The morning air hung heavy with dew and tension. Mist clung to the lowlands, muffling sound, warping shape—just like the thoughts clouding Kael's mind.
They were two days out from Noctheron now. Two days since he felled the Executioner. Two days since he heard the voice.
And yet, the feeling didn't fade.
If anything, it pulsed stronger.
Kael stood at the edge of their camp, eyes fixed toward the far mountains of Elarith Peaks. The winds were colder there. Not natural winds, but aether-borne—strands of aura too raw, too thick to belong in the mortal world.
Drayke clanked up beside him, gauntlets slung over his shoulder like a favorite toy. "You seein' ghosts again, Ash Boy?"
Kael didn't respond immediately.
"I think… something's waking up there," Kael muttered.
Lyra emerged from their makeshift shelter, her white cloak faintly glowing in the morning light. "Sable aura's been recorded in only a handful of reports. All of them end in silence."
Drayke smirked. "Cute. Silence means less noise before the fun starts."
Kael didn't flinch. "No. This is different. That thing in Noctheron—it was bound. This one's moving."
He clenched a fist, and his aura flared, ever so subtly. Ash spiraled out, smoldering on the wind like the first breath before fire.
"It's calling."
Lyra paled. "To you?"
Kael looked over his shoulder.
"…Or to whatever's buried in me."
[Sunspire: Inner Sanctum]
Veyl Solane stood before the Council Archive, watching as an ancient crystal rotated in the air. Dozens of shimmering scripts orbited it, each a record of aura phenomena long forbidden.
She reached forward, tapping a red-threaded glyph.
A projection bloomed—Kael Arclight, recorded mid-fight, cloaked in shifting ash.
It wasn't just strength.
It was inheritance.
One of the Elders behind her, a man with a crown of flame-shaped runes, stepped forward. "The boy's mutation is beyond natural evolution. A hybrid of Bladesoul and Revenant, yes—but more than that, he's… synchronizing."
"With what?" Veyl asked, turning sharply.
The Elder hesitated. "Echoes. Memories imprinted on aura. Long before the first Guilds. Before even the Eternals. He may be touching something older."
Veyl stared at Kael's projection.
"If that's true," she said coldly, "then we either guide him... or silence him."
[Hidden Camp – Later That Day]
Kael practiced alone.
Not because he wanted to, but because something inside him demanded it.
Each swing of his blade left trails of ember in the air, but the ash clinging to his arms didn't burn—it echoed. There were forms his body remembered before his mind could catch up. Movements that felt too fluid, too honed.
He wasn't learning them.
He was remembering.
Drayke watched from a distance, arms folded. "He's not just training anymore. He's tuning."
Lyra looked on, worried. "You mean like aura resonance?"
Drayke shook his head. "No. That's too clean. This feels more like a burnout. Something pushing him from the inside."
Kael suddenly stopped.
He stood still, blade pointed downward, breathing slow.
Then, he whispered something—not a chant, not a technique name.
Just a truth.
"…Haaah… what a strong aura."
Lyra's breath caught.
Even Drayke went silent.
Because the moment Kael said it, the trees around them bent slightly. Not from pressure—but from recognition. The world heard him.
And it answered.
[Notification – Aura Instinct Triggered]
> Skill Gained: Ember Veil – Cloaks the user in adaptive ash, granting brief invulnerability and counter-based retaliation. Duration: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 3 minutes.
Fusion Trait: Executioner's Grudge – Increases damage to Eternal-spawned enemies by 15%.
The ash spiraled around Kael before collapsing into his skin.
He looked at his hands again. "This is only the start, isn't it?"
A figure stepped into the clearing then.
Zera.
Calm. Cloaked in black mist. Eyes like untouched snow.
"You shouldn't be able to access that memory," she said flatly.
Kael raised a brow. "And yet I did."
Zera gave the faintest hint of a smile. "Then the world's tipping faster than I thought."
Lyra stiffened. "You followed us?"
Zera ignored her, eyes still on Kael. "There's a ruin hidden beneath the Elarith Peaks. A Vault from the Age of Break. Inside is a key—something that only echoes can awaken."
Kael met her gaze. "And you want me to open it."
Zera's voice lowered. "No. I want you to survive what's inside."
She stepped forward, placing a hand on his chest, over his heart.
"You're not a chosen one, Kael. You're a remnant. And the past doesn't sleep."
She vanished with a gust of cursed mist, the Wraith Bell chiming faintly behind her.
[Unknown Location – Rift Beyond Light]
The Sable Priest stood at the edge of a dying star.
Dozens of Eternal-spawned beasts knelt before him, their bodies stitched from bone, metal, and aura.
One of them screeched. "The Ashen moves. The flame stirs."
The Priest raised a hand—and silence fell.
"He awakens what we buried."
He turned his head toward the real world.
"Then we shall bury him again."