The claw was enormous.
Not merely in size, but in presence.
It burst through the chapel floor with catastrophic force, shattering stone and sacred pillars alike. Ancient cracks raced across the walls as centuries-old architecture screamed beneath the pressure of something never meant to touch the surface again.
Lyra was thrown backward.
Kael vanished into shadow instinctively.
And Auren remained standing.
Barely.
Golden light erupted around him as the karmic sigil flared violently beneath his armor, reacting not with hostility…
But recognition.
Dust and debris swallowed the chapel in a storm of ash and fractured stone. The sea beyond the cliffs churned madly now, waves crashing against the rocks like titans trying to claw their way ashore.
Then came the second roar.
Closer.
Angrier.
Alive.
Cyras moved first.
"MOVE!"
He grabbed Lyra by the arm and hurled her away moments before another eruption shattered the ground beneath them. Massive black-gold chains snapped upward from the abyss below the chapel, each one thick as castle towers and carved with ancient draconic scripture.
Not prison chains.
Seal chains.
Auren recognized them instantly.
And that terrified him more than the creature itself.
Because he remembered forging them.
Not with hammer or magic.
But with vows.
Fragments crashed through his mind like broken glass.
A throne engulfed in celestial fire.
Four colossal dragons circling the sky above a dying world.
And himself—
Younger.
Bloodied.
Kneeling before them as he spoke words that bound fate itself.
"Until balance returns… sleep."
The memory vanished.
Auren staggered.
The claw slowly tightened around the shattered earth, pulling upward.
Stone collapsed inward.
A colossal shape began emerging from beneath the chapel ruins—a massive scaled head crowned with jagged obsidian horns and burning crimson eyes older than kingdoms.
The creature inhaled once.
The entire cliffside trembled.
Lyra stared in horror.
"That's not a dragon…"
Cyras answered grimly.
"No.""It's one of the First Wardens."
The Warden's gaze landed on Auren.
And stopped.
For one endless moment, the creature simply looked at him.
Not like prey.
Not like an enemy.
Like memory recognizing memory.
Then—
It spoke.
Not aloud.
Inside their minds.
"YOU RETURN."
Lyra collapsed to one knee instantly, blood trailing from her nose under the sheer force of the voice. Kael grimaced, shadows destabilizing violently around him.
But Auren stepped forward.
Despite the fear clawing at his chest.
Despite the unbearable pressure.
Because somewhere deep within him…
He knew this being.
"I remember you," Auren whispered.
The Warden lowered its massive head slightly.
Chains groaned around its body as ancient seals strained against awakening power.
"NOT ENOUGH."
Its eyes narrowed.
"THE SKY IS FRACTURING AGAIN."
Another tremor split the earth.
Far above the ocean, clouds began spiraling unnaturally inward, forming a gigantic vortex stretching across the heavens.
Kael looked upward, horrified.
"The veil…"
Cyras's grip tightened around his blades.
"No," he corrected quietly."Something's trying to tear through it."
The Warden slowly emerged further from beneath the ruins, revealing massive armored scales marked with glowing runes. Some were broken.
Others were bleeding light.
Auren realized something immediately.
The creature was wounded.
Badly.
Ancient scars covered its body—burns that looked almost divine in origin.
Not inflicted recently.
Inflicted long ago.
During the First War.
Then another realization struck him harder.
The wounds were familiar.
Because he had made them.
Auren's breath caught.
The Warden's voice thundered again inside their minds.
"YOU SEALED US."
Not accusation.
Not hatred.
Just truth.
And somehow, that was worse.
Lyra forced herself upright.
"Why would he seal something like this?!"
Cyras answered without taking his eyes off the creature.
"Because once upon a time…""The Wardens nearly destroyed heaven itself."
Silence swallowed the ruins.
Even the storm seemed to pause.
Auren stared at the ancient being before him as fragmented memories clawed deeper into his mind.
Not monsters.
Not guardians.
Weapons.
Living weapons forged for a war the world no longer remembered.
And now—
One had awakened.
The Warden's eyes suddenly shifted upward toward the storm vortex.
Its massive body tensed.
For the first time—
Fear appeared in its voice.
"IT COMES."
The clouds above split apart instantly.
Something moved behind them.
Gigantic.
Winged.
Watching.
Only its eyes became visible for a brief moment—vast golden irises staring down from beyond the storm itself.
Then the sky screamed.
"The oldest monsters are not the ones buried beneath the earth… but the ones waiting above the clouds."— Cyras Vale