The journey to the Obsidian Sea began in silence.
Kael rode at the head of the party, flames faintly flickering across his fingertips. The encounter with Ashmira still pulsed in his mind like an echo he couldn't silence. Her voice, her smile, her words.
"You were never meant to survive."
Behind him, Seraphine's presence grounded him. She said little, sensing the storm within him, but her eyes rarely left his back. Vaerion, ever silent and watchful, led them along the secret demon paths—roads invisible to mortals, carved in old stone and protected by ancient pacts.
As they crested a ridge of dead trees and black sand, the Sea revealed itself.
It stretched before them like a mirror of midnight, still as glass. No waves. No wind. Just endless black.
Kael's heart skipped.
"Is that water?" Seraphine asked softly.
"No," Vaerion murmured. "It's memory."
The Sea That Remembers
According to legend, the Obsidian Sea was formed from the tears of the first demon queen, who wept for her murdered children. They say it remembers every soul that ever crossed it.
Kael stepped onto the shoreline, and the sea rippled—only beneath his feet.
"It knows you," Vaerion whispered.
The boat that awaited them was old and carved from bone-black wood, runes etched along the edge glowing red as Kael approached.
Seraphine hesitated. "How do we know it'll take us across?"
"We don't," Kael said, climbing aboard. "But the longer we wait, the more the seals break."
Vaerion and Seraphine followed, and as they shoved off, the water whispered.
Kael… Kael…
But it was the second voice that made him freeze.
My son.
The deeper they sailed into the Obsidian Sea, the thicker the fog became. Seraphine kept one hand on her sword, the other gripping Kael's wrist.
They saw things in the mist. A city burning. A child crying. A wolf with glowing red eyes. A woman in silver armor, weeping beneath a dying tree.
Then a whisper rose from the waves.
"He doesn't know, does he? About his real name."
Kael stood. "Show yourself!"
The sea churned—and then rose.
From beneath the glassy surface, a creature emerged. Serpentine, scaled, with glowing golden eyes and smoke leaking from its nostrils. It coiled around the boat but did not strike.
"I am Murnath, the Sentinel of the Second Seal," it rumbled. "And I remember you, child of fire."
Kael gritted his teeth. "Then tell me who I am."
Murnath's tongue flickered. "You are the heir of the First Flame. The son of the true Queen. But that name..."
The creature leaned in, voice a hiss.
"Your name is not Kael."
"It is Raezriel."
The name struck Kael like a hammer to the chest. His vision blurred. His knees buckled.
"Raezriel?" Seraphine echoed, stunned.
Murnath circled them slowly. "Your mother gave you another name to hide you from the ones who hunt the heirs. Kael was her invention. But in the tongue of the ancients, your true name means: The Flame That Cannot Be Tamed."
Kael fell to one knee, gasping. Visions flooded his mind.
His mother's arms. Her lullabies in a language he didn't understand. A scar he never remembered receiving glowing faintly on his back. Her whispered warnings—"Never speak your name, no matter what they ask."
He understood now.
His true name was a key.
And someone had been searching for it.
Vaerion stepped forward. "If the boy's name is Raezriel, then the pact is already in danger."
Murnath's golden eyes narrowed. "Not danger. Doom."
Kael stood, fists clenched. "What happens if my name is spoken aloud by someone else?"
Murnath growled. "The Third Seal will fall. It is tied to your blood and your identity. The false gods will rise with your name as their war cry."
Kael's pulse thundered in his ears.
"So I can't let anyone else know."
Murnath nodded slowly. "There are some who already suspect. Ashmira among them. She seeks the next seal in the Throned Valley."
Kael turned to Seraphine. "Then that's where we go next."
Murnath dipped below the water again, the sea parting in its wake. "Go swiftly, Prince Raezriel. Your enemies are waking faster than your allies."
That night, as they camped near the sea's far edge, Kael stared into the embers of their fire. Seraphine sat beside him, quiet.
"You're not Kael anymore," she said finally.
Kael turned to her, eyes glowing faintly gold.
"I don't know who I am. But I know who I want to be—with you."
She leaned her head against his shoulder.
"You don't have to be a name. Just a man. One I believe in."
Kael looked toward the sky, where storm clouds gathered.
The gods wanted war.
He'd give them one they'd never forget.