The wind shrieked through the shattered remains of the monastery, cold and heavy with the scent of blood and burning earth.
Selena clutched Dante's arm, eyes wide with horror. "Dante… do you see it?"
From the crater where Lorenzo had vanished, the inky vortex churned, pulsing like a living heart. A hand—pale, elongated, clawed—reached up from the center, dragging something unspeakable with it.
Dante pulled her behind him, still unsteady. "That's not Lorenzo anymore."
A body emerged—tall, skeletal, yet grotesquely graceful. It wore no face, only a crown of black horns and a mouth that split too wide across where a human jaw should be. The Core had formed a body—its first true vessel.
Elias stumbled closer, leaning heavily on his staff. "The Core has chosen to awaken. And it's unfinished. Unstable."
"It shouldn't have form at all," Selena whispered.
"But it does now," Dante said grimly. "Because of us. Because of the bond."
As if hearing them, the creature turned its head. It didn't have eyes, yet Selena felt its gaze dig straight into her soul.
"You. Bearer of the bond."
Its voice wasn't a sound—it was a pressure in her skull, like knives scratching inside her mind. She flinched, gripping Dante's hand tighter.
"Don't listen to it," he said, but even his voice shook.
The creature tilted its head, then moved—a blur of shadows. It reappeared behind Elias before they could blink.
"Elias!" Selena screamed.
The old mage spun around and slammed his staff into the ground, conjuring a radiant shield of golden light. The creature hissed and recoiled, smoke rising from where it touched the barrier.
"I can hold it off," Elias shouted. "But not for long. You need to run!"
"We're not leaving you," Dante snapped.
"You must! It wants her. It needs her. Selena is the key!"
Selena shook her head. "No. We fight this thing together."
Elias looked at her with both sorrow and resolve. "There's something you need to know. Something Lorenzo never told you. About the bond."
The shield cracked under another hit. The creature roared.
"Speak fast!" Dante yelled.
"The bond doesn't just tie souls—it feeds the Core. It fuels it. It's not love that makes you stronger. It's your pain. Your sacrifice."
Selena's blood ran cold.
"Wait—you mean—"
Elias nodded grimly. "Every time you fight for each other, bleed for each other, it evolves. That's why Lorenzo wanted to sever it. And now the Core wants to consume it whole."
The creature shrieked again, this time speaking directly to her.
"Give me your heart. Give me his flame. Complete the Vessel."
Dante pulled her back. "We need to move. Now."
"But—"
"Selena, trust me."
He grabbed her waist and leapt into the air, fire wings erupting from his back. He soared over the monastery ruins, aiming for the cliff edge beyond the sacred grounds.
Behind them, Elias held the creature at bay, his magic flaring one final time.
But as they reached the edge, Selena gasped.
The valley below… was gone.
In its place stretched a vast field of obsidian thorns and broken sky. The Core's realm was bleeding into reality.
Dante hovered midair, staring. "It's already started."
"Then where can we go?"
A voice echoed behind them.
"You can't run from divinity."
The creature hovered now, Elias nowhere to be seen. Blood dripped from its claws.
Selena screamed. "No! Elias!"
"Look," Dante whispered.
From the wreckage, a small sphere of light floated toward them. Elias's final spell. A memory fragment.
It whispered in Selena's mind.
"The seal lies beneath the forgotten city… the first temple… find it before the Core does."
Then it vanished.
Selena turned to Dante. "The forgotten city?"
"There's only one place the Brotherhood refused to map. The ruins beneath the capital."
"But that's locked by bloodline keys."
Dante's face darkened. "My father's ring."
"You still have it?"
He nodded.
"Then that's our path," she said. "That's how we stop this."
The creature reared back, black wings spreading wide like a god of shadows.
"You will not reach the gate."
Dante summoned his power, his aura blazing white-hot. "Watch us."
They plummeted downward.
The creature followed.
---
Hours later
They landed outside the shattered outer wall of Virellia's capital. The city was in chaos—rifts opening, sky bleeding crimson, the Core's corruption spreading like wildfire.
But worse, people were changing.
Selena watched in horror as a young boy fell to his knees, his skin blistering before his eyes turned black.
"It's taking over them," she whispered. "The unbonded… the weak…"
Dante pulled her behind a collapsed tower. "We need to reach the Temple of Bones. That's where the old tunnels start."
"But the city's crawling with corrupted."
Dante took her hand. "Then we don't stop moving."
They darted through alleyways, evading shadows and collapsing buildings. Flames danced along Dante's arms to shield them, while Selena struck with focused Core blasts when the corrupted got too close.
Each step felt heavier.
The bond burned inside her chest, not just with love, but with pressure—like something was feeding on it.
By the time they reached the temple's shattered entrance, Selena was staggering.
Dante caught her. "You okay?"
She nodded faintly. "I can feel it. The Core is inside me. Clawing at the bond."
He cupped her face. "Don't let it take you. You're stronger than it."
They pushed open the rusted gate, stepping into the ruins. Beneath the altar, Dante pressed his father's ring into the hidden socket.
The stone floor trembled.
A passage opened beneath them, leading into pure blackness.
Selena hesitated. "Do you think the seal still exists?"
Dante looked back at the burning sky. "It has to."
They descended into the dark.
But as the gate sealed behind them, neither of them saw the figure watching from the shadows.
Not the creature.
Not Lorenzo.
But someone else entirely.
A girl—eyes pale as bone. Marked by the Core. Smiling.
And whispering—
"She doesn't know what she is."