The night after the judgment was unnaturally still.
Arka sat alone atop the palace walls, watching the aurora fade into a silver mist. The stars above shimmered faintly distant, indifferent as though the heavens themselves were deciding whether to remember his name.
In his mind, Seraphiel's voice stirred, softer than a breath.
"They've marked you now. You're under their gaze, even when you cannot see them."
Arka exhaled slowly. "Let them watch. I'm done bowing to anyone."
"You say that," she replied, "but the brand on your arm binds both of us. If you defy the Court, they'll unmake us before you can draw your sword."
He looked down at the sigil two intertwined lights, silver and gold, pulsing faintly under his skin. "Then I'll play their game. Until I find a way to break it."
A faint chuckle echoed in his thoughts. "That's the wolf in you talking."
Before he could answer, the air rippled. A figure emerged from the shadows Lysander, cloaked, his face grave.
"They came," he said quietly.
"Who?"
"The envoys of the Celestial Court. They brought your orders."
Arka stood. "Let's hear it."
Lysander handed him a scroll sealed with golden wax. When Arka touched it, the wax dissolved, releasing a flash of light that coalesced into Aetherion's voice.
"Arka of the Star Wolf. By decree of the Celestial Court, your first charge begins. The veil between realms weakens in the southern dominion of Solmare. Shadows stir beneath its lakes, corrupting both beast and man. You will purge the corruption and restore balance."
The message faded, leaving the scroll blank.
Arka frowned. "So they're sending me to clean their mess."
"Seems that way," Lysander said. "Solmare is a death zone now. No one who enters comes back."
Seraphiel's tone was wary. "The corruption there isn't ordinary. It's Abyssal… but not born from the Sovereign. Something else is feeding it."
Arka's eyes narrowed. "Then we'll find out what."
He turned to Lysander. "Gather a small unit only those who can resist mana distortion. We leave by dawn."
Lysander hesitated. "You just got back from nearly dying."
Arka's expression hardened. "And the world didn't stop breaking while I rested."
By morning, a pale fog had swallowed the southern plains. The air was thick with static, and every breath tasted faintly of iron.
The team five elite knights and two magi moved in silence behind Arka as they entered Solmare's border. The once-lush wetlands had turned black, the water slick with an oily sheen that shimmered faintly under the sun.
One of the magi gagged. "The mana here is wrong… it's twisted, like something's feeding on itself."
Arka knelt, dipping his fingers into the water. The liquid clung to his skin, cold and alive. His sigil flared instantly, reacting to it.
Seraphiel's voice sharpened in his head. "That's not Abyssal corruption it's Echo corruption. Fragments of souls devoured by the void, reborn as echoes that hunger for form."
"Meaning?" he asked.
"They're what's left when a soul is erased… and something refuses to accept its death."
A ripple moved beneath the lake. Then another.
"Form up!" Arka barked.
The surface exploded. Dark figures surged from the water humanoid shapes with hollow faces and eyes like flickering embers. Their bodies were made of mist and screaming light.
One of the knights shouted, "Spirits?"
"No," Arka said, drawing his sword. "Echoes."
The first wave struck.
Arka moved like a storm, blade sweeping arcs of silver flame that tore through the Echoes. Yet every strike left his body trembling their essence clung to him, whispering fragments of memories not his own.
He saw flashes a child drowning, a mother calling for help, a battlefield of fallen men under a black sun.
"Arka!" Seraphiel's voice snapped him back. "They're trying to invade your mind. Don't listen to them!"
He gritted his teeth, forcing the whispers away. "I'm fine!"
But one Echo moved differently calmer, slower. It stopped before him, its hollow face turning upward as if studying him.
Then it spoke in a voice that wasn't empty.
"Star Wolf… you sealed the rift, but the void remembers."
Arka froze. "Who are you?"
The Echo's form flickered, revealing a faint outline a man with silver eyes and a mark identical to Arka's.
Seraphiel's voice trembled. "No… it can't be."
The Echo smiled faintly. "You wear my curse well, successor."
Before Arka could react, the Echo dissolved into mist merging back into the lake, leaving the waters eerily calm once more.
Arka's pulse thundered. "Seraphiel… what was that?"
She hesitated. "…That wasn't a memory. That was a remnant of the first Star Wolf. The one whose power you inherited."
He stared at the lake, jaw tightening. "Then the past hasn't let go of me yet."
The waters rippled again, and deep beneath the surface, a faint light pulsed steady, rhythmic, almost like a heartbeat.
Whatever slept in Solmare's depths… was waiting for him.