The ancient passage beneath the Temple of Bones was suffocating—walls slick with condensation, carved with glyphs too old for any living language. The only sound was the echo of Selena and Dante's footsteps, the low hum of the bond between them vibrating with tension.
Selena's voice was a whisper in the dark. "Did you feel it too? Before we entered."
Dante nodded, flame barely flickering in his palm for light. "We were being watched."
"But not by the Core."
"No," he said grimly. "Someone else."
Selena shivered. "Then someone else knows we're here."
As they continued, the air grew heavier. Glyphs on the walls began to glow faintly—first gold, then shifting to deep crimson. Selena ran her fingers along one of them.
"They're reacting to me."
"Because you're the bonded," Dante said. "And the Core has marked you."
"But it's more than that."
She stopped, staring at a mural half-buried in the dust. It showed a woman crowned in bone, her eyes bleeding light, standing between two beasts of flame and shadow.
Dante stared. "That's… not just any vessel. That's the First."
"The first to bond… the one who built the seal."
"But she wasn't corrupted," Selena said. "She chose it. She gave the Core a body—then locked it away."
Dante frowned. "So if we find the seal—"
"We might find out how she did it."
The tunnel curved sharply downward. The air turned icy. A faint pulsing sound echoed ahead—like a heartbeat, ancient and tired.
Suddenly, the ground trembled.
Selena stumbled. Dante caught her.
"Quake?" she asked.
"No. Something woke up."
The walls cracked open, and from the stone burst three figures—guardians forged from bone and flame. Their bodies were twisted remnants of warriors long dead, bound to defend the path to the seal.
"They're testing us," Dante said, igniting both hands with fire.
Selena flared her shadow wings. "Let's pass the test."
The guardians attacked without mercy.
Dante intercepted the first with a blast of flame, incinerating its arm—but it reformed. Selena struck the second with a blade of light, but it phased through.
"They're not solid!" she cried.
"They're soul-bound!"
Selena narrowed her eyes, reaching inward—not to the Core, but to her bond with Dante. She whispered, "Lend me your strength."
Their glyphs pulsed in sync.
She extended her hand and released a burst of radiant energy—amplified by Dante's flame. The combined force struck the guardians and—finally—shattered them.
The remnants dissolved into dust.
Breathing hard, Selena leaned against the wall. "They weren't meant to kill us… just to test our unity."
"And we passed," Dante said. "Barely."
The path opened into a vast chamber.
At the center stood a massive stone gate, veined with gold and black. At its heart: a seal, cracked and flickering with ancient power.
Selena stepped closer, mesmerized. "This is it."
Then her head jerked—pain blooming behind her eyes. Visions slammed into her mind.
A woman screaming as the Core entered her.
A ritual under a red eclipse.
A dagger plunged into her own heart to trap the power.
Selena gasped, staggering back.
Dante caught her. "What did you see?"
"She died to seal it. The First Vessel wasn't just a gatekeeper. She became the lock."
Dante's face darkened. "And now the Core wants a new one."
Selena looked at the seal. "If I try to awaken this, I could take her place."
"Absolutely not," Dante snapped. "There has to be another way."
"But what if there isn't?"
Before he could answer, a new voice echoed behind them.
"There isn't."
They spun around.
Standing in the doorway was the girl from the shadows—pale eyes, Core glyphs crawling up her arms, a twisted smile on her lips.
"You…" Selena whispered. "Who are you?"
"I'm the next Vessel," the girl said sweetly. "The Core showed me. But it changed its mind."
Her eyes locked onto Selena.
"It wants you instead."
Dante stepped between them. "You're corrupted."
She tilted her head. "Aren't we all?"
Then she lifted her hand—and the air exploded.
Selena was thrown backward. Dante slammed into the wall.
The girl advanced slowly. "Do you know what it feels like to be chosen? To burn alive from the inside just so a god can whisper your name?"
Selena stood, bleeding. "I don't want to be chosen. I want to end it."
The girl grinned. "Then let's see if you're strong enough."
She raised both arms, and the entire chamber began to collapse inward. The seal pulsed, reacting to their presence. Dust and debris flew as tendrils of Core energy lashed the room.
Dante pulled Selena behind a column. "We have to stop her!"
"She's drawing from the Core's nexus!" Selena shouted. "She's tethered to it—like me."
Dante looked at the gate. "Then we sever the tether."
Selena's eyes widened. "But that would kill her."
"And if we don't, she'll kill you."
The girl shrieked, power radiating from her like a supernova. The seal cracked again—deeper this time.
Selena made a choice.
She ran for the center, arms glowing, glyphs blazing brighter than ever. "Draw her attention!"
Dante leapt from cover, hurling twin firestorms toward the girl. She screamed and retaliated, slamming him with a psychic wave—but the moment she turned, Selena reached the base of the seal.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
She placed both hands on the seal—and called the bond.
It flared, alive and raw.
The seal absorbed her power.
A burst of pure light consumed the chamber.
The girl screamed—her body unraveling into ash and smoke. Her tether snapped.
The chamber stilled.
Selena collapsed to her knees, drained.
Dante caught her again. "Selena—are you okay?"
"I stopped her."
"But the seal—"
They turned.
The seal was whole.
But something had changed.
It was glowing with Selena's glyphs now.
Dante's eyes widened. "It marked you."
"I'm part of it," she said. "The bond rewrote the lock. Now it recognizes me."
"That means…"
She nodded slowly. "If the Core wants to break free again—it'll have to destroy me first."
Their silence was heavy.
Then the seal trembled.
A whisper echoed from its heart.
"We are not done."
A single crack formed again—small, but deep.
And from it…
A voice Selena knew.
"Selena… help me…"
Her blood froze.
It was Lorenzo.