The tunnel beyond the library was narrow and twisted like a serpent's throat. The walls were damp, pulsing faintly with blue veins of memorystone—ether-charged minerals that hummed when passed. Kade trudged through the dark, his breaths ragged, Lira cradled against his back, and Veyne right behind him.
The compass spun erratically in Kade's hand, pointing forward, then jerking left, then stopping altogether.
"It's broken," he muttered.
"No," Veyne said. "It's deciding. The Underwalks are alive. They respond to choices."
The path ahead forked.
Three routes.
Each arched tunnel pulsed with a different light—one cold and white like snow, one red and flickering like a furnace, and one black as void, humming like a whisper in the skull.
"The hell is this?" Kade asked, blinking.
Veyne knelt beside Lira. "Each tunnel leads to a different truth," he said quietly. "One shows you your past. One gives you power. The third…" He looked toward the black tunnel. "...leads to someone who remembers you. Or hates you. Maybe both."
Kade stared at the compass. It trembled in his palm.
"She'll slow you down," Veyne said suddenly. "Leave her here. I'll guard her."
"No."
"You can't carry both her and your destiny."
"Then I'll drag destiny behind me if I have to."
Veyne smirked. "You've got fire, kid. Just don't burn your hands holding it."
Kade approached the three tunnels.
The white one called to him. A warmth, a familiarity. He saw flickers in the air—memories not his own. A boy standing in the rain. A woman's smile. A blade handed down.
The red one thrummed with power. He could feel his sword vibrating, hungering. The ground beneath it cracked with pulsing energy—raw, intoxicating, and terrifying.
The black tunnel was… empty. No scent. No sound. Just a cold certainty that something waited.
Kade took a breath.
And stepped into the black tunnel.
Veyne didn't stop him. Just nodded.
"I'll keep her safe. Go find whatever demon you left behind."
---
The tunnel devoured sound. Kade's boots barely echoed. Even his breath felt distant. Lira stirred slightly on his back, murmuring in sleep.
Then—light.
He emerged into a circular chamber, perfectly round, carved from obsidian stone. Floating candles burned without flame. At the center was a woman.
She sat cross-legged on a pillar of bone, cloaked in white, face hidden behind a bronze mask with three eye-holes.
Kade froze.
"You're late," the woman said, her voice calm but tired.
"You were expecting me?"
"I was hoping you would remember me."
Kade stepped forward. "Who are you?"
She didn't answer. Instead, she waved her hand—and the air rippled.
A vision flared before them: two children—Kade, and her. Laughing. Training. Fighting together.
"You were my—"
"Partner," she finished. "In another life. We were the last Sentinels of the Veilguard. Until you betrayed me."
"I don't remember that."
"You will. When your soul catches up to your body."
Kade's heart pounded. "Why are you here?"
"I was bound here. By you. After I tried to stop you from becoming the God-Who-Burned-Time."
She stood, stepping off the pillar. The floor shifted beneath her, forming stairs. "I should kill you. And I still might. But the Ash Choir moves faster than prophecy now. And you're not… him yet."
"Not yet?" he repeated.
She raised a hand. "Catch."
She threw a knife at him.
He caught it by instinct. The blade was obsidian, humming like his sword. On the hilt, etched in silver, were the words: Do not trust fate.
"What is this?"
"Your first memory. Shaped as a weapon. One of many. You hid pieces of yourself inside relics. This is the first step."
"Why give it to me?"
She paused. "Because once… I loved you."
Silence.
Then—thunder shook the chamber. A Rift opened inside the wall. Ash Choir Hunters poured through, led by a towering masked figure wrapped in chains.
The woman turned to Kade. "Your path isn't just yours anymore. Protect the girl. Find the other fragments."
"What about you?"
"I'll hold them."
"You'll die."
She laughed, bitter and broken. "That would be new."
Kade nodded once, turned, and ran with Lira as the chamber erupted in light and chaos behind him.
The black tunnel closed behind them.
---
Elsewhere…
High above the city, in a floating fortress veiled from time, the chained figure who had chased Kade watched a mirror of swirling black mist.
A cloaked acolyte approached him.
"Shall we begin fusion, Archon?"
The masked figure turned.
"No. Let him collect himself. The more pieces he finds, the closer he comes to our truth."