The fire had faded.
All that remained was silence and the scent of scorched air.
Arka stood at the edge of the broken mountain, his skin still glowing faintly with gold and silver veins.
Below him stretched a land turned to glass, every peak reflecting the heavens.
He could feel it: the pulse of three seals awakened Star, Sea, and Flame beating as one within his chest.
"You've crossed the threshold," the wolf murmured. "But the last path is not made of stone or sky."
Arka frowned. "Then where is it?"
"Above memory. Beyond the reach of the living."
The words hung like mist.
A wind rose soft, almost musical carrying whispers that were not from this world.
Then, the sky split open.
✦ The Fracture of Heaven
A rift appeared above the horizon, stretching wide like a wound in reality.
From it poured light not sunlight, but something purer, colder, ancient.
Within that light shimmered stairways of crystal and rivers flowing upward instead of down.
Arka's body trembled as his marks began to glow, forming a constellation across his skin.
The air itself bent around him.
"That is the Celestial Veil," the wolf said softly.
"Only one who bears the blood of three worlds can open it."
"So this is the road to the final seal?"
"Yes. But beware… the last one guards not power, but truth."
Arka's silver-gold eyes narrowed. "Then I'll face it. No matter what truth it hides."
He leapt.
✦ Between Realms
The moment his feet left the earth, gravity ceased to exist.
He soared upward, surrounded by a cyclone of light and fragments of forgotten worlds ruins of divine palaces, shattered constellations, echoes of gods that once were.
For a moment, time lost meaning.
Each breath felt like eternity.
He passed through clouds of memory seeing flashes of his past life:
The boy who bled for honor.
The warrior who killed for vengeance.
The vessel who forgot what he truly was.
"You are not his shadow anymore," the wolf's voice echoed.
"You are becoming the bridge between beast and god."
Arka reached out, touching the stream of light and it solidified beneath his feet, forming a path of pure starlight.
✦ The Hall of Mirrors
At the end of that road awaited a vast gate, floating in nothingness.
It was carved from mirrored glass, reflecting countless versions of himself human, beast, god, and something else… something that smiled back even when he didn't.
As he stepped closer, the reflections began to move on their own.
One spoke, its voice distorted yet familiar.
"Why do you seek the final seal?"
Arka answered, "To break the cycle. To end the curse that bound us."
Another reflection laughed bitterly.
"And what will you become when it's done? A savior, or the same monster that birthed the war?"
Each word hit like a blade, cutting deeper than any battle wound.
He realized this was not an enemy.
This was the Trial of Self.
"Only truth can open the last gate," the wolf whispered. "Face it, or be consumed by it."
Arka exhaled slowly, eyes steady.
"I am not him. I carry his sins, but I'll rewrite his story."
He stepped forward into the mirror.
✦ The Echo of the Divine
A blinding flash.
Then silence.
He stood in a realm of pure light.
No sky. No ground. Only endless radiance that pulsed like a living heart.
From within the glow, a voice spoke deep, resonant, older than time.
"At last, the inheritor stands before the Throne of Origin."
Arka looked up and saw a figure sitting upon a colossal seat carved from galaxies.
Eyes like collapsing stars.
A presence that could shatter existence with a breath.
"You have broken three seals," the voice said. "But do you know what they truly are?"
Arka remained silent.
"They are not powers to claim. They are memories to bear. Each seal a sin your kind committed and a promise broken."
The realization struck like lightning.
The Star Wolf's legacy was not conquest it was punishment.
"If you open the final seal," the being warned, "you will not ascend. You will remember."
Arka clenched his fists. "Then let me remember. Only truth can set us free."
The being smiled a terrifying, beautiful smile.
"So be it."
Light engulfed everything.