The last rune cracked apart like brittle ice.
The sound echoed through the cavern, sharp and final, before fading into the heavy silence that followed. One by one, the glowing symbols faded into dust, and with them went the protective barrier that had kept this chamber sealed for gods knew how long.
The Sentinel didn't enter.
It loomed at the cavern mouth, its claws pressed to the stone, its crimson eye glowing with fury and… hesitation. For all its size, for all its power, the beast refused to cross the threshold. The runes hadn't been keeping it out—they had been keeping something else in.
Aric's breath caught. Shadows writhed violently around him, responding to the surge of despair flooding the chamber. Every instinct screamed at him to flee, yet his legs refused to move. Lira took a cautious step closer, sword raised, silver eyes reflecting the torchlight.
"What's in here with us?" she whispered.
The Sorrow System answered.
[Warning: Prisoner Detected.][Classification: Unknown.][Origin: Pre-Demon King Era.][System Source Link Confirmed.]
Aric's heart slammed against his ribs. Pre-Demon King? The System itself was tied to something older than the apocalypse?
The shadows at the far end of the chamber stirred, moving with an unnatural rhythm. At first, it looked like mist, a shifting pool of darkness. Then the darkness drew upward, threads weaving together until a figure stood there.
Tall. Thin. Shackled.
Its robes were torn and frayed, the fabric dripping like liquid shadow. From its wrists and ankles hung chains that dragged across the stone, their clinking sound hollow and dreadful. Where its face should have been, there was only a porcelain mask, cracked and painted with a smile too wide to be human.
It moved one step forward, and the cavern shook. Not from weight, but from despair so thick it pressed on the walls like a physical force.
The Sentinel outside bellowed, slamming against the barrier with bone-rattling fury. Dust rained down from the ceiling. And still—it would not cross.
The figure stopped, head tilting at an unnatural angle. Its voice emerged, smooth yet hollow, sinking into their bones.
"You woke me."
The words weren't spoken aloud. They were felt.
Lira's grip on her sword faltered, her knuckles white. "What are you?"
The mask shifted, the cracks spreading like veins. "I am sorrow before sorrow had a name. I am grief given form. The first broken. The last who remembers."
The System pulsed violently in Aric's mind.
[Warning: Resonance Detected.][Integration Risk: 72%.]
Aric's breath caught. Resonance. Integration. This thing wasn't just connected to the System. It was the System.
The prisoner raised its chained hand. Black ichor dripped from the links, sizzling where it struck the floor. The painted smile widened further, splintering.
"You carry my sorrow," it said.
Aric's shadows lashed wildly. His chest burned as the System confirmed: [Source Identified.]
This… thing was the origin of everything. The reason he had the System at all.
His voice rasped, but he forced the words out. "I'm not your vessel. I'll master this system—and I'll destroy every demon. Including you."
The prisoner's chuckle was a hollow sound that scraped against his skull. "Destroy? Foolish boy. You cannot destroy what you are."
The chains lashed with sudden speed. Aric threw up a wall of shadows, tendrils coiling into a barrier. The impact cracked the stone, hurling him against the cavern wall. Pain flared through his ribs, copper flooding his mouth.
"Aric!" Lira charged, blade arcing in silver light. Her strike hit a chain, sparks exploding on impact, but the metal didn't break. The recoil flung her backward, sending her skidding across the ground.
The prisoner loomed closer. Its voice filled Aric's head, pressing down like a mountain.
"Do you think you chose the System? It chose you. It always chooses the broken. You are the continuation of my grief."
Aric forced himself upright, blood running down his chin. "Then I'll be the vessel that ends it."
The System pulsed, shadows erupting outward in jagged waves. Violet light flared across the chamber. For the first time, the prisoner staggered. Its mask split further, a fissure running through the painted smile.
Outside, the Sentinel roared again, clawing at the broken barrier. It wanted in now. It had to stop this—but still, something bound it back.
The cavern trembled. Cracks spread across the walls, dust and stone raining down.
Lira pushed herself to her feet, sword trembling in her grip. She pressed her shoulder against Aric's, her voice sharp, steady despite the fear etched across her face. "We can't fight both. Either we run—or we die here."
Aric's chest heaved. His shadows twitched, writhing with a will not entirely his own. The prisoner's voice sank deeper into him, like hooks digging into flesh.
"Break, Aric. Break… and you will be free."
The ground split open, a jagged crack tearing through the floor.
The cavern began to collapse.
The Sentinel forced its claw through the barrier, tearing at the stone with an ear-splitting shriek. The prisoner stretched its hand toward him, chains rattling violently. Shadows coiled like vipers around Aric's arms, pulling him toward it.
Lira shouted, grabbing his sleeve, her voice raw. "Aric—choose!"
The world shuddered. Shadows surged.
Aric stood caught between the maw of a beast and the hand of despair itself.
And in that instant, as stone fell and darkness howled, the chapter ended—on the knife's edge of his choice.