The fight was over, but the Hollow Shores still echoed with the aftershocks of the Harbinger's presence.
Kael stood amid the wreckage, hands still trembling from the vision—no, the warning—he had seen. Seven broken thrones. His older self. The Sigil fully formed across his body like a crown of silence and ash.
He looked down at his arm where the shard had melted into his veins. The lines of his Echo-signature were no longer smooth—they pulsed erratically, like something inside him was trying to take shape.
Veyr approached slowly, wiping blood from the edge of his curved blade. "You did well."
Kael didn't answer at first.
He stared at the horizon, where the sea met the bleeding clouds.
"They want me to become that," Kael said at last. "The one from the vision."
Veyr nodded. "Yes. Or someone worse."
Kael turned toward him, eyes sharp. "You said others have claimed shards. How many?"
Veyr's face darkened. "Four that I've confirmed. Not all are human anymore. Some gave themselves fully to the Dream."
"And the rest?" Kael asked.
"They're being hunted, like you."
---
> Quest Updated: Sigil Fragments (Progress: 2/7)
New Objective: Track the Third Shard — Location: Disputed Territory, Skel-Hollow Canyon
Adversary: Harbinger-Class Vessel — Confirmed.
Trait Mutation Progress: 12% Corruption — Stable for now.
---
Kael wiped the blood from under his eye and spoke flatly. "Then we go after the next one."
Veyr didn't move. His voice was low.
"Not yet."
Kael tensed. "Why not?"
"Because you're not ready."
Kael turned, fire in his chest. "I just killed a Harbinger."
"You survived a Harbinger," Veyr corrected. "Barely. And it let you live. Think about that."
Kael opened his mouth to argue—but stopped.
Because deep down, he knew.
Veyr was right.
---
The two descended into the broken undercity beneath the Hollow Shores. What had once been a haven for early Pact science had long since decayed into tunnels of rust, rot, and silence.
It was here Veyr had made his den—a hidden forge powered by Dreamglass and Echo-runes, surrounded by fragments of sigil-etched armor, old Pact data cores, and something stranger.
Kael paused beside a metallic slab carved with symbols he didn't recognize.
"What language is this?" he asked.
Veyr answered without looking. "It's not a language. It's a memory-binding pattern. One your mother created."
Kael touched the slab—and suddenly saw flashes.
Renna as a child.
His mother laughing.
The three of them—together.
A life he never had.
He pulled his hand away, jaw tight.
"Why show me this now?"
Veyr turned, eyes unreadable.
"Because you need to remember who you are before the Silence tries to rewrite it."
---
Kael spent the night in the forge, not sleeping—dreaming.
And in the Dream, the fractured sky cracked again.
But this time, Kael stood not alone, but before a crowd.
Some were cloaked in Pact armor.
Others wore nothing but tattered robes and broken sigils.
All stared at him.
Waiting.
Behind them, seven thrones began to rise.
And Kael heard a voice—not the Harvester's. Not Veyr's.
His own, but older, deeper.
> "This time, we break the Pact. Not to destroy… but to rebuild."
He woke in a cold sweat.
The Revenant Edge hummed beside him.
Something in it had changed.
---
> Weapon Evolution Triggered: Revenant Edge
Status: Soul-Sync Initiated.
New Trait Acquired: Pactbreaker Edge — Deals bonus damage against bonded entities (Pact-bound, Sigil-bound, Harbingers).
Shape-Shift Unlocked: Phase Crescent Form.
---
Kael stepped out into the fading light of dawn. The ocean whispered behind him.
Veyr stood waiting, two cloaks in hand.
"You're leaving," Kael said.
"I have to," Veyr replied. "There's someone I need to find—another shard bearer. One who doesn't know what's inside him yet."
Kael hesitated. "And me?"
Veyr tossed him the second cloak.
"You go west. To Skel-Hollow Canyon. The next shard is calling you. I won't be far."
They clasped forearms. Father and son. Warrior and weapon.
Veyr spoke once more before vanishing into the sea mist.
"You're not just fighting to survive, Kael. You're fighting to change what comes next."
Kael watched him disappear.
Then turned his back to the ocean.
The world was calling.
And this time… he was ready to answer.
---