The wind howled across the frozen cliffs, but the storm had passed.
Kairo sat in silence at the edge of a ruined ridge, staring into the distance where the Herald had vanished. His fingers flexed, the chains at his sides now dormant—but humming faintly with energy. Each breath he took fogged in the cold air, but the heat in his body hadn't faded since the fight.
He had fought a Herald.
And lived.
Aerin crouched nearby, tending to a small fire they'd managed to start using scavenged wood and scraps of their camp gear. Her armor was scorched and cracked. Her left pauldron had been torn off entirely. Yet she worked silently, focused, her face tight with worry.
"You're quiet," she finally said, breaking the stillness.
"I'm listening," Kairo murmured.
"To what?"
"The silence." He looked up. "After everything, it's almost louder than the storm."
Aerin nodded, tossing another stick into the fire. "You were reckless."
"I was dying."
"You still are," she snapped. "That kind of power doesn't come for free."
Kairo didn't deny it. He could feel the strain in his bones, in his soul. The connection to the prototype had left scars—mental, magical, spiritual. Some part of him wasn't quite his anymore. He could feel the fragments moving beneath the surface, like an echo trying to be heard.
> [Condition: Fragment Instability Detected]
[Suggestion: Seek Stabilization via High-Rank Anchor Relic or Mindforge Temple]
He had no idea what either of those things were.
But he'd need to find out.
"Do you think they'll send another?" Aerin asked suddenly.
"They didn't expect me to survive. The next time… they'll send more than one."
Her gaze hardened. "Then we need to be ready."
Kairo turned to her. "You could leave, you know. Before this gets worse. I wouldn't blame you."
Aerin gave him a look that could cut steel. "You think I've come this far just to walk away? You saved me when I was nothing. Now you're something dangerous. That doesn't scare me."
He blinked. "You trust me?"
"No," she said. "But I believe in you. That's different."
He didn't respond—but the corner of his mouth tugged in something close to a smile.
---
They broke camp by dawn and moved south.
The Vault was lost—caved in by the storm and buried beneath collapsed mountainsides. But the rift the Herald had emerged from was still visible in the sky: a faint scar above the Maw Peaks that pulsed like a heartbeat.
Their goal now was simple: find an Anchor Relic. Find a way to stabilize the fragments in Kairo's mind.
According to what little information the system gave, there were ruins in the Shattered Scarlands, far to the south, where Mindforged weapons had once been created in ancient times. It was their only lead.
The journey would take weeks on foot.
Unless…
As they crossed a snowfield, a loud shriek echoed above.
A silhouette moved through the clouds—large, winged, and fast.
Kairo dropped into a defensive stance, but Aerin raised her hand. "Wait. I recognize that call."
The creature descended—and what landed before them was a sky drake.
Not a wild one.
This one wore barding and a crest bearing the sigil of a phoenix—a burning feather surrounded by chains.
Aerin stepped forward, surprised. "That's the Order of Emberbind."
A figure dismounted the drake—a woman clad in plated crimson armor with silver eyes and flowing white hair. She looked at Kairo with a calm, unreadable gaze.
"Subject V-02," she said. "You're alive."
His breath caught.
He recognized her—not from now—but from the fragments.
> [Memory Surge Detected – Accessing]
Identity: Seraph Valen – Former Commander of the Emberbind Division. Last Seen: Before V-02's Fracture Event.
His voice was quiet. "You… were there. Before the curse."
She nodded. "And I'm here now to stop it."
Aerin moved to Kairo's side, blades half-drawn. "Friend or foe?"
"That depends," Seraph said. "On whether he still knows who he is."
Kairo stepped forward. "I'm Kairo now. Not your experiment."
"Then prove it," she said—and drew her blade.
---
The fight began instantly.
Seraph moved like lightning. Her sword danced with radiant heat, every strike calculated, testing. Kairo blocked with his chains, meeting blow for blow, but she was faster than anyone he'd fought.
> [Combat Analysis: Seraph Valen – Rank A+ Ascendant, Phoenix Bonded, Ember Discipline Variant]
Flames clashed with cursefire.
She forced him back with a flurry of strikes. "You're stronger. But not stable."
"I'm more than your weapon!" he roared—and his chainblades erupted into full cursed form.
> [Skill Activated: Shattered Step – Blink forward with a burst of fragmented space, confusing enemy senses.]
He appeared behind her and struck—but Seraph turned mid-spin, catching his attack with her gauntlet and flinging him back with a blast of heat.
"You've inherited more than you realize," she said. "The prototype's will is inside you."
"Then help me stop it."
She lowered her blade slowly.
"I came to kill you if the curse consumed you," she admitted. "But you're still fighting. That means there's hope."
Aerin raised an eyebrow. "So now you're an ally?"
"For now," Seraph replied. "The Order wants him dead. But I want to understand what really happened."
Kairo nodded. "Then come with us. To the Scarlands."
Seraph mounted the drake and extended her hand.
"I'll take you there."
---
By nightfall, they were flying over the ravaged plains, the Shattered Scarlands visible on the horizon.
Broken towers. Cracked ground. Strange green lights flickering through fog.
Kairo stood on the saddle, wind ripping through his cloak.
He could feel it again—that weight in his chest. The next piece of his curse. The next fragment.
> [Proximity Warning: Mindforge Temple Detected]
[Memory Lock 2 – Sealed Until Trial Completion]
He didn't know what the trial would be.
Only that he had to win.
No matter what part of himself he had to give up.