They stood at the edge of a chasm.
Wind howled through the cavernous maw, pulling snow and sound downward into blackness. Cael could feel Essentia pulsing weakly from below—not just raw energy, but something older. Structured. Like veins of magic carved into the bones of the world.
He turned to Varuun, who hadn't spoken since they left the shelter.
"You said you'd never come back."
"I said I vowed. Never said I kept it."
The old man gave a grim smile. "That's the difference between oaths and regrets."
Cael adjusted the scavenged cloak over his shoulders and stepped toward the edge.
And then they climbed down.
The Forgotten Shaft
The descent took hours.
Winding stairs of cracked obsidian circled the pit, lit only by the dull glow of essence veins pulsing faint purple-blue along the walls. They passed collapsed archways, broken statues, and fragments of ancient writing Cael didn't recognize—but felt drawn to.
Eventually, the steps ended.
Before them stood a massive door, half-buried in ice and rune-etched stone.
Varuun traced a symbol on the seal. His hand trembled. "This was a vault for the forbidden. A sanctuary for truth too dangerous to destroy."
Cael reached toward the center rune—his shard pulsed.
The door opened.
The Subterranean Temple
They entered a vast chamber.
Massive pillars stretched skyward into darkness. Runes flickered across the ceiling like constellations. Stone altars stood in rows, each carved with symbols that shifted when looked at directly.
The temple felt alive. Not in a breathing, organic sense—but in the way silence held tension. Expectant.
And at the center of the room was a pedestal. Upon it: a codex, bound in material that looked like obsidian and bone fused together.
Cael stepped forward.
Varuun grabbed his arm.
"You touch that, and nothing about you stays human."
Cael looked at the book.
Then at the shard.
Then at his trembling hands.
"I already stopped being human the moment I woke up here."
The Codex
When he touched it, the air screamed—soundlessly. Reality buckled inward for a blink, and then returned.
The codex unfolded into glyphs that only he could see.
A memory—not his own—poured into his mind:
A civilization that mapped the Veil Between Realms
Scholars who tethered themselves to Essentia to bend distance and time
A cataclysm, unleashed by one of their own, who sought to become more than man
And the sealing of their knowledge—locked within this very temple, guarded by rituals of unmaking
Cael collapsed, coughing blood. Varuun dragged him back, face pale with fear.
"You read it," he whispered. "You shouldn't have been able to."
Cael opened his eyes. They briefly shimmered violet.
"I think the shard… unlocked it."
The Watcher Awakes
The temple shook.
Runes flared to life along the floor and walls. A hum filled the air.
Then a voice—deep, layered, and cold as space—echoed from everywhere and nowhere.
"Scholar. Trespasser. Seed of the End."
"You have awoken what was buried."
Cael's vision blurred. In his mind's eye, he saw a being without form, made of runes and starlight and empty void.
Varuun pulled him back. "That's not a memory. That's a warding spirit. A Watcher."
From the shadows, a form began to descend from the ceiling—like an amalgamation of floating stone, burning runes, and distorted space.
Cael stood up, his fingers instinctively drawing a symbol in the air.
The glyph for Voidflow.
"Run or fight?" he asked.
Varuun clenched his jaw.
"…We fight."