The Black Barge cut through the gray waters, its oarsmen rowing in silent rhythm. The mist clung low over the lagoon, curling like restless phantoms. Behind them, the Bonebridge Ruins were gone, swallowed by the sea with a final groan that echoed across the waves. But the silence it left was not relief; it was a hollow weight, the kind that lingers after something unnatural has taken root.
Malik stood at the stern, staring into the distance without truly seeing. Beneath his tunic, the Fifth Shard's imprint pulsed faintly against his sternum, as though it had replaced his heartbeat with its own rhythm. Every breath he took carried a faint metallic taste. His vision would occasionally flicker—momentary flashes of lattice threads hanging in the air, weaving and unweaving themselves in patterns he almost understood.
Elara stood near the railing, watching him. She had seen men possessed before—by greed, by Echoes, by curses—but this was different. Malik's presence felt heavier now, his shadow darker, his gaze sharper. Even the crew kept a careful distance.
"Say something," Rin finally muttered, breaking the tense quiet. She was crouched by the crates, absently cleaning her daggers. "Don't just stand there like a statue."
Malik didn't turn his head. "Something."
Rin's jaw tightened. "Not funny."
"It wasn't meant to be."
Elara stepped forward, her coral sabers sheathed but ready. "You merged with it." Her tone was not accusatory, but it carried weight. "The shard is inside you now. You let it in."
"I didn't have a choice." Malik's voice was low but steady. "The Warden would have taken me otherwise. The ruins would have buried us all."
"And now?" Elara asked.
"Now," Malik said slowly, finally turning to meet her gaze, "I see more than I did before."
His eyes had changed. Not completely, but enough. There was a faint, shifting glow in the irises—like watching light through deep water. It wasn't human, not entirely.
Rin frowned. "More how?"
Malik raised a hand. For a brief moment, thin strands of teal light flickered in the air around his fingers—threads of resonance that only someone touched by the shard could perceive. They swirled, converged, and wove into a crude shape of the Bone Leviathan they had left behind. Then, with a snap of his fingers, it unraveled into nothing.
"The shard doesn't just grant Echo. It… decodes the Vein," Malik murmured. "It shows me patterns—weak points in the Lattice. Paths hidden between what is and what should never be."
"That sounds like madness," Rin said flatly.
"It is," Malik replied, his expression unreadable. "But madness is often just a truth too large for the mind."
Elara narrowed her eyes. "You've tied yourself to it. The Keeper will notice. It already has."
Malik didn't deny it. He could still feel the Keeper's lingering attention like a cold finger pressed against the back of his skull. It had whispered as they fled, its voice a faint ripple through the threads: Keep weaving, little thief. You're almost mine.
He didn't intend to be anyone's pawn—not the Keeper's, not Elara's, not fate's.
The barge rocked slightly as it passed from the lagoon into open waters. In the distance, Driftshore's jagged silhouette loomed—a reminder that the city itself was a nest of schemes waiting to devour the weak. Malik exhaled slowly.
"We're not going back to Driftshore," he said suddenly.
Rin blinked. "What? Why?"
"Because the Keeper won't let this go," Malik said. "The Bonebridge Ruins were only the first tether. The Lattice Vein has deeper roots. If we stay in one place, it will find us."
Elara tilted her head slightly. "Where then?"
Malik turned toward the horizon, where the sea met a pale strip of sky. "We go east. To the Verdant Maw."
Even Elara seemed surprised at that. "You're serious? The Maw is a deathtrap. Resonance storms constantly sweep through it, and the reefs are haunted by Leviathan fragments that even I wouldn't cross."
"That's exactly why we go," Malik said. "It's the only place the Keeper's influence is weaker. The Vein doesn't flow naturally there. And there's something hidden in its depths—an old rumor I've been following."
Rin sighed, running a hand down her face. "You always pick the worst possible options."
Malik smirked faintly. "The worst options often hide the best rewards."
The conversation ended there. The barge turned, cutting away from Driftshore's silhouette and heading east toward the Maw.
---
The journey was brutal. The seas grew choppier as they neared the Verdant Maw, and the sky took on a sickly green hue. At night, resonance lightning danced across the waves, illuminating the vast reefs below like skeletal fingers clawing toward the surface.
Malik spent the nights awake, staring into the dark waters. Sleep came in fragments, invaded by dreams that weren't his. He saw the Keeper's face—or what passed for one—an endless mass of coral and bone with hollow sockets that glowed like dying stars. It whispered in a language of threads, pulling him toward something deeper.
Each morning, Rin would look at him and mutter, "You look worse."
Each morning, he would simply reply, "I'm fine."
Elara, however, didn't press him. She watched quietly, studying him with the same caution one might reserve for a venomous snake.
On the third day, they reached the outer rim of the Verdant Maw.
It was like staring into a wound in the ocean. The waters turned emerald, choked with strange, luminescent algae that clung to the reefs. The air hummed faintly with an unnatural resonance, and the waves moved in disjointed patterns, sometimes flowing backward.
"This place is wrong," Rin whispered, gripping the railing.
"It's the Maw," Elara said quietly. "It doesn't obey the sea. It obeys… something else."
Malik stood at the bow, his eyes scanning the horizon. "Somewhere in there lies the Echo Vault. If I'm right, it holds something older than the Keeper itself."
"And if you're wrong?" Rin asked.
"Then we die."
The barge slipped into the Maw's waters, and instantly the air grew heavier. Echo fragments danced above the reefs like will-o'-wisps. The crew muttered prayers under their breath.
As they navigated the twisting coral passages, Malik felt the Fifth Shard stir in his chest. It resonated faintly, aligning with something deeper within the Maw. He could feel a pull, faint but certain, guiding him.
"This way," he said suddenly, pointing toward a narrow channel between two jagged reefs.
Elara frowned. "There's no passage there. It's a dead end."
"It isn't," Malik said simply.
She hesitated, then gave the order. The barge turned.
As they entered the channel, the water grew unnaturally still. The noise of the waves faded, replaced by a low hum that seemed to vibrate through their bones.
Then the channel opened into a hidden basin.
In the center of the basin was an island—if it could be called that. It was more like a massive spiral of coral and bone, rising from the water like the ribs of some colossal beast. At its peak stood a single black obelisk, covered in symbols older than the Lattice itself.
Rin gasped softly. "What is that?"
Malik's lips curved slightly. "The Echo Vault."
But as they approached, the waters around the basin stirred. Dark shapes moved beneath the surface—dozens of them.
Elara cursed under her breath. "We're not alone."
The shapes rose.
They were not Wraithborn. They were worse.
Leviathan Shards.
Fragments of ancient sea beasts, bound together by resonance, neither alive nor dead. Each one was a grotesque mix of bone, coral, and glowing threads. Their hollow eyes fixed on the barge with cold, unthinking hunger.
Rin tightened her grip on her daggers. "Tell me you have a plan, Malik."
Malik stepped to the edge of the barge, staring at the swarm of Leviathan Shards. He felt the Fifth Shard's power pulse in response, eager, restless.
He smiled faintly. "I don't have a plan. I have an opportunity."
And as the first Leviathan Shard lunged from the water, Malik leapt to meet it, his blade igniting with the shard's resonance, slicing through the creature's coral skull in a single fluid motion.
The battle for the Vault had begun.
The Leviathan Shard shattered under Malik's strike, fragments of coral and bone scattering across the barge's deck. But the victory was fleeting. For every shard he destroyed, two more emerged from the depths, their hollow forms glowing with eerie resonance threads.
The water churned violently as the swarm encircled them. The Black Barge rocked under the force of the approaching tide, crew members scrambling to hold their footing.
"Too many!" Rin shouted, ducking as a shard lunged from the port side, its jagged coral jaws snapping shut inches from her face. She slashed upward with her daggers, slicing through a tendon of resonance thread that bound the creature's skull to its body. It shrieked—a sound like metal grinding against bone—before collapsing back into the sea.
Elara was already moving, her coral sabers glowing faintly as she spun through the deck, cutting down another Leviathan Shard that had latched onto the railing. She moved like a dancer, each step precise, every strike efficient. But even she could see the futility of it.
"They're drawn to the shard inside you!" she shouted at Malik between strikes. "As long as you carry it, they'll keep coming!"
Malik ignored her. His eyes were locked on the obelisk rising from the spiral island. The Fifth Shard pulsed harder, resonating in tandem with something beneath the Vault. He could feel it calling.
This is not an attack. It's a test.
He leapt again, this time not at the shards but toward the sea itself. He landed on the back of a Leviathan Shard mid-leap, driving his blade deep into the creature's spine-like coral. The shard bucked violently, but Malik held fast, riding it like a broken beast.
From this vantage, he saw something beneath the waves—a faint pattern glowing deep below the surface. Threads forming a sigil, ancient and incomplete. It was a lock.
The Vault won't open unless it's fed, the Fifth Shard whispered in his mind. These fragments are keys of bone. Break them. Bind them.
Understanding clicked into place. Malik wasn't supposed to just survive this. He was meant to harvest it.
"Rin! Elara! Keep them busy!" he barked.
"What are you doing?" Rin yelled as she gutted another shard.
"Finishing this."
Malik drove his hand into the Leviathan Shard he was riding. The Fifth Shard's resonance flared, threads unraveling the creature's core. Instead of collapsing into inert fragments, its essence swirled into Malik's palm, a condensed shard of its Echo.
He leapt to another Leviathan Shard, repeating the process. Each time, the Fifth Shard drank deeper, weaving the stolen Echoes into Malik's own resonance threads. He could feel the fragments merging into something new, something sharper.
The swarm howled in unison as their numbers dwindled, sensing the predator among them.
Elara cut down another shard climbing the barge's stern. "Whatever you're doing, do it faster!"
Malik didn't answer. He was beyond words now, moving with inhuman precision, leaping from one shard to the next like stepping stones. Each kill fed the Fifth Shard, and each feeding made him faster, stronger, more attuned.
But it wasn't without cost.
With every Leviathan Shard absorbed, Malik felt the Keeper's presence grow stronger in the back of his mind. Its voice slithered through the threads: Little thief… you weave well. But do you know whose tapestry this truly is?
He ignored it, focusing on the rhythm of the hunt.
When the last Leviathan Shard fell, the basin fell silent. The water was littered with fragments of coral and bone, but no more creatures emerged.
Malik stood atop the barge, breathing hard. His blade dripped with resonance ichor. His veins glowed faintly with teal light, and for a moment, he didn't look entirely human.
Rin stared at him warily. "You… absorbed them?"
"Yes," Malik said simply.
Elara's eyes narrowed. "You're becoming something worse than the Keeper's pawn."
"No," Malik corrected, stepping onto the deck. "I'm becoming the one who cuts its strings."
The Fifth Shard pulsed once, hard enough to make the air hum.
Then the basin changed.
The water in the center of the spiral island receded, draining away to reveal a path of bone leading up toward the black obelisk. At the base of the obelisk, a faint glow emanated from an open seam—like a door waiting to be stepped through.
"That's it," Malik murmured. "The Vault."
Elara frowned. "Are you certain?"
"Yes." Malik leapt from the barge onto the bone path without hesitation.
Rin groaned. "Why does he never wait?" She followed reluctantly.
Elara was last, her steps cautious but sure.
As they climbed the spiral, the air grew heavier. The hum of resonance deepened into a low vibration that rattled their bones. Strange glyphs lit up along the obelisk, pulsing in time with Malik's heartbeat.
When they reached the seam, Malik placed his hand on it. The Fifth Shard flared, sending a wave of resonance into the structure. The door slid open soundlessly, revealing a dark corridor descending into the obelisk's core.
The moment they stepped inside, the world shifted.
They were no longer on an island.
Instead, they stood in a vast chamber made entirely of lattice threads, woven so tightly that the space felt infinite. Floating in the center was a single object—a shard far larger than the one Malik had merged with. It was pure obsidian, with veins of glowing blue running through it like a frozen river.
This was no fragment.
This was a Heart Shard.
Even Elara's composure cracked. "I've… heard of these. But I thought they were myths."
"They're real," Malik said quietly. "And they're the core of the Keeper's power."
The Heart Shard pulsed faintly. Malik felt the Fifth Shard within him resonate violently in response, like a starving animal sensing a feast.
Take it, the Fifth Shard whispered. Consume it. Become more.
Rin shifted uneasily. "Malik… maybe we should leave this one alone. This feels… wrong."
"Everything about this world is wrong," Malik said. He stepped forward.
But before he could touch the Heart Shard, the chamber quaked.
A figure materialized from the threads—a humanoid shape, but made entirely of coral and glowing lines. Its face was featureless save for two hollow sockets.
A voice filled the chamber, echoing from everywhere at once.
Little thief. You have come far, but you are still bound by the same tapestry. Do you truly believe you can weave without the loom?
The figure extended a hand, and the Heart Shard lifted into the air, suspended between them.
Malik gritted his teeth. "I'm not here to serve you."
No, the Keeper's voice said softly. You are here to replace me.
The threads in the chamber snapped taut, and suddenly Malik was no longer standing on solid ground. He was falling—falling through layers of resonance patterns, visions of the past flashing before his eyes. He saw Driftshore burning. He saw the Bone Leviathan rising. He saw himself—not as he was, but as something else, something monstrous, crowned in threads of the Lattice Vein.
Then he landed.
The Heart Shard floated before him, still within reach.
But the Keeper's figure now stood in his way, no longer an echo but fully formed, towering and impossibly vast.
"This is it," Rin whispered behind him. "This is a trap."
"No," Malik said, stepping forward, blade in hand. "This is an opportunity."
And he lunged.
The Keeper moved.
What followed was not a fight in the physical sense. It was a clash of resonance threads, of will against will. Malik's Fifth Shard flared, weaving patterns to counter the Keeper's strikes. Each exchange unraveled more of the chamber around them, threads snapping and reforming in chaotic spirals.
Elara and Rin could only watch from the edge, unable to intervene.
Malik's strikes were relentless. He moved with a predator's precision, using every fragment he had absorbed, every thread he had stolen. But the Keeper was vast. Each time Malik cut it down, it reformed, drawing from the infinite reservoir of the Lattice Vein.
"You cannot kill what is woven into the world," the Keeper said calmly. You can only replace it.
Malik froze for half a heartbeat.
Replace it?
The Fifth Shard surged inside him, threads unspooling like wild vines. It showed him a possibility—not victory in the traditional sense, but domination through substitution.
If he merged with the Heart Shard, he wouldn't just gain more power. He would overwrite the Keeper's thread in this place. He would take its place.
The idea was intoxicating. Terrifying.
But Malik had never been one to shy away from the impossible.
He let go of his blade.
Instead, he reached for the Heart Shard.
The Keeper lunged.
The moment Malik's hand touched the shard, the chamber erupted in light. Threads snapped, rewove, and spiraled into a new pattern centered on him. The Keeper shrieked—not in fear, but in something that almost sounded like approval.
Then everything went black.
---
When Malik opened his eyes, he was lying on the floor of the obelisk chamber.
The Heart Shard was gone.
The Fifth Shard inside him was silent, but heavier, denser. He could feel it coiled deep in his core, changed by what it had consumed.
Elara was staring at him, her expression unreadable. Rin was pale, clutching her daggers like a lifeline.
"…What did you do?" Rin whispered.
Malik stood slowly. His shadow stretched unnaturally long across the chamber floor. When he spoke, his voice carried an undertone that wasn't entirely his.
"I rewrote the thread."
Outside, the waters of the Verdant Maw began to stir again—but this time, they moved in patterns that followed him.