The chamber was not a chamber.
It was a cosmic cavity carved into the bones of reality itself—an abyss of black void surrounded by rings of ancient silver stone. Runes hovered in midair like drifting constellations, pulsing to the rhythm of a titanic heartbeat.
THUM… THUM… THUM…
Suspended at its center was a colossal crystal heart—bigger than a palace hall—beating with seven-colored blood that flowed through transparent veins like rivers of light.
It was alive.
It was ancient.
And it felt…
hungry.
Xueya's breath turned white in the air as she stared.
"That… is not an artifact.That's a living organ."
Drakonix trembled, every prismatic scale flickering as if his bloodline was being forcibly called to kneel.
Jin Wei remained on one knee, unmoving.
His voice—usually booming—came out as a quiet, reverent vibration.
"PRIMAL AUTHORITY DETECTED.ORIGIN-CLASS ENTITY."
Qi Shan Wei took one step forward—
And the heart responded.
THUUUUM…
The sound was so deep it shook his bones.
A voice entered his mind—older than language.
"Child of Seven Lights…"
Shan Wei's eyes narrowed.
"…Who are you?"
The heart's glow intensified.
"I am the first."
The air thickened.
Even time hesitated.
1. Drakonix Collapses — Ancestral Resonance Overload
Drakonix suddenly cried out.
He dropped to the ground, claws gouging starlit stone.
His wings flared uncontrollably, releasing prismatic fire in violent spurts.
"Shan Wei—!" Xueya shouted, rushing toward him.
But the moment her hand touched Drakonix, the flames surged—
not to burn her, but to protect him instinctively.
Drakonix's voice cracked in pain.
"It's… pulling me…It's calling my blood…It wants me to—"
His pupils flashed gold-crimson.
"…submit."
Shan Wei's chest tightened.
The heart was not simply a relic.
It was a lineage command.
And Drakonix was being dragged by ancestral law.
Shan Wei stepped between Drakonix and the heart.
His aura flared.
"Enough."
The heartbeat paused.
As if surprised.
2. Jin Wei's Secret — The Emperor's Greatest Fear
Jin Wei's eyes flickered.
His chest core opened slightly, projecting a faint memory fragment—half-corrupted, but clear enough to chill the soul.
A scene inside the same chamber.
The Red Emperor stood where Shan Wei stood now—older, crowned, terrifying.
And beside him was Jin Wei in a far more complete form, armor uncracked, golden wings fully formed.
The Emperor stared at the beating heart.
Not with greed.
Not with awe.
With warning.
His voice echoed from the memory:
"Never let it wake."
Jin Wei's recorded voice responded, mechanical yet urgent:
"SOVEREIGN… THIS ENTITY'S HEARTBEAT IS RISING.ITS WILL IS ACTIVATING."
The Emperor's eyes narrowed.
"It is not a beast."
The memory froze on the Emperor's face.
And then he spoke the sentence Shan Wei felt in his bones:
"It is a hunger that learned to wear a crown."
The fragment ended.
Shan Wei inhaled sharply.
Xueya's voice trembled.
"So the Emperor… feared this more than the Abyss?"
Drakonix, still trembling, whispered:
"…Because the Abyss kills.But this… devours destiny."
3. The Heart Reacts to Shan Wei's Overdrive
Shan Wei's prismatic halo flickered faintly around him, instinctively defending.
But the heart responded.
Veins of seven-colored light extended outward like tendrils—not physically, but spiritually—reaching for Shan Wei's Core.
The Observer wasn't here…
But Shan Wei didn't need him to know what was happening.
The heart was trying to link.
To connect.
To feed.
Xueya stepped forward, frost moon igniting behind her.
"Don't touch him."
The heart pulsed.
A wave of pressure slammed through the chamber.
Xueya staggered, blood dripping from her nose.
Drakonix roared weakly, pushing himself upright.
Jin Wei's runes flared in desperate defense.
Shan Wei's golden eyes narrowed.
"Trying to dominate us?"
He lifted his hand.
Prismatic energy condensed—calm, precise.
But then—
The heart spoke again, voice like a lullaby made of galaxies dying:
"I do not dominate…""I restore."
Shan Wei froze.
"What?"
The heart pulsed in gentle, almost convincing rhythm.
"You are fractured.""You are incomplete.""Give me your pain…""and I will make you whole."
Xueya's breath caught.
That voice was not roaring evil.
It was whispering comfort.
Which made it worse.
Shan Wei's fingers tightened.
"Comfort doesn't come from an ancient void organ."
The heart's glow dimmed slightly.
Then brightened.
"I can return what you lost."
Shan Wei's throat tightened.
In his mind—
a vision flashed:
His mother.His humble village.His early hardships.The people who died along his path.The betrayals.The scars he still carried.
The heart whispered:
"I can undo it."
Xueya grabbed Shan Wei's wrist.
"Don't listen."
Her eyes were fierce, shaking.
"It's lying."
Drakonix forced himself to his feet, wings trembling.
"Brother… that is not restoration. That is consumption disguised as mercy."
Shan Wei nodded slowly.
"I know."
But the heart wasn't finished.
4. The True Prismatic Emperor Appears
A prismatic mirror formed in midair.
Not glass—a floating plane of crystallized fate.
Within it, a figure appeared:
A man wearing a crown of seven lights, robed in endless prismatic starlight.
His face was blurred, as if the heavens refused to allow clarity.
But the pressure—
the authority—
was beyond even the Red Emperor's memory echo.
Xueya's knees nearly buckled.
Drakonix bowed unconsciously.
Jin Wei's head lowered fully.
Shan Wei stared, heart pounding.
"Who…"
The figure spoke.
Not with sound.
With law.
"I am the Prismatic Emperor that existed before names."
The heart beat faster.
THUM THUM THUM.
The figure looked at Shan Wei.
"You were never meant to inherit the Red Emperor's fall.""You were meant to inherit my beginning."
Shan Wei's breath hitched.
"And this heart…?"
The figure's gaze hardened.
"It is the first mistake of creation."
The heart pulsed violently.
The chamber shook.
Xueya staggered, eyes wide.
"I see… another future—"
She clutched her chest, voice breaking.
"A future where Shan Wei takes the heart…and becomes something worse than the Abyss."
Drakonix roared, furious.
"No!"
The heart's tendrils surged again.
Trying to reach Shan Wei.
Trying to claim him.
Shan Wei's aura erupted, prismatic flame flaring.
"No."
He raised his palm—
and for the first time, his voice carried a faint echo of imperial authority.
"I will not be manipulated."
But the heart didn't retreat.
It laughed.
Not with sound.
With rhythm.
THUUUUM—THUUUUM—THUUUUM—
And then—
The heart began to awaken.
A裂裂裂裂裂—
Cracks formed across its surface.
Something inside stirred.
A consciousness rising.
Old.
Hungry.
Smiling.
To be Continued
© Kishtika., 2025
All rights reserved.