The moon over the capital city of Elenith hung low, casting pale light across the marble towers of the Sanctum Cathedral. The city below was quiet, unaware of the ripples tearing through the fabric of their world.
But in the deepest catacombs beneath the Sanctum—where light dared not reach and prayers had long turned to screams—something stirred.
Chains rattled.
Voices sang in unison, not from lips, but from within the stone walls.
A girl opened her eyes.
And the world tilted.
The Second Vessel
Her name had once been Elarys. Or maybe it still was—she wasn't sure anymore.
She remembered pain. Screaming. The choir of a thousand whispers melting into her bones. And then… silence.
Now she stood alone in a cracked ritual circle, eyes glowing faint blue, silver lines running like vines down her skin.
Her heart beat like a drum synced to another rhythm—ancient, predestined.
A robed acolyte rushed forward. "High Cantor! She's… she's stabilized!"
The older man stepped into view, face gaunt and lined with devotion. "No," he said, staring at the girl, awed and afraid.
"She's awakened."
Meanwhile: At the Forgotten Archives
Kael stood atop the training platform beneath the Archives. His body trembled, not from exhaustion—but from the sheer force vibrating within him. Gravity bled from his skin in pulses, curling through the air like heat haze.
"Again!" Liora barked from below.
Kael raised his staff. With a breath, he compressed the gravity into the tip—so tight the metal groaned—then released.
BOOM.
The pressure slammed into the target block, shattering it to dust.
He dropped to one knee, panting.
"That's new," Aeris said, watching from the side. "You're actually listening to someone."
"Shut up," Kael groaned.
Liora approached, tossing him a flask. "You're adapting quickly. But your control's still sloppy. The more you remember, the more unstable your resonance becomes."
"It's like my powers remember things I don't," Kael muttered, sipping the bitter fluid.
"That's exactly what's happening," Liora said. "Your body is waking up faster than your mind."
Kael looked up. "And if my mind catches up?"
Liora's eyes narrowed. "Then you'll become something the world isn't ready for."
A Distant Thread
Somewhere far across the continent, in a hidden monastery wrapped in shadow, a lone monk stood before a frozen lake.
He dropped a black coin into the water. The ripples formed a symbol.
A voice echoed from nowhere and everywhere at once.
"The Third Vessel stirs. The Second awakens. The Harmony is breaking."
The monk turned. His left eye glowed with the same symbol Kael had seen in his vision.
"Then the Voidborn must return."