
El Como winced. "Ouch. That looked expensive."
The Sealed One crawled closer, talons gouging the earth, hollow sockets fixed on him.
"Come, vessel. Let me breathe through you. Let me rise."
El Como scrambled to his feet. "No thank you! I don't even like roommates, and you sound like the kind who eats all the food and never does the dishes!"
The creature extended a talon. Shadows reached out like hands.
And El Como… panicked.
He threw out his glowing arm and shouted the first thing that came to mind.
"NO TOUCHING!"
The runes flared. A shockwave erupted from him, blasting the shadow-hands back. The Sealed One recoiled with a hiss, as though burned.
El Como blinked at his own hand. "Did I just…? Oh, no. No, no, no. That was not me. That was my skin acting without consent. I'm suing my body."
From the rubble, the Knight staggered up, battered but unbroken. He stared at El Como, visor burning brighter.
"You wield its power."
"No!" El Como shouted. "It wields me! I'm the puppet, it's the hand. Didn't you see? I yelled 'no touching' like some deranged street preacher and suddenly I'm blasting shadow hands away. That's not training. That's possession!"
The Knight advanced a step. "Even possessed, you can resist."
"Oh, thank you for the motivational poster, Sir Feathers. I'll hang it on the wall of my inevitable grave."
The Sealed One hunched over, looming taller than both of them. Its voice deepened, echoing like a choir of crows.
"Do you see, gaoler? The vessel answers. The seal weakens. Every word he speaks binds him further."
El Como's jaw dropped. "WHAT? Talking makes it worse? But talking is all I have! Sarcasm is literally my survival mechanism!"
The Knight snapped, "Then choke it down. Or choke."
"Oh, great advice," El Como muttered. "Just stop being myself. Easy."
The Sealed One lashed out again, wings beating like hurricanes. The Knight met it head-on, the clash shaking the forest apart.
El Como stumbled back, covering his ears against the roar. But the runes kept speaking inside him, whispering over the battle:
Open. Unseal. Rise.
He shook his head violently. "No! No unsealing! Stay sealed. Stay very, very sealed. Buy duct tape. Call a locksmith!"
But the whispers only laughed.
The Knight struck hard, driving the Sealed One to its knees. His voice rang: "Begone, relic! Your prison holds!"
The creature snarled. "Not while my vessel breathes."
Its wings snapped outward—and with shocking speed, a storm of feathers launched at El Como.
El Como screamed. "Oh, COME ON, why me again?!"
The Knight dove, intercepting most of the deadly barrage with his wings. But not all. A few struck El Como, slicing into his arms, his chest.
Instead of blood, light spilled from the wounds—light in the shape of runes, spilling into the air.
The Sealed One laughed triumphantly.
"Yes… bleed my words. Let the air drink my script."
El Como staggered, clutching the glowing cuts. "I hate everything about this. I'm bleeding… calligraphy!"
The Knight turned, fury shaking his voice. "Stay alive! Resist it!"
"Oh, sure, I'll just add 'not dying from ancient magical typography' to my to-do list, right under 'stop making bad jokes under pressure'!"
The ground trembled harder. The fissure widened. Shapes stirred deeper in the earth—smaller things, perhaps children of the Sealed One, straining toward the surface.
El Como's runes pulsed in rhythm with them. He dropped to his knees, gasping. "No… no… don't sync with me! I'm not your Wi-Fi!"
The Knight roared, hurling himself back at the Sealed One. Their clash rattled the night with light and shadow, steel and bone.
And El Como… felt something unlock inside him.
A new rune seared itself across his heart.
Not black. Not white. Something in-between.
The creature paused mid-combat, tilting its head toward him. Its voice dropped into something almost reverent.
"Ah. There it is. The middle script. The bridge. He is perfect."
El Como wheezed. "Bridge? No, no, no. I'm more of a dead end. Ask anyone who's ever worked with me. Terrible at bridging things. Awful at teamwork. I once lost an argument with a goat."
But the Knight froze too, visor burning brighter than ever. His voice was grave, almost shaken.
"The bridge… No. That script was forbidden. It was erased."
El Como spread his arms weakly. "Well, congratulations, it's back. And apparently on me. Hooray. Someone bring cake."
The forest shook. The fissure glowed. The air itself tasted of ink and ashes.
The Sealed One loomed, laughter rattling the night.
"The School will fall. The bridge is mine."
And El Como whispered, dazed, to no one in particular:
"…I really should've stayed home with soup."
Suddenly....