Jin collapsed to one knee, panting hard. The phantom form of Noctis faded behind him, retreating back into the mark on his palm.
Kael stepped forward slowly, cautious.
"You did better than expected," he said. "You lasted twenty seconds."
"Felt like twenty years," Jin groaned.
Kael offered a hand. "That's the price of channeling a spirit that shouldn't exist."
Jin took it, and Kael pulled him up with surprising ease.
"Why me?" Jin asked. "Why would something like that choose someone like me?"
Kael didn't answer right away. Instead, he reached into his cloak and pulled out a worn scroll. Unrolled, it revealed an illustration—a black-winged figure, standing before a shattered world.
Below it, a title in old glyphs: The Abyssborn King.
Kael's voice lowered. "Thousands of years ago, when the Spirit War ended, seven Forbidden Spirits were sealed behind the Abyss Gate. Each one chose a vessel to survive. Six were hunted and destroyed. But the seventh… vanished."
He looked at Jin. "Until now."
Jin stared at the scroll. "So I'm… one of them?"
Kael shook his head. "You're something new. The first person in history to form a bond with a Forbidden Spirit… and survive."
Back at the academy, Arin Veyra wandered through the old archives. She couldn't stop thinking about the stitched spirit… or about Jin.
In the dim light, she pulled an old volume from the shelf—Records of Spirit Failures. Most students never looked at this one. Inside, she found a single page marked with blood-red ink.
Subject: Project Abyss Vessel
Status: Terminated. Spirit Unstable.
Notes: Do not awaken.
Her heart froze.
Before she could read more, the shadows around her shifted.
A robed figure emerged behind the shelves.
Arin turned, fists raised, but the figure raised a hand—and the lights died.
Outside the academy, far from safety, Kael stood still.
He felt it.
A ripple in the spirit veil. A summons beyond the walls.
He turned to Jin. "Go back to your dorm. Now."
Jin's eyes narrowed. "Why? What's wrong?"
But Kael was already gone, his body shifting into a blur of shadow.
Within the ruins of the Verdant Hollow, under a moon veiled in blood, the robed figure stood before a summoning circle of black fire.
From within the circle, a twisted spirit began to rise—its body made of mirrors, each reflecting Jin's face.
"Bring me the Vessel," the summoner hissed.
"Before the Abyss chooses him fully."