The ring was gone.
Not destroyed—consumed. The altar where Damien had performed the Pact of Midnight was cracked, its obsidian surface scorched by ethereal fire. The Shadow System remained silent, but it wasn't the peace of victory.
It was the silence of waiting.
Damien stood alone in the chamber, the aftershock of his sacrifice lingering in the air. He could still feel her—Ilyra's—warmth in the band, her memory seared into the Crown. And now... erased.
He had given up the last piece of her to seal the Crown's signal.
But the world does not allow silence for long.
---
> [System Notification: Pact of Midnight Complete]
[Status: Sleeper's Signal Disrupted]
[Warning: Ancient Entity Stirring – "The Forgotten"]
[Domain Breach Imminent]
The Forgotten.
The name alone made Joara flinch when Damien told her.
"The Forgotten weren't part of the history books," she whispered. "They wrote the books... then burned them."
Rionach cursed under her breath. "You traded a demon for a god."
"No," Damien said, eyes dark. "I traded time."
---
Across the kingdom, the signs were immediate.
The sky darkened—not unnaturally, not magically. It was as if the stars themselves refused to shine above the Iron Hold. Rivers stilled. Trees bowed toward the fortress in eerie silence. And in dreams, people began to whisper one name...
"Azel'tor."
A child among the city's Shadowborn screamed it during his sleepwalking. A mage choked it out during a seizure. A dying assassin etched it into stone with blood.
Damien asked the system.
> [Name: Azel'tor]
[Title: The Forgotten Sovereign]
[Nature: Unknown]
[Status: Awakening]
[Threat Level: Unquantifiable]
Rionach crossed her arms. "So... how do we kill it?"
"We don't," Damien said. "We rally. Before we're forgotten too."
---
But allies were splintering.
The eastern city-state of Varnholdt declared neutrality, fearing the Crown's curse. The Ironcloaks of Morr's End demanded Damien hand over the Crown to a council. Even the Night Fangs—the assassins guild Damien once saved—refused his summons.
"You wear darkness too well, Damien," their message read. "We can't see where your shadow ends and the Sleeper's begins."
The hold was cracking. From outside... and within.
Damien stood before the war table, sleepless. Sierra, now more present in court matters, approached quietly.
"You can't do this alone," she said.
"Who said I'm alone?" Damien responded, but even he didn't believe it.
---
The Shadow System flickered with a new quest.
> [Quest: Reforge the Broken Flame]
You must unite three lost legacies—realms that once stood against Azel'tor in ages past. Restore their heirlooms, gain their loyalty, and awaken the final seal that binds the Forgotten Sovereign.
Reward: True Authority over the Crown
Penalty: World Decay
Damien studied the map.
The first was the Citadel of Thorns—a cursed kingdom hidden within a living forest, ruled by a witch-queen whose bloodline was once tied to the Crown.
The second, Ashspire—a floating fortress now fallen into the depths of the Abyss, whose warriors swore oaths with their souls, not their blades.
The third, Vel Seran—a city of mirrors, erased from memory, its people known to deal in truth and madness alike.
"I'll need more than soldiers," Damien muttered.
He would need legends.
---
At the edge of the world, in a forgotten ruin, something opened its eyes.
A figure in cracked gold armor, his body mummified yet pulsing with a purple light. Around him stood others—bound in chains, some weeping, some laughing.
"Damien..." the voice was neither male nor female. "The son of shadow... bearer of betrayal... killer of time."
Azel'tor stirred.
The chains binding the Forgotten cracked once.
> [Warning: The Forgotten's seal is weakening. Progress: 14%]
[Time until breach: 29 days]
---
In the Iron Hold, Damien turned to his court. His voice was iron.
"We begin the expedition in three days. Gather what's left of our allies. Send shadow birds to every kingdom still listening."
Joara frowned. "And if no one comes?"
"Then we go alone," Damien said. "And make sure the world remembers why they feared shadows in the first place."
---