The gate was open.Dark stone, old as time, groaned.
Vael walked first.Nyra followed, weak but steady.
Reylen kept close.His blade shimmered dimly.
The air thickened.Like breathing smoke.
Whispers returned.But they spoke in a different voice.
Not the crown's.Something older.
"Why do you come?"A voice like thunder and ice.
Vael stopped.Before them—three shapes.
Not human.Not beast.
One had wings of shattered glass.Another bled shadows.The last wore a mask of bone.
"The Crown chose you," said the masked one."But we are its chains."
Reylen raised his blade."They're not real."
"They're real," Nyra said softly."They were once kings."
The winged one stepped forward."I was Solen. The Lightkeeper."
His body shimmered—memories flashing.A city, burning. A boy crying.
"I wore the crown to save them.It killed them all."
Vael clenched his fists.The pain in his head sharpened.
The second spoke."I was Miren. The Lover of the Deep."
She knelt, black tears falling."I begged it for a second chance.It gave me silence."
Then the third."I am Dhal, the Hollow Voice.I wore it for power."
His bones cracked as he laughed."Now I guard what I sought."
Vael didn't back down."I'm not like you."
"No," said Solen."But you will be."
Their forms surged.Swords of shadow. Wings of flame.
Reylen moved fast.Clashed with Solen.
Miren wept blades.Nyra held them off with what magic she had left.
Vael faced Dhal.The masked one.
"You want power?" Dhal asked."Take it."
He opened his chest.Inside—another crown.
Twisted. Screaming. Alive.
Vael reached for it—Then stopped.
He crushed it beneath his boot.
Dhal roared."Fool! You turn from strength?"
"I don't want yours."Vael's eyes burned. "I have my own."
Light burst from the crushed relic.Dhal vanished—dissolved into dust.
The battle froze.Solen and Miren watched.
Then bowed.
"You might break the chain," Miren whispered."Or bind it tighter."
They faded.Only ash remained.
Vael turned.Reylen was wounded. Nyra was on one knee.
The gate opened wider.Cold wind howled from within.
Vael walked on.And the whispers began to scream.