The journey to the Ruined Cradle took nearly a day, though it felt longer.
Dark storms rolled across the sky as the leyline map burned within Kael's vision, leading them eastward into dead lands. Blackened trees clawed upward like skeletal fingers, and the soil had long since lost its warmth drained of all soul essence.
Ashen's condition worsened by the hour.
Kael could feel the tether strain against its limits, like a fraying cord about to snap.
System Alert:
Carrier Node Resonance: 91%
Tether Integrity: 77%
External Anchor Required—Distance: 12 km
Elira walked silently, eyes locked ahead, her grip tight on her twin glyphblades. Since revealing her heritage, she'd barely spoken, her focus razor-sharp. Kael knew the truth weighed on her but there was no time for apologies or regrets.
Only movement.
---
They crested a ridge and there it was.
The Ruined Cradle.
What had once been a proud Sealbearer stronghold now lay cracked and collapsed, consumed by twisted vines and black crystal growths. Massive soul conduits jutted from its remains, leaking corrupted energy into the air like smoke from a dying fire.
Ashen stared at it, eyes distant.
"I know this place."
Kael turned to him. "How?"
"I've dreamed it. Over and over. There's something inside... calling me."
Kael exchanged a look with Elira. "Then we go in together. No matter what we find."
---
Inside the Cradle
The halls stank of old blood and burned sigils.
Statues of fallen heroes lined the crumbling paths, though their faces were melted by corruption. And far ahead beneath the central sanctum a deep pulse throbbed like a slow heartbeat.
Kael drew Emberfang, flames whispering to life. "Stay sharp."
They descended through shattered stone corridors, glyphs flickering along the walls echoes of the last battle here. Faint voices echoed in the dark:
"...they turned on us…"
"...Sealbearers gone mad…"
"...not death… rebirth…"
Elira paused at a massive doorway split in half.
"This was the Hall of Vows," she murmured. "Where elite Sealbearers swore loyalty to the Flame."
Kael pushed it open and froze.
They weren't alone.
Dozens of twisted forms knelt around the ruined altar at the center of the hall. Former Sealbearers. Now Devourer-warped husks with glowing sigils carved into their flesh. They didn't move yet.
Ashen staggered forward.
"They're waiting for something," he whispered. "No… for me."
Suddenly, the altar cracked.
A voice boomed:
"ASHEN VELT. THE LAST BEARER. YOU HAVE COME."
A ghostly figure rose from the center cloaked in crimson flame.
Elira gasped. "That's Highlord Varek… the Flamebinder. He led the fall of this place."
Kael stepped in front of Ashen. "You're dead."
"I am memory," Varek replied, "and warning. The Cradle fell because we tethered a child to a Gate and called it salvation. You walk the same road."
Ashen trembled. "I didn't choose this."
"No. But neither did I. Yet choice matters little when the Gate opens."
Varek raised a hand.
The husks rose in unison.
---
Boss Encounter Triggered:
Echo of the Cradle — Devourer Sealborn Varek
> Soul Mutation Level: 3
> Weakness: Purity Flame / Resonant Link
---
Kael leapt into action, Emberfang blazing with Titan Fire.
Elira dove between enemies, twin glyphblades slicing corrupted limbs.
Ashen held the rear chanting the Anchor Glyph Kael had taught him.
But Varek moved like lightning his flame twisted with shadow. He struck Kael across the chest, throwing him against the wall. Elira parried a chain of sigils, but even she was being pushed back.
"Ashen!" Kael shouted. "Now!"
Ashen stepped into the circle blood running down his hand as he slammed his palm onto the corrupted altar.
System Integration:
Second Tether Anchor Found
Anchor Sync: In Progress…
Status: Conflict Detected
Varek's ghost howled.
"YOU WILL NOT STABILIZE HIM!"
He surged forward
But Kael intercepted, activating his Titan Flame.
"Seal Art: Soul Engine Overload!"
He slammed Emberfang into the ground.
A massive explosion of golden flame tore through the chamber, engulfing the husks and Varek's echo. Kael dropped to one knee.
Silence.
Then
System Update:
Tether Integrity Boosted: 93%
Ashen's Resonance Reduced to 76%
Soul Anchor Secured
Ashen collapsed.
Kael caught him.
"We did it," Ashen muttered. "I felt him the voice it recoiled from the flame."
Elira knelt beside them, bloodied but alive.
Kael looked around at the ashes of the fallen.
"This place held its breath for years… waiting for someone to finish the battle. We gave it closure."
Ashen blinked. "Then why… does it still feel like we lost something?"
Kael didn't answer.
Because he felt it too.
---
Far away…
In a sealed obsidian chamber, the Hollow King stood before a mirror made of soulglass.
He watched the battle unfold.
"They grow stronger," he said.
A voice responded from behind him calm and cold.
"She's almost ready. Shall I awaken her?"
The Hollow King turned.
"Yes. Let them celebrate their tether... while the *true key* prepares to burn them all."