The skies over Moonhold Bridge were the color of old blood.
A crimson dawn painted the valley below in long streaks of war, bleeding over the weathered stone span that stretched between two jagged cliffs. The bridge was once sacred, built by beast-tamers of the old world to link wild lands with the Sovereign courts.
Now it was a trap.
And Caelum walked into it with fire in his heart.
Behind him, Ashra flew in her ember-winged form, golden eyes ablaze. Thorne stalked beside him in hybrid shape beast and man, his claws dragging sparks across the stone. Vraenak followed at the rear, silent and colossal, the ground trembling beneath his steps.
Lira walked to Caelum's right, her bow drawn, threads of silver charm woven into her hair. She looked calm.
But Caelum felt her tension through their half-bond.
"We shouldn't be here," she said.
"We have to be," Caelum answered.
"They need to know I'm done hiding."
They reached the center of the bridge.
And waited.
For a heartbeat, the valley held its breath.
Then
From the cliffs ahead, they emerged.
A procession of armored priests, faces covered in ivory masks, their robes trimmed with gold thread. At the center stood a tall figure in bone-etched armor his silver spear humming with runic fire.
Commander Haldran.
The butcher of Hollowpoint.
The man who oversaw Caelum's exile.
He raised a hand, and behind him, dozens of Sanctum-bound beasts appeared twisted by chaincraft, their eyes void-black, their bodies scarred with corruption.
"Caelum of the Forsaken Seal," Haldran called. "You were never meant to rise. You were designed to fall."
Caelum stepped forward. "Then why am I still standing?"
Haldran lowered his spear.
"Because we needed to draw out your circle. The Sovereign-bonded freaks. And now… we cut the threads."
The battle began like thunder.
Ashra launched herself into the air, releasing a rain of flame that lit the bridge like sunrise. Thorne charged with a roar, meeting the first wave of corrupted beasts head-on tearing through bone and shadow. Vraenak summoned a wall of stone and storm, sending soldiers flying into the ravine below.
Caelum unleashed the bondflame, his hands glowing with sigil-fire, casting shields and bursts of soullight across the battlefield.
He wasn't just fighting.
He was leading.
But the Sanctum was prepared.
Haldran hurled his spear, which split into six arrows of divine steel ,one striking Thorne through the ribs.
The chimera staggered.
Lira screamed, leaping to cover him, releasing arrow after arrow until a corrupted wolf-beast slammed into her.
Caelum turned, blasting it away but not before blood sprayed the stone.
"Lira!"
She clutched her side, her hand red and trembling.
"Still breathing," she growled, firing another arrow. "Don't stop."
He nodded.
He wouldn't.
Then Haldran came for him.
The two met at the heart of the bridge spear against flame-thread. Their strikes shook the stone, runes clashing with Sovereign energy.
"You were always a lie," Haldran hissed. "Your gift was not chosen. It was engineered."
Caelum's flame flared. "Then I'll choose what I burn."
He drove his sigil-hand into Haldran's chest.
The commander screamed his mask shattering, revealing sunken eyes and skin etched with control-threads.
Caelum's bondflame surged inward burning the seals that gave Haldran his command over beasts.
With one last cry, Haldran was consumed by his own chains.
The battle began to turn.
Ashra, wreathed in white-gold flame, brought down three more beasts in a single pass. Vraenak crushed two Sanctum agents beneath his tail.
But then...
A low, rumbling chant echoed across the cliffs.
Dozens of Sanctum initiates emerged from behind the ridge holding black runes and weeping blood.
They began a ritual.
"They're summoning something," Ashra called. "Something old."
Then the air cracked.
And a rift tore open above the bridge.
From it descended a creature made of raw thread and shadow, its form constantly shifting like a beast that had been unbound from logic.
A Threadwraith.
Born from failed bonds.
It screamed and the echo shattered the bridge's outer edges.
Lira was flung backward, unconscious.
Thorne limped beside her, shielding her with his body.
Caelum stared up at the monstrosity, his sigil burning across his chest, arms, neck.
He turned to Ashra.
"Can we fight it?"
She didn't answer.
Because the answer was no.
Unless…
He made a choice.
Caelum stepped forward.
He drew a blade of pure sigil-light from the threads around him raw, unstable, but burning with his own Sovereign core.
He turned to his beasts.
"This isn't just a fight."
"This is a message."
"We are no one's mistake."
They roared in reply.
And together, they leapt.
Ashra struck first, channeling the full force of her phoenix core into the Threadwraith's wings.
Thorne followed, wrapping his broken form in storm-threads, diving toward the chest.
Caelum surged behind them, blade glowing white-hot.
And Vraenak…
Vraenak howled.
A sound not of rage but of truth.
The beast who had never spoken now bled a cry of freedom, lashing his tail into the Wraith's spine, breaking its shape.
Caelum struck the core.
Flame, storm, and soul fused into one blast
And the creature was unmade.
When the light faded, the bridge was cracked and scorched.
Lira stirred beside Thorne, her wounds mending slowly.
Ashra helped Caelum to his feet, her flame flickering but proud.
Vraenak stood beside them, breathing heavily, but calm.
No more enemies came.
They had won.
But Caelum looked to the sky.
"More will come," he whispered.
Ashra nodded. "Let them. We are not beasts anymore."
She looked at him.
"We are a force."
Far away, in the deepest chamber of the Sanctum's Blackroot Vault, a chained god opened one eye.
"The boy survived."
"Then perhaps," it whispered, "he is ready."
End of Chapter 10 – End of Arc One: The Unbound Pact.