The chamber dimmed further, the only light emanating from the softly glowing runes etched into the floor. The figure with the mirror for a face—tall, unsettling, and wrapped in flowing black robes—took a single step forward. With that motion alone, the temperature in the room plummeted, and the silence became heavier.
Raen drew his blade.
The Silent Edge no longer felt the same. Since absorbing the Heaven-Split hilt, it pulsed with an inner rhythm—as if a sleeping beast had stirred within it. Its edge shimmered faintly, and the symbol of the ancient sect now pulsed at its guard.
"I am the Warden of the Seal," the entity intoned, voice ringing in Raen's mind rather than his ears. "Guardian of the Heaven-Split Will. You bear the mark. But marks can be stolen. Prove your right."
No sooner had it finished speaking than the mirror on its face shimmered—and Raen was pulled in.
---
He blinked.
Suddenly, he was standing in a mist-covered courtyard. The same courtyard where he had fought his father's shadow in Volume 1, but altered. It was brighter, and… a younger version of himself stood in the center.
Alone. Weaponless.
"Another illusion?" Raen murmured.
"No."
His sword spirit's voice echoed. "This is your own reflection."
The younger Raen looked up. His eyes were filled with doubt, his shoulders slumped under invisible burdens. "You're not real," the younger one said bitterly. "You're just the dream I hoped I'd become."
Raen didn't flinch. He walked up to the boy. "And yet here I am."
"You don't know what I've lived through," the boy hissed.
"You're wrong," Raen whispered. "I am what you became because of it."
The fog thickened. From it emerged enemies Raen had defeated in the past—illusions, shades, and echoes. But this time, they didn't attack him. They circled the boy.
"You left us behind," the boy shouted, stepping back as the enemies surrounded him. "You kept moving forward, pretending none of this hurt you!"
Raen slowly raised his blade. "No," he said softly. "I carried every one of you."
He stabbed the blade into the ground—and the Silent Edge exploded in a wave of violet light.
Every illusion shattered.
The fog dissolved.
Raen stood alone again.
Then, back in reality, he gasped—and fell to one knee. The mirror-faced Warden was no longer in front of him. Instead, it stood behind the pedestal, slowly fading.
"You remembered who you are," the Warden intoned, voice gentler now. "Many fail, lost in their fractured pasts. You did not."
It extended a long, gaunt hand. In it appeared a sliver of black metal—curved like a talon.
"The Heaven-Split was never a sword. It was a legacy, split across ages. You now carry a piece of it. Let it sharpen your purpose."
Raen reached out and accepted the shard. The moment it touched his palm, it melted into him—burning into his spirit.
Talin stumbled forward. "Are we… alive?"
Nira steadied herself, looking pale. "You both vanished for a minute. Then everything cracked like lightning."
Raen exhaled, sweat on his brow. "We passed."
The chamber began to crumble.
With no hesitation, Raen led the way out—this time through a path none of them had seen before. A hidden corridor opened along the eastern wall, revealing ancient stairs descending into deeper ruins.
"This place has more to offer," Raen said, eyes gleaming. "And I've only just begun to understand what this blade truly holds."
As they descended into the unknown, his blade pulsed again—this time not in warning, but in hunger.
For memories.
For truth.
For power buried in silence.
---
To be continued...