The night over Aetherion was silent—too silent, as if the world itself was holding its breath.
Mael stood at the edge of the floating citadel, the wind pulling at his coat, the fractured moonlight reflecting across the abyss below. The tear in the sky—an enormous crack of white and violet energy—pulsed above him like a bleeding wound in reality itself. It had not closed. It had grown.
The Council had called it an anomaly. The Scholars of the Eternal Light had called it a divine omen.
But Mael knew better.
It was a message.
A warning.
And a countdown.
Behind him, steps echoed across the marble floor.
"Still watching it?" said Elyndra, her voice low, calm… but trembling at the edges. "It's been three days, Mael. You haven't slept."
"I don't have time to sleep," he answered without turning. "Neither do any of us."
Elyndra approached, her silver hair swaying in the wind. In her hands, she carried the obsidian book—the one they recovered after the battle in the ruins of Vhal-Nohr.
"It reacted again," she said. "The pages turned on their own. A new symbol appeared… and it's the same as the one glowing in the sky."
She opened the book.
The symbol was burning into the page—a perfect circle broken by three vertical lines.
The mark of the Primordial Seal.
Mael's eyes narrowed. "So it's true. The barrier is collapsing."
Elyndra hesitated. "If the seal breaks, the Firstborn return. The world won't survive that."
A bitter smile crossed Mael's face.
"The world didn't survive last time."
Before Elyndra could answer, the air trembled—like thunder without sound.
The tear in the sky widened, lightning spilling from its edges, striking the floating isles below. Entire chunks of land shattered and fell into the void.
Screams rose from the city. Bells rang. Winged guardians took flight.
Elyndra's voice shook. "It's starting—Mael, what do we do?!"
Mael finally turned toward her. His eyes were no longer calm—they were burning with the same light as the crack above them.
"We do what we were never meant to do," he said.
"We open the seal before they break it."
Elyndra's breath caught. "That will kill you."
"Maybe. But letting it break on its own will kill everyone."
The wind roared, the ground shook, and far above, something ancient moved behind the crack—something with eyes large enough to swallow stars.
Mael stepped forward, resting his hand on the obsidian book.
"This is the last warning we get," he said. "After this… there is no turning back."
And with that, the sky tore open—fully.
Light fell like fire.
The world screamed.
And the true war began.
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End of Chapter 12