Quiet covered the broken stones, yet inside Kael stirred memories - not his own - of clashing steel and falling banners from an age gone cold. This truth smoldered beneath his skin, threads of deception pulling loose, weaving a story where strength once faltered under treachery.
Aetherion, the Timekeeper.
A cold tremor ran down his spine at the sound of it. Once standing beside him - maybe even following - he now faced an enemy born from trust. Could he have believed in Aetherion back then? Side by side they stood, until everything broke apart.
Fog clung to his thoughts, unclear. Not then. Still, a whisper waited - just out of reach.
But he would.
Then came the moment - the keeper of his prison would answer for it. Time's jailer would stand exposed, bound by what he'd forged. The reckoning waited only on a breath. Chains once locked tight now trembled at their roots. Judgment does not rush - it arrives exactly when due.
The hum of leftover power clung close, sparks flickering near his skin. Light bled slowly into shadow, fading like breath on glass. The makers vanished long ago yet their mark stayed - was it signal, threat, or trial? One thing certain: silence never felt so loud.
Far off, a shadow moved - Kael now had company.
A shape moved far off, tugging at his awareness. Something shifted beyond the edge of sight.
It wasn't the Shadeborn.
This thing stretched beyond size. It wasn't just large - it carried weight, a presence that filled the space without asking permission.
Spinning around, he studied the broken remains of what once stood. Quiet had stretched across the Forsaken Lands, far beyond its due. With him back on his feet, things shifted - eyes opened where none had looked before.
A fresh face stepped into the ring that day, ready to take on the task.
A sound like thunder under earth broke the silence. Clouds of grit drifted down from broken walls. Beyond the columns, a shape passed - huge, slow, stirring what was left after centuries vanished.
A whisper rose, rough like stone. Old beyond years. It spoke without sound.
"Who dares awaken the echoes of the past?"
A shadow shifted. Kael squinted, watching it take form - almost like a person, but not quite.
Out of black glass and liquid gold came its shape, lit within by old markings. This one carried the blood of Titans.
A figure shaped by times long past. Still standing where others have moved on.
A flicker moved behind Kael's eyes, soft like breath on glass. Something old had begun to rise.
Once, these beings bowed to his will. Before the Celestial Sovereign, they lowered themselves.
Yet here it remained, taking on the role of a contender.
"You are not him." The Titanborn's golden eyes flickered. "And yet you wear his power."
A breath left Kael's lips, slow and heavy. Pain clung to his muscles, leftover from fighting the Shadeborn. Time bent a little more easily now under his will - though not without wobble. Stillness didn't last long.
Holding back now wasn't an option.
Yet he meant to win.
"Stand aside, guardian," Kael said, his voice calm but unwavering. "Or be reminded why your kind once knelt before me."
A low rumble came from the Titanborn, rough as rocks scraping together.
"Then prove you are worthy, Sovereign of Ashes."
Then came its charge.