The sky howled.
Every fragment of the fractured worlds began to collapse inward, drawn toward the Warden's light. It was not a sound of thunder but of history breaking — the collapse of memories, the unraveling of time.
Arka and Kael stood on a strip of land that floated amid the destruction. Above them, the Warden descended, wreathed in celestial flame. Its chains weren't just light — they were forged from the essence of reality itself, binding it to the Balance.
Kael whispered, "It feels like standing inside a god's heartbeat."
Arka's grip tightened on his blade. "No. This isn't divinity. It's imprisonment."
The Warden's many voices spoke in unison, calm but absolute.
Balance is not a choice. It is law.
You were meant to fall, Star Wolf. Your rebellion fractures the cycle.
The ground beneath them trembled. Cracks opened, revealing glimpses of other timelines — Arka's death in one, Kael's betrayal in another, a world consumed by beasts in the next.
Kael's eyes darted between them. "They're… versions of us."
Arka didn't look away from the Warden. "And all of them ended the same way."
The Warden raised a chained hand. "Then let this one end properly."
Chains of light lashed outward, moving faster than thought. Arka swung his blade, slicing through two — but the third wrapped around his arm, burning straight into his skin.
Kael shouted, "Arka!" and rushed forward, slashing at the bindings. The moment her sword touched them, the world froze.
Everything — wind, light, sound — stopped.
Only Kael moved. Or rather… only her mind.
A voice whispered from within her — her own voice, but older, colder.
You remember now, don't you? The Balance was never his to bear. It was yours.
Her vision blurred — she saw flashes: herself standing before a sea of beasts, a crown of silver fire above her head, and Arka kneeling, the Mark transferring from her hand to his.
Kael gasped. "No. That's not—"
You gave it to him to hide. You feared what you would become.
The world jolted back into motion. Kael stumbled, clutching her chest. Arka turned to her, sensing the imbalance. "Kael, what happened?"
Before she could answer, the Warden struck again. This time, its chains didn't aim for Arka — they wrapped around Kael.
Arka's eyes widened. "No!"
The chains flared with golden fire, pulling her upward toward the Warden's radiance. Kael screamed, the light consuming her from within as the Balance Mark ignited on her palm — brighter than Arka's ever was.
The Warden's voice thundered.
The false bearer returns to her origin. The Balance belongs to the Source.
Arka's rage broke the silence. The power inside him — the beast, the wolf, the starlight — all converged.
"Let her go!"
The world bent. Gravity collapsed. He leapt toward the Warden, his form dissolving into streaks of silver and shadow. His blade pierced through light, shattering one of the divine chains — but every fragment turned into more bindings, wrapping tighter.
Kael's voice echoed through the storm. "Arka! Don't— it's not what you think!"
He reached for her, fingertips inches away — and then her light exploded.
A shockwave tore through the Rift, obliterating the last fragments of the mirrored realms. The Warden screamed — not in pain, but in revelation.
For the first time, it faltered.
Through the blinding light, Arka saw her — Kael, floating at the center of the chaos, her eyes glowing pure white.
When she spoke, her voice overlapped with the Rift itself.
"I remember everything."
The Balance Mark reshaped on her chest, fractal and infinite.
"I was the First Warden."
Arka froze.
The truth sank into him like a blade. Kael — his partner, his closest bond — was not just chosen by the Balance.
She was the one who created it.
And now, it had come to claim her back.