Darkness had a sound. It breathed, whispered, and watched.
And now, Squad Umbra was walking straight into it.
The ancient coordinates retrieved from Ayaka's forbidden archive led them to the foot of the Forsaken Spine—a jagged mountain range long deemed cursed. According to the data, an entire city was buried beneath. Not ruins. Not myths.
A city that was never recorded in history.
"Why would someone build a whole city underground?" asked Rael as the group stood before a rusted iron gate sealed in the mountainside.
Kaizen stepped forward. The black shard around his neck—now partially fused into his chest—vibrated violently.
"This city wasn't built," he muttered. "It was erased."
Ayaka stood beside him, her expression unreadable. Ever since discovering the files about Kaizen's creation, she'd been quieter. Still loyal. But quieter.
With a heavy groan, the gates began to part—on their own.
A strange gust blew outward from the darkness beyond, carrying the stench of wet stone… and ashes.
---
Inside the Forgotten City – A World Below
The path was lit by green-blue veins running through the walls. Living crystal—faintly pulsing, as if breathing. As they descended deeper, buildings appeared: stone towers, temples, and statues of beings not quite human.
"This isn't just old," murmured Juno's replacement, Alen. "It's… wrong. Like time forgot how to decay it."
Ayaka pressed her palm to a mural etched into the wall.
It showed a man—no, a being—with white fire pouring from his eyes. Behind him, an army of black-winged titans. At his feet, the world burned.
Below the image, ancient Vein script read:
> The First Veinborn: The Shard King.
He who will return in fractured flesh to ignite the End Flame.
Kaizen staggered. His vision blurred—flashes of white-hot flame, a voice screaming his name, and Ayaka, crying in chains.
Ayaka caught him. "Kaizen!"
"I saw it again," he gasped. "The city burning. My hands… drenched in blood. But it wasn't just me. It was like I was watching myself from behind my own eyes."
Ayaka's hand trembled slightly. That's because you weren't born… You were made.
She didn't say it aloud.
Not yet.
---
Deeper into the Core
The team reached the central chamber—a vast dome housing a black obelisk that pulsed with a soundless rhythm. Around it, murals told a forgotten story:
A race of beings who mastered Vein energy.
Their king—crowned with flame—fell to madness.
A war against the stars.
The king sealed away… only to one day return.
"Wait," Rael whispered, tracing a symbol at the base. "This crest. It matches Kaizen's blood-sigil."
The moment the words left his mouth, the obelisk lit up.
Veins of molten light surged outward. The floor cracked. And a voice echoed through the chamber:
"Welcome home… Kay-Zhun."
Everyone turned to Kaizen.
His eyes had gone blank white.
Then—
BAM.
Kaizen was thrown back against the wall as an unseen force surged from the obelisk. It latched onto his body like tendrils of light, scanning, reading, remembering.
Ayaka screamed his name. But her voice sounded distant to him now.
Inside his mind, Kaizen stood in a world of flame.
Before him, a version of himself—older, eyes burning, smiling with infinite sadness.
"I'm you. The original. The King they feared."
"No… I'm not a king. I'm just—"
"You're what's left. A fragment. A memory reborn into flesh."
Kaizen fell to his knees. "Then who am I?"
The original Kaizen—The Shard King—placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You're the end of the world. Or its only hope."
---
Back in Reality
Kaizen's body stopped convulsing.
But something had changed.
His veins now glowed faintly with crimson light. His pupils had a golden rim. His presence felt… heavier. Older.
Rael drew his blade instinctively. "That's not the same Kaizen."
Ayaka stepped between them. "He's still him."
Rael gritted his teeth. "Is he? Or is he now the King of Ash reborn?"
Kaizen opened his mouth to speak—but the obelisk shattered.
From it crawled a being of molten glass and shadow.
It hissed a single word: "TRIGGERED."
Then it attacked.
---
Final Battle Scene
The squad scattered.
Rael, Alen, and two others attacked from multiple angles.
Ayaka began chanting Vein seals, trying to suppress the entity.
But the being was a Guardian, ancient and relentless. It burned through their attacks like parchment.
Kaizen stepped forward.
He didn't fight it.
He commanded it.
"Stand down," he said softly.
The creature froze.
Then… it knelt.
Gasps filled the chamber.
Kaizen's voice deepened, echoed—two souls overlapping in one body.
"I remember now," he said. "This was once my kingdom. You were my Sentinel. And you… kept it hidden."
Ayaka looked at him, shaken.
"Kaizen… do you remember who I was?"
He turned to her. His voice gentle, but with the weight of lifetimes.
"I don't know. But something in me says… you were always there. Holding me back from the flame."
She smiled through tears.
Then her eyes widened in horror.
"Kaizen—your chest!"
A glowing shard was breaking through his skin. The Crown Shard.
The same one embedded in every mural of the Shard King.
Rael whispered: "The prophecy… it's beginning."