A blood-red dawn bled across the Wailing Wastes, dyeing ash dunes in cruel light. Otoku stood atop a jagged outcrop, the Companion gripped in one hand, Noctis coiled at his side like living shadow. Behind him, an uneasy host of Crimson Fang guardians, Verdant healers, Obsidian Pact scouts, Sylvaeris rangers, and Vesperian sky-knights gathered in tense ranks. The alliance held—but only just.
Otoku's silver gaze swept across the barren expanse. "Below us," he said, voice carrying over the mournful winds, "lies the Breath of Eons—the ancient power Veyra warned us of. We must bind it before it unravels the loop itself."
A soft murmur ran through the ranks. Lady Fleurine stepped forward, golden hair braided with green ribbons. "Healers stand ready, Councilor. We will seal those echoes of death."
Korrin's obsidian armor gleamed. "Void wards are engaged. Any shadow-born horror will find no purchase."
Iseri nodded, frost runes flickering on her blade. "My blade will carve truth from nightmare."
High Lantern Seraphine, mask reassembled in silver and jade shards, bore the pale lantern atop her staff. Its ghost-white flame danced. "And I stand as witness—so that no secret hides in darkness."
---
Descent into the Dunes
They marched into the wastes, each step sinking into fine ash. The air trembled with distant echoes—voices half-heard, like memories dragged beneath the sand. Noctis's ears flattened as he sniffed the wind; his tail's shadow-tendrils rippled.
Otoku raised the Companion high. Runes glittered on its cover, and a soft hum rose as if the book drew breath. He recited the Verse of Binding:
> "From ancient breath and buried cry,
We shape the Fate that must not die.
By star and ash, by loop and light,
We hold this power through the night."
At his words, the sky tremored. A low rumble shook the dunes. Far on the horizon, a column of black smoke coiled upward, choking the pale air.
---
The Breath of Eons
They reached a crater vast as a city plaza, its walls carved with runic fractures. At its heart lay a gaping maw of void-black rock—the Breath's portal. Every breath felt as if it carried a thousand lost souls.
Otoku advanced, summoning a veil of fusion-light—threads of gold and shadow weaving a protective barrier around the allies. Iseri formed crescent shards of ice to line their flank. Maeve stretched a web of ghost-light behind them. The Vesperian sky-knights hovered on crystal-winged griffons, lances charged with storm-mana.
Suddenly, the crater exhaled—a gale of scorching wind and prismatic shrapnel. The barrier flickered, and two Oblivion Wraiths emerged: towering specters of living sand and fractured bone, eyes glowing with ember-fire.
---
Clashing the Ancient Power
Otoku drew his astral blade. "Stand fast!" he called.
The wraiths slammed the ground, shards erupting like meteors. Iseri's frost blade met one blast, freezing it mid-roar. Korrin's Null Zone swallowed fragments of sand-lash. Maeve chanted, binding the second wraith in ghostly chains.
Noctis leaped, shadow-flame rippling across his fur as he engaged a third wraith rising from the void. His claws sparked with void-fire, carving runic burns into its shifting form.
Otoku pressed forward alone, blade held before him. The Breath's voice echoed in his mind—a low, cavernous whisper: "I am the loop's beginning… and its end."
He sheathed fear and struck—astral energy flaring in a blade of dawn-bright violet. The wraith shrieked as light and void consumed it. Otoku's strike shattered its form into motes of starlight and ash.
---
Sealing the Rift
As the dust settled, Otoku climbed to the edge of the portal. He opened the Companion and found Lirael's final verse:
> "By mortal heart and mortal hand,
The loop shall end where souls withstand."
He intoned the binding words. The portal shuddered, veins of void and flame recoiling. The crater walls glowed with healing rune-light. The maw constricted, sealing with a silent roar that shook every survivor's bones.
When the rift finally closed, only a faint veil of cold wind remained, whispering of trials past—and the promise of trials yet to come.
---
Aftermath and Unseen Ripples
The allied ranks exhaled, triumph and relief mingling in the dawn air. Lady Fleurine tended to wounded healers; Korrin helped Maeve steady her breath. The Vesperian envoy offered Otoku a curt bow, pride and respect in his eyes.
Otoku sheathed the Companion, turning to Noctis. The familiar's tail curled around his leg, golden eye warm. "We held the loop's power," Otoku said softly. "But the world will know its price."
As the sun rose higher, banners snapped in the breeze. Yet beneath their colors, shadows stirred—secrets of the Abyssal Rift, whispers the rift's closure could not silence.