The world returned in fragments—sound first, then sensation, then the blurry smear of light and shadow. Rowan felt the weight of the cavern settling unevenly against his back before anything else. Dust filled his mouth. Something warm dripped down his jaw. His ears rang with a dull, pulsing hum that didn't belong to the cave.
It belonged to the Beacon.
He blinked hard, trying to drag the world back into focus.
Silhouettes formed. Broken stone. Jagged pillars. A ceiling now cracked in massive, uneven lines.
And Daniel—standing exactly where Rowan last saw him.
Unmoved.
Unshaken.
Facing the Beacon as if facing a judgment he had expected his entire life.
Kairen was the first to reach Rowan. She slid across the debris, hooking an arm under his to pull him upright.
"Still breathing?" she asked, voice tight with urgency.
"Yeah—barely." Rowan coughed. "Is Daniel—?"
"Alive? Yes." She glanced over her shoulder. "Stable? Absolutely not."
Rowan followed her gaze.
The Beacon hovered lower now, no longer a distant star. Its light was denser, swirling in rhythmic pulses like a heartbeat struggling to steady itself. The more Rowan looked, the more wrong it felt—as if it wasn't just glowing but watching. Waiting.
Responding.
Daniel stood only a few paces away, hair stirring in a wind that didn't exist. His back was straight, and his arms hung limp at his sides. But the tension in his posture was unmistakable. Rowan had never seen Daniel look trapped before.
Kairen whispered, "It's binding to him."
Rowan felt the pressure again—the weight on his lungs, the invisible hands pressing down on his shoulders. The air itself felt alive.
"I need answers," Rowan said, feeling the thump of his pulse in his neck. "And I need them now."
"Then ask him," Kairen murmured. "If he's still himself."
Rowan wasn't convinced he was.
He staggered forward. "Daniel!"
Daniel didn't turn.
Rowan shouted again. "Daniel! What is this thing? What's coming?"
The Beacon pulsed, answering before Daniel did. A ripple of force spread through the cavern like a wave. Not a physical one—Rowan didn't feel it on his skin. He felt it somewhere deeper, in a place he didn't have words for.
Kairen steadied herself, setting her stance as if the ground might shift beneath her feet. "It's waking something on the other side."
Rowan swallowed. "The other side of what?"
Daniel finally spoke.
"Reality."
His voice was low. Not distant—just… weighed down. As if each syllable fought free against something invisible.
Rowan moved closer. "Daniel, look at me."
Daniel did.
And Rowan immediately wished he hadn't.
Daniel's eyes were their usual gray, but something shimmered beneath—like molten silver swirling restlessly. An echo of light traced the lines of his face, faint but unmistakable.
"Rowan," Daniel said softly, "you need to take Kairen and run."
Rowan stared. "Not happening."
Daniel exhaled slowly, as if bracing himself. "Then listen carefully. That Beacon isn't just a signal. It's a tether. A link. And the moment it reawakens fully…"
He looked back toward the floating object.
"…He'll follow it."
Kairen's jaw tightened. "He? As in a Sovereign?"
Daniel nodded once.
Rowan stepped closer. "You said you escaped. So whoever he is—he's looking for you."
Daniel didn't deny it.
Rowan felt his stomach twist. "So which Sovereign comes after you personally? Who are we dealing with?"
Daniel finally said it.
"Lykorian."
The cavern felt colder, even though the Beacon glowed hotter.
Kairen inhaled sharply. "Daniel, that's—"
"Yes." Daniel's voice was flat. "The Sovereign of Dominion."
Rowan didn't know much about Sovereigns—not in detail, not like Daniel or Kairen—but even he understood what that title meant. Dominion wasn't just rulership.
It was control.
"Why would he be looking for you?" Rowan asked quietly.
Daniel didn't answer immediately. Instead, he stepped closer to the Beacon. The light recoiled from him like a startled flame, then reached toward him again—almost eagerly.
Kairen hissed under her breath. "Don't go near it!"
"I don't have a choice," Daniel said. "Lykorian marked this Beacon. He's tied to it. And now—because of me—it's tied to this world."
Rowan's voice cracked with something raw. "Daniel—what did you run from?"
Daniel's shoulders lifted slightly. Not a shrug. A flinch.
"I ran from a throne."
He closed his eyes. "One he expected me to obey."
Kairen's eyes widened as the realization hit her. "Daniel… you're not just some escaped warrior or exile—"
"No." Daniel opened his eyes again. "I was his Warden."
The cavern went silent.
Rowan felt the weight of those words settle over him. A Warden wasn't a servant. Not a soldier. A Warden was something else—something higher. Something closer. Chosen.
Kairen's voice was small but steady. "Wardens don't leave. They can't."
"I did," Daniel said simply. "And Lykorian doesn't believe in letting go of what he claims."
The Beacon pulsed again—once, twice, faster—like a heart picking up speed. A low hum filled the cavern, vibrating through stone and bone alike.
Rowan felt the vibration in his teeth.
Kairen backed away. "It's breaking through."
"Not fully," Daniel said, though he didn't sound hopeful. "But soon. The Beacon is calling him, and every second it stays active, he comes closer."
Rowan grit his teeth. "Then we destroy it."
Daniel laughed once—a hollow, humorless sound. "If we could destroy a Beacon that easily, the world would have done it long ago."
Rowan stepped forward anyway. "Watch me."
He summoned the Balefire, letting it burn higher than before. The flames curled up his arm, crackling with green-blue light. It cast an eerie glow across the cavern.
Rowan aimed his hand toward the Beacon.
Kairen grabbed his wrist before he could fire. "Stop. You don't understand what will happen if you strike it in this state."
"I don't care!"
"You should," Kairen snapped. "A Beacon reacts to energy. Yours is unstable. If you hit it recklessly, you could accelerate the binding. Or worse—tear it open."
Rowan's pulse spiked. "So what's the plan? Watch a god drop into our world?"
"Rowan." Daniel's voice cut through the rising panic. "Put the flame down."
Rowan hesitated, then lowered his hand—but the Balefire flickered stubbornly, refusing to die.
Daniel took a step closer to him. "You can't win a fight against a Beacon. And you can't out-burn a Sovereign."
Rowan's throat tightened. "Then what do we do?"
"We stall." Daniel looked at the Beacon. "Long enough for me to sever the tether."
Kairen's eyes widened. "Daniel, no. You know what that will cost—"
"I know exactly what it will cost," he said quietly.
Rowan grabbed his arm. "If you're talking about sacrifice, forget it. We're not—"
Daniel pulled his arm free. "It won't kill me."
Rowan didn't like the hesitation in his voice. "But?"
Daniel didn't answer.
Kairen paled. "It will take your power."
Daniel stiffened but didn't deny it.
Rowan's heart dropped. "Wait—your whole arsenal? Everything? You'll be powerless?"
Daniel didn't meet his eyes. "It's temporary."
"Define temporary," Rowan demanded.
Daniel stayed silent.
The Beacon pulsed harder, brighter, filling the cavern with waves of shimmering light. The ground shook violently, showering them with dust and fragments of stone.
Kairen shouted over the rumble, "Daniel, it's accelerating! You have seconds, not minutes!"
Daniel stepped forward, raising his hand toward the Beacon. "Then I have to start now."
"No!" Rowan lunged, grabbing him. "Daniel, you don't have to do this alone!"
"Yes. I do."
He looked Rowan in the eyes—and Rowan saw the fear behind the calm façade. "Because if Lykorian steps into this world while I'm still bound to him… he'll reclaim me."
Rowan's breath froze.
"And if that happens," Daniel whispered, "I won't be myself anymore."
The Beacon let out a sharp, ear-splitting crack of light—like a lightning bolt splitting the air without sound. The cavern illuminated in blinding white.
Rowan shielded his face.
Kairen stumbled back.
Daniel stood firm.
And then—everything changed.
The Beacon unfolded.
Not literally, not physically. It was more like watching a star peel open from the inside, revealing layers of impossible light. Tendrils of shimmering energy extended outward, weaving patterns in the air—sigils Rowan didn't recognize but somehow instinctively feared.
A low voice echoed across the cavern.
Not spoken.
Not heard.
Felt.
Daniel.
Rowan's blood ran cold.
Daniel's face drained of color. "He's too close."
The Beacon pulsed brighter.
Rowan stepped forward. "Daniel—tell me what to do. Tell me anything."
Daniel's voice cracked. "Stay behind me."
"What about you?"
Daniel didn't answer.
He raised his hand toward the Beacon.
His eyes shifted.
The silver beneath surged, swallowing the gray completely, glowing with a brilliance that didn't belong to mortals. Rowan stumbled backward instinctively.
Kairen grabbed Rowan's arm. "He's invoking the severance."
Rowan stared helplessly as Daniel's hair lifted in the energy streaming from the Beacon. The light wrapped around him like chains, binding him in spirals of brilliance.
Daniel's voice echoed—his, but layered with something older.
"I revoke the tether."
The Beacon resisted, glowing brighter, the tendrils tightening around him like snapping restraints.
Daniel grit his teeth.
"I renounce the bond."
A roar—not sound, but force—pushed Rowan and Kairen backward. The cavern walls cracked. Stone split. The air itself seemed to bend.
Daniel screamed—not in pain, but in defiance.
"I refuse the Sovereign of Dominion."
The Beacon exploded with light.
Something shattered—like a chain breaking.
Rowan was thrown to the ground, his breath knocked out. Kairen hit the wall with a grunt. Dust filled the air.
When the light faded—
Daniel collapsed to his knees.
The Beacon dimmed, shrinking inward like a dying star.
And Rowan felt it instantly:
The pressure in the cavern vanished.
But so did Daniel's strength.
He looked up weakly, eyes no longer silver—just exhausted, hollow gray.
"It's done," Daniel whispered.
Rowan ran to him. "What did it take?"
Daniel exhaled, barely conscious.
"Everything I had."
He swayed.
Rowan caught him before he fell.
Kairen stared at the dim, dormant Beacon. "That will only hold Lykorian off for a while."
Rowan held Daniel tightly. "How long?"
Kairen swallowed.
"Days. Maybe weeks."
Rowan looked down at Daniel, heart pounding.
"Then we prepare," Rowan said. "Because when he comes… we're not running."
Daniel managed a faint, broken smile.
"We'll need more than courage."
Rowan nodded.
"Then we'll get more."
And the cavern, cracked and still humming faintly from the severed bond, fell into uneasy silence.
The calm before the next storm.