The descent began with silence.
Not the absence of sound—but the devouring of it.
As Iden, Nyra, Kael, Rael, and the Familiar passed through the sovereign gate, the water around them shimmered into corrupted ether—a slow implosion of light and memory. It wasn't just pressure weighing down on them. It was intent.
"We're in."Iden's voice came through the link—distorted, blurred by layered spatial folds.
Rael activated the Sanctum Pulse, forming a bioluminescent shell that clung tightly to the team. A soft heartbeat. Their tether to the surface. Without it, they'd be gone in seconds.
Kael floated beside a cluster of armored summons—Mirebreakers, evolved for aquatic combat and trench survival. Their luminous ribs pulsed green, scanning.
"Movement. Twenty o'clock. Multiple residuals—class unknown."
Nyra vanished into vapor, her form weaving through dimensional chasms that barely allowed thought.
"They're not attacking." Her voice filtered in. "They're watching."
Before them stood the impossible: a temple made of reversed time and drowned memory. It wasn't stone—it was frozen potential, shaped by a king who had never lived and yet never died.
Iden felt it in his blood.
The fragment was near.
And so was its guardian.
The stirrings of the fragment triggered resonance waves that reached the highest spires of power.
Skyward Monastery – Eastern Coalition
Elder-Mind Fashal collapsed, gripping his staff.
"The Tyrant Crown… opens an eye."
Priests screamed as scrolls ignited spontaneously. One phrase etched itself across the sacred altar:
"Throne Ascendant. Sovereign Awakened."
Northern Tech-Republic – Citadel Core
Holograms flickered.
"Unknown mana frequency detected. Not local. Not registered."
A researcher adjusted their quantum-seer.
"This isn't technology.""It's memory becoming real."
Western Factions – Nomadic Runeships
A woman with glass eyes stood at the helm. The storm around her ship broke instantly.
"The king who sleeps beneath waves has stirred."
She turned toward the dark horizon.
"And he is furious."
As they closed in, Iden's familiar stiffened.
A signal hit them.
Like a scream without air. A demand without words.
Suddenly, a shape moved ahead.
Massive. Crooked. Bound in chains made of intent.
It floated just beyond the temple—its crown long shattered, its face carved with runes of betrayal.
[Entity Designation: ??? – Drowned Claimant][Sovereign Interference Detected. Lock engaged.]
"All teams: form battle mesh," Iden said, extending his palm.
A thousand elite summons surged forward—Abyssal-Adapted Spectrals and Wyrmguard Titans—forming a phalanx between the team and the vault.
Kael activated his new formation AI and shield pulse.
Nyra reappeared with blades already aflame in voidfire.
"He's not just guarding it," she muttered.
"He thinks it's his."
The Drowned Claimant's mouth opened.
"Return what the heavens denied me."
And then the water boiled.