The fire had almost died when Kael Veyr finally broke the silence, his old eyes fixed on Eryndor with a seriousness that made the mountain air feel heavier. "You can't stay here, kid," he said quietly. "Not with that thing inside you." Eryndor remained silent, but Kael could already see the fear buried behind his calm expression. After hearing about the cultivation realms and the ancient Throne-Bearers, Eryndor understood how dangerous his existence truly was, yet he still knew almost nothing about the power sleeping within him. Kael slowly reached into his robe and pulled out a worn black jade token engraved with a silver symbol shaped like a crescent moon. "Take this and go east beyond the Ashen Valleys," he continued. "There's only one person left in this world strong enough to understand what you're becoming." Eryndor looked down at the token as Kael finally spoke the name with visible respect. "Aluki."
The moment that name entered the conversation, even the wind outside seemed to grow quieter. Kael explained that Aluki was considered the strongest cultivator alive, a figure so powerful that most sects treated him like a myth rather than a man. Legends claimed he had once stopped a heavenly catastrophe alone, splitting an entire sea with a single technique and forcing three Heavenly Sovereigns to retreat without even drawing his blade. Yet despite his unimaginable strength, Aluki had disappeared from the cultivation world centuries ago, choosing isolation over power struggles. According to Kael, the reason was tied to an ancient prophecy—one predicting the return of something capable of devouring the heavens themselves. "For the last four hundred years," Kael said slowly, "Aluki refused to take a single disciple. Said no one alive was worthy of inheriting what he knows."
Eryndor listened carefully while the old cultivator's expression darkened further. "But that's changing," Kael muttered. "Aluki's preparing for closed-door cultivation." Eryndor frowned slightly, unfamiliar with the term, so Kael explained that closed-door cultivation was a state where a cultivator isolated themselves completely from the world to pursue enlightenment or transcendence, sometimes for decades without emerging. "Once he enters it," Kael said, "he won't come out for sixty years." The mountain fire cracked softly between them as the weight of those words settled into the silence. Sixty years. By then, the world itself could be unrecognizable. Kael looked directly into Eryndor's eyes. "If you reach him before the doors close… there's a chance he'll accept you." Eryndor's expression tightened slightly. "Why would someone like that help me?" Kael gave a tired laugh filled with uneasiness. "Because if the prophecy is real… then you might be the exact thing he's been waiting for."
For a long moment, Eryndor said nothing while the cold mountain wind moved around them like whispers from another world. The cracked seal beneath his chest pulsed faintly, almost reacting to Aluki's name, and once again that terrible uncertainty returned to his mind. Part of him wanted answers desperately, but another part feared them. If the strongest cultivator alive truly understood what was hidden inside him, then what if the truth was worse than Eryndor imagined? Kael slowly stood, placing the black jade token into Eryndor's hand before speaking one final time. "Listen carefully, kid," he said quietly. "If Aluki accepts you as his disciple… your life changes forever. But if you're too late…" The old cultivator's eyes slowly lifted toward the dark sky above them. "…then when the thing inside you fully wakes up, there might not be anyone left in this world capable of stopping it."