The sky held its breath.
The rift above Vel'shara tore wider, a jagged mouth spilling violet radiance onto the fractured stone of the ruined citadel. Ash swirled around Kai like forgotten prayers, clinging to his scorched skin as he rose on trembling legs. The dragons within—Flame, Ice, Storm, Earth, Void—stirred, not with aggression but with a primal warning, their pulses quickening through the runes etched across his body. The cold second sun, born in the Dungeon's collapse, pulsed once, its light casting eerie shadows that danced without source. A silence so profound settled over the crater, as if the world feared to exhale.
From the heart of the sky's wound descended a figure—not falling, but arriving, its descent slow, inevitable, unshakable. The light around it bent, refracted, tried to escape, but was swallowed into its silhouette—a humanoid shape clad in pale-gold plating that shimmered like armor forged in starlight and agony. Its wings were not feathered but woven of shifting geometric runes, spinning like galaxies, folding through impossible dimensions. No face showed, only a mask of mirrored crystal, faceted like a god's forgotten crown, reflecting Kai's own image in distorted, fractured angles.
Kai stepped back, the Wyrm-Sigil on his forearm burning white-hot, reacting violently to the presence. His dragons recoiled within, not in fear but in confusion, their elemental voices faltering as if encountering a force beyond their ken. The Sentinel's residue, a faint glow along his back, flickered, its power still raw from the battle with the First Sin.
"What is that?" Kai whispered, not to Master Venri, who staggered to his side, nor to the dragons, but to himself, his voice barely audible over the hum of the second sun.
Venri's stave, its crystal tip shattered by the figure's arrival, dimmed in the strange light. Her face, lined with grief and awe, turned to Kai. "A Bound One," she breathed, her voice trembling. "Like you, Wyrm-Bonded, but older—forged when the First Wyrm-Bonded sealed the Depths. Unseen by our kind for millennia."
The figure landed without sound, its boots touching the stone with a ripple that fractured time itself. Cracks shimmered in the air, stitching back together with a sound like breaking glass. A heartbeat later, a pressure crashed over them—immense, suffocating. Kai dropped to one knee, blood weeping from his nostrils, his runes pulsing erratically. Venri gasped, falling back, her broken stave clattering. She raised a trembling hand, casting a faint ward that flickered and died under the Bound One's gaze.
The being lifted its head, its mirrored mask reflecting the scarred sky. No mouth moved, but its voice entered Kai's skull—clear, genderless, vast as the void between stars. "Wyrm-Bonded. You have opened the Sealed Door."
Kai struggled upright, the Sentinel's glow steadying him. His scorched body ached, bones protesting, but his soul burned fierce. "I didn't mean to," he said, voice raw. "I was fighting the First Sin—it broke through—"
"Irrelevant," the Bound One interrupted, its voice a blade of certainty. "The Seal has been breached. The Depths will bleed now, as they did when creation faltered."
The violet light dimmed as the rift began to close, leaving a thin scar across the stars. The second sun's glow softened, but the stars flickered wrong, their patterns alien, as if rewritten by the Dungeon's collapse. Kai's heart pounded, memories of the prophecy—When harmony breaks, the Depths awaken—clashing with the weight of what he'd unleashed.
The Bound One stepped forward, each movement folding space like a cloak, the stone beneath rippling like water. "You are Kai Kael. Son of Thalen, whom you call Aeron. The Catalyst."
Venri's eyes widened, her breath catching. "No one outside the Temple of Echoes knows that name," she whispered, clutching Kai's shoulder to steady herself. "Not even the Council."
"I am outside your world," the Bound One said, its mask reflecting their faces in endless, warped mirrors. "I have seen what lies beyond the Spiral. Thalen tried to contain it. He failed, as did the First Wyrm-Bonded before him."
Kai's hands curled into fists, the Wyrm-Sigil pulsing with his anger. "Then why are you here now? To judge me for his mistakes?"
"To warn you," it replied, its voice softening, almost mournful. "You were not the only one bound. Another rises—older than flame, deeper than the First Sin. The Dungeons you see are veins, feeding a heart that wakes soon. And there are others like you—broken, lost, hungry for what you carry."
The name etched into Kai's runes pulsed, a searing heat that made him wince. He'd barely survived the First Sin, its cloak of mouths and adaptive chaos nearly breaking him. The thought of more—others like him, or worse—tightened his chest. He wasn't ready. Not yet.
Venri's grip tightened, her voice urgent. "What do we do, Kai? The Academy must know—this changes everything."
He didn't answer, his gaze locked on the Bound One. Something shifted within him, deeper than the dragons, darker than the Sentinel. A name stirred—not given, but revealed, rising like a tide in his soul. It carried the weight of gravity, the edge of war, the shadow of ruin. It was no dragon, no elemental force, but something primal, unkind, waiting to be called.
The Bound One's rune-wings flared, spinning faster, casting fractal shadows across the crater. Its final words echoed like thunder in Kai's soul: "The Second Sin is awake, born from the same chaos as the First. Prepare yourself, Wyrm-Bonded. The Eater of Harmony walks."
The being turned, its mask reflecting the scarred sky one last time before it ascended, vanishing into the fading rift. The second sun dimmed, but the scar remained, a reminder of the breached Seal. Kai stood frozen, the new summoning's name burning in his mind, its presence a weight like collapsing stars. His dragons stirred, wary, sensing the same threat.
Venri pulled him back, her voice shaking. "Kai, we need to move. The Council must be