The city burned with light.
Sirens wailed, towers lit up with runic barriers, and the air trembled under the pressure of awakening power. Citizens ran through the streets as cracks of green lightning tore across the heavens.
Cled stood in the plaza, cloak torn, golden and green energy radiating from his body in chaotic waves.
> "It's happening again…" he whispered.
He felt the fracture inside him resonate with the one above — not in conflict, but in harmony.
> "The vessel…" a voice whispered in his mind.
He clutched his head. "Get out of me!"
But the voice only laughed.
> "You opened the path. Now, walk it."
A massive explosion tore through the air. The rift widened, and from it descended something immense — not the First Fracture, but something born from it. A being of emerald mist, with wings like shattered glass.
The people screamed.
Soldiers fired beams of skyfire — golden light — but they passed through the creature harmlessly.
Cled stepped forward. The energy in his veins pulsed harder. "If this is my doing… then I'll end it."
He raised his hand, summoning his broken dagger. It responded — reshaping, reforging — not pure gold anymore, but half green, half light.
> "The Fractured Blade…"
He moved. Faster than sight. Every strike cut through space, leaving trails of light that wrapped around the creature. For a moment, he had the upper hand. The beast shrieked, its form unraveling—
Then it smiled.
A voice echoed through the storm.
> "You are the bridge, Cled. And bridges are made to break."
The monster exploded into a storm of abyssal mist that rushed straight into him. He screamed as light and darkness clashed within his body, tearing through his soul.
The world blurred — buildings, sky, everything — until only the sound of the fracture remained.
And in that void, a whisper:
> "Become what you were meant to be."
Then — nothing.