The chain did not simply snap.
It screamed.
The sound tore upward through the abyss like metal dragged across bone. Kael dropped to one knee on the floating stone platform as the shockwave rippled through the void. Far below, the Hollow King shifted — a colossal storm of writhing shadow coiling around the fractured crown of black flame.
Only one chain remained intact now.
One.
"You feel it, don't you?" the Hollow King murmured inside Kael's skull.
The remaining chain trembled violently.
Kael forced himself to stand, blood still dripping from the wound across his shoulder. The Umbra around him pulsed defensively, wrapping the injury in cool darkness that slowed the bleeding.
"I'm not here to free you," Kael said.
The eye below narrowed.
"You already are."
The void began to collapse.
Not the Hollow King — the platforms. One by one, the floating slabs of stone cracked and disintegrated into dust that vanished before reaching the abyss floor.
The staircase behind Kael reformed in fragments of jagged rock.
A path back up.
The test was over.
For now.
"You will return," the Hollow King whispered. "Because you are unfinished."
The eye slowly lowered, sinking back into the storm of shadow. The fractured crown dimmed.
Kael did not wait.
He leapt to the nearest fragment of stair and began climbing as the void unraveled beneath him.
Above, in the cathedral chamber, the air had grown unstable. The remaining Ashen-blooded stood ready around the abyss opening, violet flames flaring higher.
Maera's hands were pressed against the stone railing, eyes closed as if listening to a distant heartbeat.
Then—
A surge of shadow shot upward from the abyss.
Dren stumbled back. "That better not be him failing."
A figure emerged through the darkness and collapsed onto the chamber floor.
Kael.
The opening sealed instantly behind him with a thunderous crack.
Silence fell.
For a moment, no one moved.
Then Maera rushed forward.
Kael pushed himself up before she could reach him.
"I'm fine," he said, though his voice was strained.
Her eyes scanned him quickly — the shoulder wound, the flickering Umbra around his hands.
"You broke a chain," she said quietly.
Kael met her gaze.
"One was already weak."
Her expression darkened. "There is only one bind left."
Murmurs spread through the chamber.
Dren exhaled slowly. "So the bedtime stories are officially over."
Kael looked at Maera. "It tested me."
"Yes."
"It's not mindless."
"No."
He hesitated. "It thinks I'll free it."
Maera studied him carefully before answering. "It thinks you're necessary."
Before Kael could respond, a deep horn echoed from above the cathedral.
Not the alarm bells from before.
This was sharper.
Commanding.
Dren's head snapped toward the ceiling. "That's House signal."
Another horn answered from a different direction.
Maera straightened. "They've located us."
"How?" someone asked.
Kael felt the answer before anyone spoke it.
"The chain breaking," he said.
Maera nodded once. "The surge would have registered in every House archive."
A loud impact shook the cathedral walls.
Stone dust fell from the ceiling.
"They're not wasting time," Dren muttered.
Another impact — stronger.
Hairline cracks spread along the upper chamber walls.
"They can't breach the cathedral," one of the Ashen-blooded said uncertainly.
Maera's jaw tightened. "They don't need to breach it."
As if summoned by her words, the stone floor trembled violently.
Not from above.
From below.
Kael felt it immediately.
The final chain.
Straining.
The Hollow King was pushing.
Using the chaos above as leverage.
A third impact shattered part of the cathedral ceiling. Black-armored figures dropped through the opening amid falling debris.
House Sentinels.
But these were different.
Their armor was etched with glowing silver sigils that burned brighter than those in the alley. At their center landed a tall figure in dark ceremonial plate, cloak flowing behind him.
No mask.
His face was pale, sharp, composed.
A thin line of silver ran from his lower lip to his collar — a ritual marking.
Dren cursed under his breath. "Seventh House."
The man's gaze swept across the chamber, then settled on Kael.
Cold interest filled his eyes.
"So," he said calmly, voice echoing unnaturally through the space, "the rumor is true."
Maera stepped in front of Kael.
"You are trespassing on sacred ground, Lord Arcten."
The man inclined his head slightly.
Lord Arcten Vale smiled faintly.
"Sacred?" Arcten replied. "No, Maera. What lies beneath this city is property."
The Sentinels spread out, weapons humming with pale energy.
Kael felt the Umbra react instantly — rising like a shield around the gathered Ashen-blooded.
Arcten's eyes flickered with fascination.
"There it is," he murmured. "Living shadow."
He took a slow step forward.
"You've hidden well for two centuries. But the Seventh House does not fear old ghosts."
Maera's voice sharpened. "You don't understand what you're disturbing."
"Oh, I understand perfectly," Arcten said. "Power sealed beneath fear. A mistake your ancestors made."
The cathedral shook again — violently.
This time, a crack split across the abyss seal at the chamber's center.
Everyone felt it.
The final chain below groaned.
Arcten noticed.
His smile widened slightly.
"So it's true," he said softly. "It is waking."
Maera's composure fractured for the first time. "You're tearing open a prison."
"No," Arcten corrected. "We are claiming a throne."
He lifted one hand.
The Sentinels attacked.
Light erupted across the chamber — spears of concentrated energy aimed at Maera and the others.
Kael stepped forward instinctively.
Umbra exploded outward.
Darkness swallowed the incoming light, bending it, crushing it, devouring it.
The chamber plunged into shadow.
Gasps echoed.
Arcten did not retreat.
Instead, his armor flared, forming a protective shell of radiant silver around him.
"So you are the catalyst," he said, eyes fixed on Kael.
Kael's voice was steady despite the chaos. "Leave."
Arcten's gaze sharpened. "You don't yet know what you are."
The cathedral floor ruptured.
A massive shockwave burst upward from the abyss opening, throwing Sentinels off their feet and extinguishing several violet flames.
The final chain snapped.
The sound was not metal breaking.
It was something ancient exhaling.
For a heartbeat, absolute silence consumed the chamber.
Then shadow poured upward like a tidal wave.
Not solid.
Not liquid.
A rising storm.
Screams echoed as Sentinels scrambled back.
Arcten's expression changed for the first time — not fear, but awe.
"Yes," he whispered.
The Umbra around Kael reacted violently, separating from the rising tide and forming a barrier around him and the Ashen-blooded.
Below, in the abyss, the Hollow King rose.
Not fully.
But enough.
A colossal silhouette pressed against the sealed floor, cracks spiderwebbing outward from the impact.
"You see?" the voice thundered inside every mind in the chamber. "The city remembers."
Maera grabbed Kael's arm. "You must bind it again!"
"I don't know how!" he shouted over the roar.
The shadow pressed harder.
Stone began to fracture.
Arcten stepped forward through the chaos, silver aura blazing.
"Do it," he called to Kael. "Or I will."
Kael stared at him in disbelief.
"You'd unleash it?"
Arcten's eyes burned with ambition. "I would control it."
The Hollow King laughed.
The sound cracked pillars.
"You cannot control what predates your blood."
Kael felt something shift inside him — not fear, not doubt.
Clarity.
The Umbra was not screaming now.
It was waiting.
For him.
He stepped toward the abyss seal, ignoring Maera's shout.
Shadow surged around his arms, up his spine, across his chest.
The fractured crown token burned against his palm.
He pressed his hand to the cracking stone.
The Hollow King's eye opened beneath the surface.
"Choose," it said.
Kael closed his eyes.
Not to block it out —
But to reach deeper.
The Umbra did not resist him.
It aligned.
Flowed through the cracks, not to widen them — but to weave.
Threads of living shadow stitched across the fractured seal, forming new lines over the broken ones.
The rising storm slowed.
Arcten watched, expression unreadable.
The Hollow King's voice lowered.
"You bind yourself with me."
Kael gritted his teeth. "No."
"Yes," it replied softly. "Every seal is shared."
The final crack sealed.
The storm halted.
Silence returned slowly.
The cathedral stopped shaking.
The Hollow King withdrew once more into darkness — not defeated.
Contained.
For now.
Kael collapsed to his knees.
The Umbra faded to a thin outline around him.
Arcten studied the restored seal for a long moment.
Then his gaze returned to Kael.
"You are more valuable alive than dead," he said quietly.
Maera stepped protectively in front of Kael again.
Arcten signaled his Sentinels.
"Withdraw."
They leapt upward through the broken ceiling as swiftly as they had arrived.
Before leaving, Arcten looked down once more.
"This is not over, Ashen," he said.
Then he vanished into the rain above.
The chamber remained silent long after they were gone.
Maera helped Kael to his feet.
"You sealed it," she said.
Kael stared at the darkened abyss.
"It sealed me too."
Far below, the Hollow King's eye remained open.
Watching.
Chapter Four Ends.