[Unknown Location – The Throne of Ash]
Darkness breathed here.
A place buried so deep underground even light had forgotten it.
The walls were black stone, shaped by no hand—only by pressure and hate. Red cracks pulsed through the rock like veins, casting faint, angry glows on the ceiling.
At the center of the massive chamber stood a throne made of bones, half-melted and twisted by fire.
And on it…
He waited.
The Demon King.
Not quite asleep.
Not quite awake.
His eyes were closed, but his mind moved like shadow smoke through the cracks of the world.
He had many names.
But the world had long forgotten the one that mattered.
Only one thing remained.
Hunger.
A lesser demon, small and shaking, crept into the chamber.
It knelt, barely breathing.
"My King… they have awakened."
The Demon King's eyes opened slowly—twin voids laced with crimson.
"Two?"
"Yes. The boy... and the girl. Both Vessels have merged with their marks."
A low sound echoed through the chamber. It might have been a breath. It might have been a growl.
"And the others?" he asked.
"No signs… yet."
The Demon King stood.
The air shifted around him.
Power—not magic—leaked from his body like poison. The lesser demon began to rot on the spot, its body turning to dust before it could scream.
He didn't care.
"Then the Seals truly are breaking."
He walked slowly toward the altar at the back of the throne room—an ancient slab with markings older than language.
Seven circles carved in a ring.
Five still dim.
Two now glowing—one red, one blue.
He touched the red.
"Kael's blood," he said softly, almost fond. "The flame that betrayed me."
He touched the blue.
"…And the storm child. Locked in a cage too long."
Then he placed his clawed hand in the center of the circle.
A ripple of black light spread out.
"Send the Shadowborn. All of them."
"Bring me the boy's heart—
and the girl's rage."
[Meanwhile – Edge of the Crater]
Coker sat with Naia and Elira beside the wreckage of the prison, trying to make sense of what came next.
Naia sat on a broken wall, hugging her knees. She watched the sky like it might turn on her any second.
Elira was sketching rune shapes in the dirt, trying to calculate how much time they had.
Coker broke the silence.
"You were locked up your whole life?"
Naia nodded. "Since I was six. I didn't know why. Only that people died when I cried."
Coker swallowed. "I know the feeling."
She looked at him. "Do you ever feel like it's not your power?"
"All the time," he said. "Like someone's watching from inside."
Naia nodded slowly.
"Mine… talks to me sometimes."
He blinked. "What does it say?"
She didn't answer.
Elira stood suddenly.
"We need to move. Something's coming."
Naia didn't argue. Coker stood too.
"What kind of something?"
Elira's hand went to her dagger.
"The kind that kills in silence."
In the shadows of the ruined cliffs, black shapes began to emerge.
Tall. Thin. With glowing green eyes and no mouths.
The Shadowborn.
Assassins bred in the Demon King's tombs.
Not loud. Not strong. Just fast. And deadly.
Coker's mark glowed before he saw them.
Naia's eyes lit blue.
Elira whispered, "They're here for the Vessels. Keep them away from your blood. That's what they want."
Coker clenched his fists.
Naia stood beside him, her hair floating again.
The wind picked up.
Lightning cracked in her palms.
And for the first time…
Coker smiled.
"Let them try."