First-Person: Nyra
When Kael wakes, it's with a gasp that splits the silence.
The sound echoes through the broken chamber, sharp and alive. His eyes snap open — not the storm-grey I remember, but a color that shifts between ember and ash, as if the ruin's light has found a home in him.
He sits up slowly, breathing ragged, one hand braced against the stone floor. The mark on his chest burns with the same crimson pulse that dances beneath my skin. For a heartbeat, both lights thrum in unison — mine and his.
Then the pulse syncs. One rhythm. One breath.
"Nyra…" His voice is rough, low. "What happened?"
I shake my head, still dizzy. "You almost— the ruins reacted to the mark. To us."
He looks around, eyes narrowing. "The air feels different. Alive."
It's true. The chamber is no longer still — the air hums faintly, each breath vibrating against the bones of the earth. Runes along the walls flare in response to our voices, translating magic into sound.
I rise slowly, my hand brushing one of the symbols. The rune ignites beneath my touch, flaring gold. The energy shoots up my arm — not burning, but claiming.
Kael's head snaps toward me. "It knows you."
"It knows us," I whisper. "It's responding to the bond."
He steps closer, his own mark glowing brighter. The magic between us crackles, stretching invisible threads across the space. When he reaches out, the air distorts — like heat on metal — and where our fingers almost meet, a spark leaps free.
It hangs between us for a breath, humming. Then it divides — one line of light threading into his mark, the other sinking into mine.
A sound fills the chamber — low, resonant, ancient.
The murals on the walls shift, stone grinding as images rearrange. The final scene, once fractured, now reveals its full form: not a death, but a transformation. The two figures entwined in light and flame, merging into one shape crowned with fire.
Kael stares at it, voice tight. "The Vessel wasn't meant to die. It was meant to evolve."
The realization hits like thunder — the Covenant didn't destroy its chosen. It transcended them.
But the cost was still blood.
The energy between us intensifies, rising like a storm. My skin tingles, every nerve aware of him — his nearness, his heartbeat, the power tethering us together. The runes blaze, filling the air with a sound like a thousand whispers.
I can feel thoughts that aren't mine — flickers of Kael's memory, the edge of his fear, the echo of his desire to protect me even as he knows he can't.
I pull back, trembling. "Kael— stop. I can feel you."
His jaw clenches. "It's the bond. It's bleeding through."
"Then close it."
"I don't think we can."
The light flares one last time, so bright it forces us apart. When the glow fades, the murals go still, and the chamber feels… empty.
But something inside me isn't.
I can still feel him — a phantom thread linking my heartbeat to his. His fear. His strength. His exhaustion.
And beneath all of it, the pulse of something else. Something vast and watching.
We are not alone in this magic.
Whatever the Covenant was… it's awake again.