Smoke rose from the red hills like a dark signal against the sky.
Arjun ran.
The ground trembled beneath his feet as villagers shouted in confusion behind him. Some thought it was an earthquake. Others believed it was blasting work from a distant quarry.
But Arjun knew the truth.
The Seal was breaking.
When he reached the hilltop, the sight before him froze his blood.
The earth had split open again.
Not a small crack this time.
A massive fracture.
Red light burst from deep below, brighter and more violent than before. The air felt heavy, filled with heat and pressure.
And standing at the edge of the fracture—
The Seeker.
He stood calm, unmoving, as if the chaos around him meant nothing.
"You're too late," the Seeker said without turning around.
Arjun clenched his fists. "Stop this!"
The Seeker finally faced him. His expression was not cruel.
It was determined.
"You still don't understand," he said. "The Seal is not protection. It is a prison for truth."
The ground shook violently.
A loud cracking sound echoed from below.
Arjun's palm burned intensely. The eye mark glowed bright red.
He fell to one knee.
The Seal was reacting to him.
"No!" Arjun shouted, gripping his hand.
From the fracture in the earth, a beam of red energy shot upward into the sky.
Clouds above twisted unnaturally.
The hills roared.
Deep underground, stone shattered.
Then—
A terrifying sound echoed from below.
A roar.
Not just anger.
Pain.
The Seeker looked surprised for the first time.
"That's not possible," he whispered.
Suddenly, a massive shockwave exploded from the fracture.
Arjun was thrown backward into the dirt.
The Seeker barely kept his balance.
The red light flickered violently.
And then something emerged.
Not fully.
Just a shape.
A massive shadow rising within the fracture.
It did not try to escape.
It struggled.
As if something was holding it back.
The air filled with a voice—deep and layered, like many voices speaking at once.
"The Seal is broken… but not by him."
Arjun's eyes widened.
Not by him?
The Seeker stepped back slowly.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
The voice ignored him.
Instead—
It spoke to Arjun.
"Bearer of the Mark… you weaken us."
Arjun felt ice run through his veins.
"Us?"
The shadow shifted.
And for a brief second—
Arjun saw it clearly.
Chains.
Not holding something inside.
Holding something out.
His heart stopped.
The Seal was not keeping something in.
It was keeping something out.
The red light suddenly changed.
It turned darker.
Almost black.
The shadow screamed—not in rage, but in warning.
"It is coming."
The ground beneath them split further.
Not downward.
Outward.
The Seeker stared in horror.
"This… this wasn't supposed to happen."
Arjun stood slowly, shaking.
"What did you do?" he shouted.
The Seeker looked at him with genuine fear.
"I only cracked the Seal."
Another explosion rocked the hills.
And then—
From beneath the earth—
A second presence rose.
Colder.
Darker.
Silent.
The red light flickered weakly now, like a dying flame.
Whatever had been sealed…
Had been protecting them.
And something far worse had just noticed the opening.
Arjun felt the mark on his palm burn colder than ice.
The voice from below whispered one final warning:
"The Devourer has awakened."
The sky above the red hills darkened unnaturally.
And for the first time—
Both Arjun and the Seeker understood.
They were no longer enemies.
They were both in danger.