The night sky above Duskfall roiled with storm clouds, as if the heavens sensed the fault line growing beneath the city. Lightning danced behind them in silence.
Inside the forgehouse, the air vibrated with mana.
Altharion stood before his disciples. They knelt in reverence, freshly marked with sigils of awakening, glowing faintly along their skin.
"You have stepped beyond the veil," he said, voice low but heavy. "You now walk the path they denied you. But this is only the beginning."
He pointed toward the north.
"A great storm is coming. And with it... she."
Far North - Temple of the Hollow Star
Lysaria Venn walked barefoot through a hall lined with dead prophets.
Each body was preserved, eyes gouged, mouths stitched shut with fate-threads. She passed them with quiet reverence.
She was no mere seer. She was the Keeper of the Loom.
The world, she knew, was a tapestry fraying at the edges.
And at its center, again, was Altharion Veil.
She stood before an obsidian mirror, one that did not reflect light, but truth.
"Show me the Archon," she whispered.
The glass rippled.
Altharion appeared—cloaked in shadows, surrounded by fire-branded youth.
His soul burned so brightly it cracked the mirror.
She blinked. "Too soon. He remembers too much."
A voice echoed in her mind.
"Will you stop him, Lysaria?"
"No," she said. "But I must confront him. Before the world forgets the cost of gods."
Celestial Dome - Trinity Vault, Depth Level 9
Gears screeched. Vaults hissed open.
Helios stood at the edge of a chamber soaked in time-distortion. Inside, chained by a thousand divine seals, was a dormant machine of impossible size.
Its core glowed faintly. A heartbeat.
"Protocol Leviathan," he whispered.
A voice, ancient and monotone, responded: "Do you wish to initiate total engagement?"
Helios hesitated.
Then: "Begin calibration. Target: Altharion Veil."
The ground trembled.
Duskfall - Cathedral Ruins
Altharion climbed the bell tower alone. The city stretched before him—broken, shivering, waiting.
He sensed her before he saw her.
Lysaria stepped from a fold in space, violet flame in her empty eyes.
"It has been a long time, Archon."
He smiled faintly. "You see without eyes, and yet, you still come."
"Because you are tipping the weave. The world cannot survive another Sundering."
"Then they should not have awakened me."
She stepped closer. "I am not your enemy, Altharion. But I will stop you, if I must."
He tilted his head. "Then stop me."
A long silence.
Lysaria exhaled. "Not today."
And she vanished.
Final Scene - Slums of Duskfall
In the shadows of a crumbling alley, a child stared up at a wall where someone had etched a glowing symbol.
The Rune of Becoming.
He touched it, and it pulsed.
Hope spread like a spark.