Chapter 4: The Red Seal
Faith didn't remember the explosion.
He remembered the light — blinding, silver, endless. He remembered Kael's scream, the sound of stone splitting, the sensation of being pulled through the air like a thread unraveling. But the moment itself? Gone. Like a dream swallowed by morning.
He woke in a field of ash.
The Temple of First Light was no longer a ruin — it was a crater. Smoke curled from the edges like fingers reaching for the sky. The valley below was silent. No birds. No wind. Just the echo of something ancient having been disturbed.
Kael lay nearby, unconscious but breathing. Her blade was broken. Her cloak was torn. Faith crawled to her, checked her pulse, then sat back, trembling.
The guidebook was gone.
But the map remained — burned into his memory. Four empires. Four seals. One marked in red.
Faith stood.
He didn't know where the red seal was. But he knew it was calling.
They traveled west.
Kael recovered slowly, her movements stiff, her silence heavier than usual. She didn't ask what happened in the temple. She didn't ask about the explosion. She simply walked, one hand on her side, the other on the hilt of a new blade she'd taken from a fallen imperial scout.
Faith didn't speak either.
He was changing.
The powers he'd absorbed were no longer chaotic — they were organizing themselves. Fire nested in his lungs. Flight curled around his spine. Strength pulsed in his limbs. But something else had awakened. Something deeper.
He could hear thoughts.
Not clearly. Not words. But emotions. Intent. When Kael looked at him, he felt her fear. When they passed a merchant caravan, he felt suspicion. When they entered the outskirts of the Western Empire, he felt hunger. Not his own. The city's.
The capital of the Western Empire was called Veylith.
It was a city of glass and steel, built on the bones of an ancient Ki monastery. The empire had paved over the past, replacing shrines with laboratories, monks with engineers. Heavenly Fruit research was their obsession. They didn't worship the gods — they dissected them.
Faith and Kael entered through the lower gates, posing as traders. Kael wore a hood. Faith wore silence. The guards didn't look twice.
Inside, the city pulsed with energy. Fruit users walked openly, their powers displayed like jewelry. One man floated above the crowd, his skin glowing with runes. A woman turned invisible mid-step, reappearing with a laugh. Children played with sparks between their fingers.
Faith felt sick.
Kael led him to a tavern beneath the central spire. It was dark, loud, and full of whispers. They sat in the corner. Kael ordered nothing. Faith listened.
The red seal was here.
Not physically. But the energy — the pull — was strongest in this city. Somewhere beneath the spire, something ancient was buried.
Kael leaned in. "There's a vault beneath the research tower. They call it the Archive. It's where they store fruit fragments, failed experiments, and sealed relics."
Faith nodded. "That's where the seal is."
Kael didn't argue.
They infiltrated the tower at night.
Kael disabled the alarms. Faith melted the locks. They moved like shadows, descending floor by floor until the air grew cold and the walls turned to stone.
The Archive was massive.
Rows of glass chambers lined the walls, each containing a fragment of a fruit — some pulsing, some dormant, some screaming. Faith felt them. Each one was a memory. A life. A soul.
At the center of the room stood a pedestal.
On it: a seal.
Red. Glowing. Etched with the same symbol as the guidebook — two wings, one broken, one whole.
Faith approached.
The seal pulsed.
Kael drew her blade. "Are you sure?"
Faith nodded.
He placed his hand on the seal.
It shattered.
The explosion was silent.
No light. No sound. Just a wave of energy that knocked Kael to the ground and sent Faith into a vision.
He stood in a void.
Before him: four thrones.
Each occupied by a figure cloaked in light. The empires. The rulers. The architects of the Heavenly system.
One throne was empty.
A voice echoed.
You are the fifth. The unthroned. The balance.
Faith tried to speak, but the void swallowed his voice.
The thrones turned to him.
You were not meant to awaken. You were meant to be used.
Faith clenched his fists.
I will not be used.
The thrones laughed.
Then you will be hunted.
Faith fell.
He woke in the Archive.
Kael was beside him, blade drawn, eyes wide. "They're coming."
Faith stood.
The seal was gone.
But something had changed.
The fruit fragments were reacting — glowing, vibrating, whispering. The room felt alive. The empire had felt the break. And now, they were coming to contain it.
Faith turned to Kael.
"We run."
Kael nodded.
They escaped through the lower tunnels, emerging into the undercity. Alarms blared above. Soldiers mobilized. The city was waking.
Faith didn't look back.
He had broken the first seal.
And the fall had begun.