The first thing Arka felt was wind — warm, gentle, normal.
No light that hummed like divinity, no fractured gravity, no whisper of celestial beasts. Just the weight of air and the sound of leaves shifting above him.
He opened his eyes. A sky of soft blue stretched overhead, scattered with slow-moving clouds. Birds — real, flesh and feather — darted between branches.
He sat up, his breath trembling. Grass cushioned his palms. The scent of earth filled his lungs.
For a moment, he didn't move. The silence was too pure to be real.
Then — the ache returned.
"Kael."
He whispered her name into the wind, but it carried no answer. Only the rustle of trees.
He looked down at his hands. The Balance Mark was gone. Only a faint silver scar remained — shaped like an incomplete circle.
The wolf within him was silent. The stars inside his veins no longer shimmered. He was… human.
He stood, every motion unfamiliar, and scanned the clearing. Beyond the trees lay a dirt road — carved not by magic but by wheels and hands. Smoke rose in the distance from what looked like a settlement.
He walked toward it, one step at a time.
When he reached the edge of the forest, his breath caught.
The world he saw was unlike any he had known.
Wooden homes lined with lanterns, windmills spinning lazily, laughter echoing from a nearby market. Children chased one another with sticks; farmers guided oxen through golden fields.
No runes. No beasts. No hint of the Balance.
And yet, as Arka stepped into the road, people glanced at him — eyes widening for a fraction of a second before turning away.
It wasn't fear. It was recognition.
A passing merchant bowed slightly. "Stranger, you look lost. First time in Eldenreach?"
Arka blinked. The language was different, but he understood it perfectly. "Yes," he said softly. "First time."
"Then you're lucky," the merchant chuckled. "This land hasn't known war or magic in a thousand years."
A thousand years.
Arka's chest tightened. "What did you say?"
The man smiled. "The world's been peaceful since the Great Silence — when the heavens finally went dark."
Arka watched him leave, the words echoing in his mind. The heavens went dark.
Kael's final act had erased not just the Balance — but every trace of the cosmos that fed it.
And yet… something in the air still pulsed faintly beneath the calm.
A rhythm. A heartbeat.
That night, Arka stayed at the edge of the village, watching the sky. It was darker than he remembered — no stars, only a vast, empty black.
He whispered, "You did it, didn't you? You ended the cycle."
A breeze brushed past, soft and warm, almost like a hand across his face.
He smiled faintly. "Then I'll keep it safe. The world you gave back."
But as he looked closer, he noticed something strange — faint points of light flickering along the horizon.
Not stars. Not celestial fire.
They moved — like eyes.
A low growl rolled through the night.
And from the forest's edge, something stepped forward — a creature of smoke and bone, its form flickering as if pulled from broken memory.
Its voice was fragmented, echoing through his mind.
Balance… undone… Balance… must feed…
Arka drew a deep breath. His sword — or what was left of it — shimmered faintly in his hand, reforming from the silver scar on his palm.
"So even here," he whispered, "it begins again."
He took his stance as the creature lunged.
The first blow struck — steel against shadow — and the night screamed.