"Every dying light leaves behind embers. And from those embers, a wrath that never dies." — Record of Harrow Keep, 672 After the First Gate
✦✦✦
Rain fell before dawn. He walked through the fog, along a dirt path that led to the ruins of an old temple on the northern slope. Its walls were carved with ancient Resonance sigils, most buried beneath moss and time. In the center hung a massive crystal, black and pulsing like a heart.
A soft voice came from behind him. "You came."
A woman stood there — her hair long and pale silver, her eyes clear as frozen lakes. She wore the faded robes of the old Ordo Arcanis.
"Lyneth…"
She smiled faintly. "You still remember my name, Kael?"
Kael lowered his gaze. "Hard to forget someone who died by my own hand."
"And harder still to forgive yourself, isn't it?"
He said nothing. Lyneth stepped toward the crystal, her fingers grazing its surface. "Do you know why I called you here?"
"Because you haven't completely left this world," he answered.
"No," she whispered, her eyes on the crystal. "Because something is stirring beyond the Veil, Kael. Something your broken blade won't be able to stop."
A dim blue light began to bloom around them. Kael straightened, tightening his grip on his sword. "So that's why you linger? To warn me?"
Lyneth smiled again. "No. I linger because I failed to close the rift I opened myself."
Then came the sound — thousands of voices whispering as one. The Veil.
Kael stepped back. "Lyneth, you have to go. It's consuming you."
"My time is already over, Kael," she said softly, her voice trembling. "What remains is only the echo of my mistake."
Light burst forth. Black Resonance poured from the crystal, flowing like a river of darkness through the air. Kael drove his blade into the ground, his crimson Resonance clashing with the black. The shockwave rippled through the ruins, and then… silence.
When the dust settled, Lyneth was gone. Only a shard of black crystal remained in Kael's hand, a faint spiral etched in its center. He stared at it for a long while.
"So this is where it all began…"
A voice whispered faintly in his mind. "One day, you will meet someone who carries the same fracture. When that time comes—don't kill her."
Kael closed his eyes. "You know I can't promise that."
꧁𓆩༺✧༻𓆪꧂
Years before the first rift was ever opened. Snow blanketed the ruins of the old Ordo in the north. The sky above was gray, like steel yet to cool. A boy stood among ashes, his shoulders bloodied and torn. He stared at the flames devouring the fallen towers.
Footsteps approached. A man in a white robe, a golden spiral on his chest, stopped behind him. "Name?" the man asked, voice cold.
The boy stared back, empty-eyed. "I don't have one."
The man knelt and touched his shoulder. "Now you do. From this day forward, you are Kael Draven, child of the Ordo Arcanis."
That was how it began. Kael grew among mages and war-forged children — orphans gathered to become Veyborn, humans capable of channeling Resonance without limit.
Each night, silver liquid was injected into their veins. Each morning, their bodies trembled from the pain. Out of a hundred children, only three survived.
Among them was Kael. He learned to bind Resonance to steel, to turn blood into living weapons. But the stronger he became, the more his memories slipped away. He forgot his mother's face, her laughter — even his name before Kael Draven.
One night, a woman entered the isolation chamber where he was kept.
Her hair was a washed shade of gold, her eyes were a faded purple, just like a person, a faint scar beneath her ear — the mark of a failed sigil.
"My name is Lyneth Veynhart," she said softly. "I'm here to help you."
Kael glared. "Help? With hands soaked in their blood?"
Lyneth lowered her gaze. "Yes. Because my blood is the same as yours. I was one of their experiments too."
She placed something in his hand — a small silver pendulum. "Hold this. When the world becomes too loud, let it guide you."
That was the first time Kael ever trusted someone. And it was the same trust that destroyed him.
Years passed. The Ordo Arcanis fractured. Some believed Resonance was not a gift, but a poison slowly devouring the world. They called themselves The Veilborn. Among them — was Lyneth.
Kael learned the truth too late. He found Lyneth standing before an altar, summoning something from the dark — something not of the human realm. A Resonance rift bloomed above the Ordo's hall, and from it crawled the first of the Varyn.
"Lyneth!" Kael shouted, swinging his blade. "Stop! You'll destroy everything!"
Lyneth turned. Tears streaked her face, but her smile was calm.
"No, Kael. I'm ending it faster."
There was sorrow in her voice, and peace. "Do you know, Kael? Every victory demands sacrifice. Only a strong vessel can contain this darkness."
"You can't do this! No one can!"
"I can. I must. I'll build a world that can protect him — one where he can live as he chooses."
"Your body won't survive, Lyneth! Master, please—stop!"
"Even if I must become a monster, let my body feed the wound I've made."
"Stop… please, Lyneth! The energy is too much!"
She smiled faintly. The blue in her eyes dimmed, turning to dull silver. Her voice fractured into two.
"No, Kael… this is the only way. I have to close the rift — from within."
"With your life? That's not the way! I can do it! It should've been me—"
"You've done enough. More than anyone should bear."
Kael reached for the sigil's edge, but Resonance rejected him. Blue fire seared his hands. He screamed but didn't stop. Lyneth looked at him — gently, like a mother saying goodbye to her son.
"You don't understand, Kael. The world doesn't hate you. You are my most perfect creation."
"You call me a creation… but I live! I feel pain, fear — was that all part of your experiment too?!"
Her smile cracked. Black blood streamed from her eyes like ink, tracing down her skin. The veins of Resonance burst through her chest, spiraling into the mark of the Veil.
"I didn't create you to be a weapon, Kael. I created you so the world would see that the line between man and the Veil could be bridged. You alone can contain this power. And if one day someone follows my path… I hope you'll stand by her."
Kael shook his head, tears burning his cheeks. "Then let me do it! Let me be the one to seal it! Let them consume me instead!"
"Because you're not a Veynhart."
Lyneth staggered. The Resonance around her flared wildly. The sigils on the floor shattered, and from the cracks rose black mist — hands reaching for her body.
"My body can't bear both realms. But you… your blood is stable. You can seal the wound — but only if I open the path first."
"No… I won't let you!"
He ran through the storm, his skin burning. His hand reached her shoulder — but it was no longer flesh, it was something pulsing, molten.
Lyneth's form began to unravel. Her hair lifted, silver vapor spilling from its ends. Her face fractured, silver light forming a mask without eyes. Her voice echoed, haunting and broken.
"Kael… don't be afraid… I'm still here…"
"Stop! You don't know what you're becoming!"
"I do. And I accept it. If becoming darkness is the price for you — and her — to live, then so be it."
Kael froze. Resonance dripped from her fingers like molten tears. Lyneth knelt, clutching what remained of her face.
"I can't— I can't let you become this!"
"Do it, Kael. Only your blade can end this. Only then will the ritual work."
"No!"
"If you still honor me as your teacher, then honor my purpose. You know who I'm trying to protect… don't you, Kael?"
"Not like this!"
"Do it now, or everything will be for nothing. I won't return, and the rift will never close. Everything I've done… all of this… will be in vain."
Kael stood frozen — face of iron, heart of ash. How could he kill the only person who ever cared for him?
"Kael… please. You're only hurting me longer. End it… now."
He drew the silver blade — Eclipsera, forged by Lyneth herself. Its surface reflected the dying light of the collapsing sigils. Lyneth looked at him with what was left of her face. She smiled — one final smile, full of love and sorrow.
Her body throbbed violently. Black hands from the Veil coiled around her legs and spine. Her Resonance screamed, and from her chest burst silver light expanding fast.
Kael screamed and drove Eclipsera through her heart. Silver and black collided — a blinding storm that devoured the world.
Lyneth clasped his hand, her eyes hollow but serene.
"Lyneth, no— don't leave me—!"
Too late.
Light vanished without a sound. When silence returned, only silver dust fell from the air.
Kael stood within the burnt sigil circle, clutching the cracked blade. Darkness swallowed the room whole.
He couldn't remember how he survived — only that his sword pierced her heart, and their Resonance split in two. One half sealed within Eclipsera. The other — left inside Lyneth's heart.
꧁𓆩༺✧༻𓆪꧂
Years later, Kael stared at his reflection in the Aetheris River. His hair had grown, his face hardened, amber eyes dimmed. The same blade hung on his back — fractured, but still glowing faintly. Around his neck, a shard of black crystal rested against his chest.
Someone stood across the river, an older man cloaked in gray. "Kael Draven," the man said, voice trembling with age.
"They say you hunt problems now."
Kael didn't turn. "Better that than bringing disasters."
"And if disaster finds you again?"
Kael watched the rippling water under the moonlight. "Then I'll face it."
"As you did before?"
"No. This time, I won't fail."
The man left. Kael remained, whispering to the water. "Lyneth, you once said I'd meet someone with the same fracture…"
He stared at the moon's reflection, and shook his head. "I don't know if I'm ready to live it all again."
Weeks later, on the road to Aetheris, a ten-year-old girl ran through the forest, chased by a shadow dripping with Resonance.
By the riverbank, a man in a gray cloak watched — his amber eyes catching the light.
He drew his blade. The fractured metal trembled softly.
Kael stepped forward, just before the darkness swallowed the girl's world.
"Seems fate still refuses to let me rest."
꧁𓆩༺✧༻𓆪꧂