Chapter 3
The raven's cry echoed like a scream across the valley.
Not a bird. Not truly.
Nezutsu watched its silhouette twist in the sky, wings trembling with an unnatural cadence. Its eyes — glowing with blue flame — locked onto him for a single, dreadful second before vanishing into the rising darkness above.
He felt it again — the second heartbeat, louder now. Rhythmic. Demanding.
The old man clutched his chest, as if sensing something far older than fear.
"We must leave, now."
"Who are the Seekers of the Veil?" Nezutsu asked, still rooted to the ground.
"Not 'who'," the old man whispered. "What."
He placed a trembling hand on Nezutsu's shoulder and turned him away from the crumbling stone monument. Together, they began running through the thick undergrowth, heading toward the mountains. Behind them, the earth groaned again.
Back in the village, panic had erupted.
Crops withered.
Children with strong magic began to seize uncontrollably, their mana surging in violent bursts.
From the north, black-cloaked figures emerged, their faces hidden behind smooth white masks — featureless but for a red teardrop over the right eye. Where they stepped, the air twisted like glass in fire.
One of them held a black staff shaped like a serpent devouring its tail. From its top hissed a low, slithering chant — inaudible yet heard in the bones.
The villagers screamed.
And then they were silent.
The cloaked figures surveyed the empty paths, the flickering mana fields, the shattered runes carved into homes.
"The Sigil pulsed from here," said one.
"I feel it," replied another. "The Seal is active."
Their leader stepped forward, tilting his head as if listening to the trees.
"Ashless boy. Not so ashless anymore."
He held up a shard of obsidian. It glowed briefly.
"Track the resonance. The soulprint's unstable. He's awakening too early."
Meanwhile, Nezutsu and the old man climbed through a narrow mountain path. Snow had begun to fall — unusual for the season — and the winds carried whispers that made no sense yet felt ancient.
"Who are you?" Nezutsu asked. "You knew that symbol. You knew the name of the Sigil."
"I was once called Velgrim," the man replied. "I served the last Celestarch… before the fall. Before the gods burned his name from the stars."
"You're a mage?"
"Worse," Velgrim said. "I was a Historian. The kind who remembered what should have stayed forgotten."
They stopped at a cave mouth. Velgrim tapped a sigil on the stone. It shimmered and opened like a curtain of light, revealing a narrow tunnel beneath.
"Come. We don't have much time."
Inside, glowing moss lined the walls. The deeper they went, the quieter the world became, as if sound itself feared this place.
At the bottom, they entered a chamber carved with ancient runes and broken relics. A massive mirror, cracked down the center, stood against the far wall.
"This was once a sanctuary of the Celestarchs," Velgrim said. "Now it's a tomb of secrets."
He gestured for Nezutsu to sit. Then, slowly, he unwrapped a cloth bundle and removed a black shard — like crystal, but alive. Its surface shimmered with shifting patterns.
"This is the Fractured Eye. It will show you what you truly are."
"But I'm nothing. I'm—"
"No. You're sealed. You are forgotten power bound in mortal skin. The Sigil of Silence does not choose the weak — it hides the dangerous."
Nezutsu touched the shard.
His vision blurred.
The world spun.
He saw flames.
A great throne of obsidian floating above a sea of stars.
A woman made of starlight, weeping as she placed her hand on a newborn's chest.
A blade — blacker than night — piercing the sky.
And in the mirror across the room, a different reflection stared back at him. Not a boy. A figure cloaked in black, with eyes like burning sigils.
"Is that... me?" he whispered.
Velgrim's face was pale.
"That is what sleeps beneath your skin. The gods erased your birthright for a reason. But the seal is weakening. And they will not let you awaken freely."
Outside the sanctuary, a black raven landed silently.
Its eyes glowed.
A moment later, the shadows in the forest shifted.
The Veil Hunters had arrived.
[TO BE CONTINUED…]