The gates of Kael'tan cracked open.
The Guardian Knight stepped forth, cloaked in shimmering dust and time-light. Its armor was translucent, shifting between centuries—sometimes ancient and rusted, sometimes polished and golden.
Its voice boomed, not in sound, but in memory.
"You are not yet worthy of Kael's legacy. Prove yourself, child of the seal."
Alan stepped forward, katana in hand.
The moment he crossed the threshold, the world around him shattered.
Sand froze mid-air. Seris and Kraevok vanished from sight. Even his heartbeat slowed.
Time itself had halted.
The knight raised his blade.
And then… everything resumed all at once.
*****
Alan barely dodged the first strike—a slash that split the air and left ripples of golden time energy trailing behind.
The second came before the first ended—two moments overlapping, violating logic.
Alan was fast.
But the knight was faster because it controlled time.
He rolled, summoned a flicker of the Thirteenth Seal's energy, and slashed.
The moment his katana met the knight's blade, sparks erupted—but not from metal.
From timelines colliding.
*****
The duel was unlike any Alan had fought.
Each time he landed a hit, the knight rewound itself—erasing the injury.
Each time he dodged, it sped up, skipping frames like a broken reel of film.
But Alan was learning.
Adapting.
He began watching not the knight, but the shadows of its possible movements.
And then… he stopped attacking.
He waited.
Breathed.
Let the knight come.
It struck.
Time slowed.
Alan focused on the flickering threads of the future. Chose one.
And moved through it.
His blade pierced the knight's chest—not in this moment, but in the next.
The knight staggered. For the first time, it couldn't rewind.
"You… have inherited more than blood. You've inherited instinct."
The knight knelt, fading into mist.
"Enter, Sovereign. Your city awaits."
*****
The gates of Kael'tan fully opened.
Inside, a hollow silence welcomed them.
But Alan didn't smile.
Because when the knight disappeared, it left behind something else.
A single phrase, whispered like a dying breath:
"Beware the Eleventh Seal… for it still breathes."
*****
They stepped into the city.
Crumbled towers. Floating relics. Sand piled high like forgotten years.
Seris looked around. "This place… it's like time forgot how to destroy it."
Kraevok pointed ahead.
At the heart of the city stood a throne. Empty. Cracked.
Above it, a mural painted in blood and magic.
It depicted a war between thirteen beings, each holding a seal.
And in the center, a man with Alan's face… but with golden eyes.
Alan stepped closer.
Something within the throne pulsed. A hidden chamber unlocked.
And from it, a letter written in Kael's hand.
"If you've come this far, my heir… then the others will soon find you. And they will not kneel."