They came for him at dawn.
No warning.
No barked orders.
Just the cold clatter of keys and the long, low groan of iron doors swinging wide.
Four guards entered the cell block like wraiths.
Silent. Armored. Masked.
Not the usual brutes who reeked of sweat and swagger.
These men moved like hunters.
Kaia was on her feet before they reached the cell.
Eyes narrow. Lips drawn. Ears twitching once.
She didn't speak — didn't dare — but her posture was pure threat.
Like a blade unsheathed… and waiting.
Rei stood slowly.
He didn't resist.
Didn't speak.
Didn't flinch.
He just looked at her — a glance across the space between cages.
A flicker of something shared.
Something that hadn't yet found a name.
Then the shackles returned.
The lead guard gripped his shoulder tight, steering him away.
Not toward the pit.
Not toward the brand-forges or the killing sands.
Lower.
Deeper.
Where the heat turned to cold.
Where the stone sweated old blood.
Where even echoes were swallowed by the dark.
They passed cells that hadn't held breath in decades.
Cages carved with warding runes long faded.
Claw marks etched in walls like forgotten prayers.
The air stank of mildew… and despair.
And deeper still —
they reached the door.
A single slab of obsidian steel, taller than three men.
Etched in runes that only danced in the corners of his eyes.
Look directly — they vanished.
Look away — they pulsed.
It opened without sound.
Inside:
A circular chamber of basalt and black glass.
Sigils laced the floor like veins.
Shackles hung from ceiling and stone.
And at the center — an altar.
Not for worship.
For witnessing.
And beside it… the Overseer.
Thin as thread. Crooked at the spine.
Draped in silks that shimmered like oil on poison water.
His face was too smooth. Too tight.
Eyes small and black — not eyes at all. Just holes.
He smiled when he saw Rei.
"Aren't you… fascinating," he said, voice soft as silk dragged through ash.
Rei said nothing.
The guards forced him to his knees.
Steel scraped stone. Chains hissed.
The Overseer stepped closer, hands folded behind his back, pacing like a man inspecting a broken artifact.
"We once thought we had summoned divinity. A god, bound in flesh. But the rite cracked. The vessel failed."
He paused, tilting his head like a curious crow.
"And yet… you bled through anyway."
Rei's jaw tightened.
The Overseer leaned closer, too close.
His breath carried the scent of incense, bloodwax, and something older.
Burnt offerings from a forgotten altar.
"Tell me, boy…" he whispered.
"When it stirs… what does it say to you?"
Rei didn't answer.
The Overseer's smile widened.
"'Feed me,' isn't it?"
The mark on Rei's chest pulsed.
Once.
Hard.
Like a second heartbeat.
The Overseer's tone shifted — no longer mocking.
"This is not punishment. Isolation is a crucible. A forge. You will either master it… or it will feast on what remains."
They hauled Rei upright and dragged him to the dais.
The shackles were colder than before.
Runed. Laced with Null-silver and Blackstone-bark.
They snapped around his wrists. Ankles. Throat.
The altar pulsed with old power — a heartbeat that wasn't his.
The brand answered.
And the pain began.
Not flesh.
Not bone.
Something deeper.
A pressure.
A weight behind the soul.
As if something vast leaned close — not to crush him.
But to see if he would bend.
To see if he would break.
To see if he would feed.
**
Back in the cells, Kaia sat unmoving.
Back straight. Eyes locked on the empty space where he had stood.
She didn't know what they were doing.
But she knew what Blackstone did to things it couldn't explain.
To powers it feared.
To names it could not chain.
And this time,
she wouldn't just watch.
This time,
she would hunt.