The road to Serenvale was a graveyard of light.
Broken temples, cracked mirrors, and faded glyphs scattered across the cliffs like the remains of forgotten gods.
Elian walked ahead, the wind howling around them, carrying faint echoes — whispers that weren't entirely human.
Kael muttered, "This place gives me chills. It's like the world itself's watching us."
Lyra nodded. "Serenvale was once an angelic city. They say the war between Heaven and the Abyss started here."
Elian's eyes lingered on a fallen statue — a winged figure split perfectly in half.
One side pure marble white.
The other, scorched obsidian.
He whispered, "Balance… or its failure."
By nightfall, they found the entrance to a vast underground hall — a shrine carved into the cliffs.
The doors were sealed, covered in ancient runes that pulsed faintly with both divine and infernal energy.
Lyra traced one. "These are mother-spells. Someone tried to lock away something powerful here."
Elian's heart tightened. "It's hers. My mother's handwriting."
The pendant in his hand began to glow, reacting to the symbols.
The runes shifted, rearranging themselves — forming a circle of light around the doorway.
> "Blood of the bound, bearer of the seal — the path opens to those who remember."
Elian bit his thumb and pressed it against the center rune.
A faint drop of blood sank into the stone.
The shrine opened.
Inside, the air was cold and heavy, thick with divine dust.
Every step they took echoed like thunder in a sleeping god's dream.
At the heart of the hall stood a crystal altar.
Inside it — frozen in shimmering light — was a fragment of the Eclipsera Seal, almost identical to the one on Elian's wrist.
When he approached, the pendant he carried broke apart into silver feathers and vanished into the altar.
A voice filled the chamber.
It wasn't just sound — it was memory.
> "To my son, if you have come this far…"
Elian froze. "Mother?"
The light formed her image — faint, transparent, like a ghost caught between time and truth.
> "I knew the seal would one day weaken. The power of balance cannot last forever — not when angels and demons both crave dominance. So I made a choice."
> "I bound the Abyss inside you — not to curse you, but to protect the world from itself."
Elian's fists clenched. "Then why didn't you tell me?"
Her image flickered, the message already fading.
> "Because if you knew the truth, you would try to free it. You would die trying to understand what cannot be controlled."
> "But if you are here now… then the seal is breaking. And you must decide what kind of god you wish to become."
Her image vanished — leaving only silence, and the sound of Elian's breathing.
Kael broke the quiet. "So she knew this would happen? That one day you'd—"
"Die," Elian finished quietly. "The seal can't last forever. When I die, the Abyss wakes. That's what she meant."
Lyra's voice trembled. "Then all this time… the angels weren't just afraid of you. They were afraid of what happens when you're gone."
Elian looked down at his cracked seal. The glow was faint, unstable.
Each pulse felt like a heartbeat counting down.
> "Then I can't die. Not until I find a way to stop it."
But from somewhere deep beneath the shrine, something stirred — a low hum, almost like a breath.
Kael's eyes widened. "Tell me that's not—"
The ground shook. The walls split open, light pouring through the cracks.
A voice — old, deep, and filled with hunger — rose from below.
> "So… the child of light returns."
> "I have waited… for your death."
The crystal altar shattered, and black mist exploded outward, forming a massive shadowed figure.
Two burning eyes glared down at Elian.
> "Your seal weakens, and I awaken. The world remembers me — the Abyss does not forget its king."
Elian's eyes widened. "No… not yet—"
The figure lunged forward, and the entire shrine trembled like the end of creation itself.