The air within Bastion Theta felt heavier than usual.
Frost-laced windows groaned as bitter wind howled through the broken gaps in the fortress walls. Squad Umbra had just returned from a failed recon mission — a town reduced to scorched soil, no bodies… just veins carved into the earth, pulsing faintly with crimson glow.
Kaizen sat by the fire, unhealed scars stretching from his left eye to collarbone. His breathing was ragged, eyes sunken, haunted by something he hadn't shared with anyone.
Across the room, Deyra stitched a deep cut on her forearm while Ayaka stood quietly by the window, her fingers twitching like they were itching to draw a blade.
No one spoke.
Until—
"Do you hear it?"
The voice came from behind the stone pillar. Everyone turned.
It was Riven—the squad's youngest, barely twenty, usually full of nervous energy. But now… he was pale, trembling, his pupils wide and glassy.
"Hear what?" Ayaka asked, slowly stepping toward him.
"A… voice. Whispers. They've been calling my name since we left Sector 3." He grabbed his head. "Like echoes in my skull. They say… the Revenant is rising. That he remembers me."
Kaizen's body stiffened.
The word Revenant triggered something buried. A memory? A warning? He didn't know. But it clawed at his chest like a dying fire struggling to spark.
"Get him out of here," growled Vorn. "He's hallucinating. Might be infected."
But Ayaka held up a hand. "No. Let him finish."
Riven's voice became a whisper.
"There's someone beneath this fortress. Not human. He's watching. He knows Kaizen's blood. He said…"
His voice cracked.
"'Your flame is borrowed. Your throne, stolen. Return what was never yours… or drown in the marrow of the fallen.'"
Everyone froze.
Kaizen's hand slowly clenched into a fist.
Before anyone could respond, the fortress shook. Just once. Like a massive tremor. Dust rained from the ceilings, and the torches flickered wildly.
"Not an earthquake," Deyra muttered. "That came from beneath."
Vorn and Ayaka were already moving, weapons drawn.
Kaizen didn't wait. He stormed toward the sealed corridor—the one no one dared to go near. The old catacombs, sealed decades ago.
As he moved, his ears buzzed. Not from pressure. From voices.
A dozen whispers, in overlapping tongues. Each one hissing his name.
He reached the gate.
Blood runes shimmered across its surface.
And there, just faintly, was a new mark… a handprint scorched in black flame.
His.
Kaizen blinked in disbelief. He had never touched the gate.
But his Veins pulsed in response.
"We shouldn't be here," Ayaka's voice came behind him.
He looked over his shoulder. The whole squad was now gathered. Even Riven, eyes wide with recognition, not fear.
Kaizen's fingers hovered above the lock.
"Whatever's behind this gate," he said, "it already knows we're here. And it's waiting."
Ayaka moved beside him. "Then we go together."
He nodded once.
And pressed his hand to the gate.
---
The catacombs were alive.
Every step echoed with whispers.
The stone pulsed like bone under skin. Glyphs ignited one by one as they passed, lighting the way in crimson and gold.
At the center was a chamber. Circular. Covered in Veinborn relics.
And in its center… was a throne.
Black. Rooted into the floor. Shaped not of stone or wood—but bone.
Seated on it was a skeleton wrapped in blood-red robes, a cracked crown of obsidian resting on its brow.
But the eyes… were open.
Still glowing.
Kaizen stepped forward, drawn by instinct.
As he approached, a presence slithered into his mind.
"So… the imposter returns."
Kaizen staggered. His knees nearly buckled. The voice was inside his head.
"Who are you?!" he demanded, voice shaking.
The skull tilted—just slightly.
"I was the true Shard King, forged from flame and marrow. And you…" The voice grew colder. "You are the Revenant. My echo. My mistake."
Ayaka tried to rush forward, but invisible force slammed her back into the wall. The others were frozen, paralyzed by something unseen.
"You bear my blood, but not my soul. You were created to burn bright… and die young."
Kaizen's vision blurred. His body screamed in pain. The Veins in his arms began to light up like magma.
"You lie—!"
The crown on the skeleton pulsed once—and a vision exploded in Kaizen's mind:
—
He stood amidst a burning city.
Bodies of Veinborn and humans alike strewn across ash-soaked ruins.
At the center stood Nerovar, cloaked in shadows, holding Ayaka's lifeless body.
Behind him stood a thousand figures—not human. Not Bist. Something worse.
Kaizen roared—and flames consumed everything.
—
He collapsed, coughing blood.
Ayaka crawled to him, cradling his head. Her eyes were wide with horror. "Kaizen—what did you see?"
He looked up.
"The end… unless I find the truth. And stop what I'm becoming."
From the throne, the Revenant's final whisper echoed:
"You cannot stop what has already begun… Shard King."