Kael awoke to silence.
Not soft silence.
Heavy silence.
The kind that follows a catastrophe.
His eyes opened slowly.
The chamber around him was dim, lit only by faint blue cracks running through the walls.
He was lying on the cold floor beneath the Shattered Throne.
The throne itself hovered motionless above the abyss, no longer blazing with violent power.
It was dormant.
For now.
Kael tried to sit up.
Pain shot through every muscle, every joint, every vein.
His entire body felt wrong, as if something had been rewired while he slept.
"Easy."
Riven's voice drifted from behind him.
Calm, but carrying a tension she could not hide.
Kael turned his head.
She was kneeling nearby with her blade across her lap, watching him like a predator unsure whether the creature in front of her was prey… or something worse.
Mr. Han sat beside her, exhausted but alive.
His breathing was labored, though the corruption had stopped spreading.
Kael swallowed hard.
"How long was I out?"
Riven answered without looking away.
"Two hours."
Kael blinked.
"Only two?"
"It felt like two days," she admitted.
"Maybe more."
Mr. Han leaned forward, voice trembling with concern.
"You scared us, boy. You screamed without stopping until you passed out."
Kael shut his eyes.
He remembered none of it.
Only the burning light.
The visions.
The betrayal.
The eleven Monarchs surrounding the Fractured King.
The throne breaking.
And the echo of that voice:
Finish what I could not.
Kael weakly pushed himself to a sitting position.
His shadow stretched beside him on the ground—longer, sharper, moving faintly even without him.
Riven's jaw clenched when she saw it.
"I was afraid of that."
Kael looked down at the ground.
"What happened to my shadow?"
Riven answered quietly.
"You formed an imprint. Not fully. But enough."
Mr. Han frowned.
"Is that… dangerous?"
"To everyone," Riven said.
"And especially to him."
Kael flexed his fingers.
Blue light flickered under his skin.
A pulse of shard energy throbbed in his chest, like a second heartbeat.
"What did the throne do to me?" Kael asked.
Riven stood and pointed her blade toward the abyss beneath the throne.
Her voice was grim, almost fearful.
"You sat on a Monarch's throne while you're barely above Tier E.
You weren't supposed to survive.
But because of the Echo inside you…
you did.
And because of that, something impossible happened."
Kael raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
Riven met his gaze, eyes sharp.
"You became the Heir of the Fractured King."
Kael froze.
The words hung in the air like a verdict.
Mr. Han went still, fear creeping into his face.
"He… a king…? But he is only a boy."
"No," Riven said firmly.
"He is not a king. Not yet.
But he now carries something every Monarch in the Labyrinth will sense."
Kael felt a cold pulse run down his spine.
"What did I actually gain?"
Riven stepped closer.
"You gained a Monarch's memory.
A Monarch's imprint.
A Monarch's expectation."
She pointed at his shadow.
"And something far worse."
Kael followed her gaze.
The shadow behind him shifted slightly, as though breathing.
Its crown glinted faintly.
Mr. Han whispered,
"It looks like… another you."
Riven nodded slowly.
"It is you.
Or rather, the Monarch you may become."
Kael stared at the imprint.
He felt no fear toward it—only a strange familiarity.
"Is it dangerous?"
Riven hesitated.
Then nodded.
"Yes. If it grows too fast, it will consume your identity.
That is what destroyed the Fractured King."
Kael's heart tightened.
He forced himself to stand.
Pain screamed through his limbs, but he pushed through it.
"What now?"
Riven sheathed her blade.
"We leave.
You have taken all you can from the Heart for now."
Kael looked back at the throne.
The Shattered Throne pulsed faintly, almost like a heartbeat.
Like it was waiting for him.
"Is it safe to leave?" he asked.
"No," Riven said.
"But staying is worse."
As if to confirm her words, the Vault suddenly trembled again.
Distant roaring echoed through the corridors.
The Wardens were returning.
Dozens.
Maybe hundreds.
Riven grabbed Kael's arm.
"Move. The Vault has recognized you. It won't let you stay without testing you again."
Mr. Han hurried behind them as they made their way toward the exit.
But as Kael crossed the threshold of the Heart, the Vault whispered.
A final message.
Cold and ancient.
"You inherited the throne.
But can you bear its weight?"
Kael froze for a heartbeat, then stepped forward.
The Vault sealed behind him with a thunderous slam.
Riven let out a long, exhausted breath.
"Well.
Congratulations.
You survived the Heart of the Vault.
Now every Monarch in the Labyrinth will feel you rising."
Kael didn't smile.
Didn't speak.
He simply looked ahead at the long dark corridor leading out of the Vault.
Because deep inside his mind, the Echo whispered again.
Soft.
Cold.
Confident.
Your rise has begun.
And the Labyrinth will tremble.
Kael took the first step forward.
Whatever waited next…
he was no longer walking as just Kael.
He was walking as the Heir of the Fractured Throne.