The world above the archives burned.Sirens wailed across the city of Veyra, painting the skyline red with alarm lights. The towers that once reached toward heaven now pulsed with unease, their glass surfaces reflecting smoke rising from the heart of the Church’s sanctum.Deep below, two figures moved through the ruins—Kael and Seren, their silhouettes sharp against the flickering firelight.The passageways were narrow, filled with collapsing conduits and the stench of molten steel. Sparks rained down from ruptured power lines, briefly illuminating Kael’s face. His expression was calm, unreadable, his eyes glowing faintly gold beneath the hood.Seren stumbled over a fallen beam, still trembling from the surge of power that had erupted from her body minutes earlier. Her breath came in ragged bursts. “They’ll come after us,” she said. “You know that, right?”“They already have,” Kael replied. His tone was quiet, steady, as though the chaos above were irrelevant. “But they don’t know wha

The tunnels stretched endlessly below the ruins of Veyra.The further Kael and Seren descended, the colder the air became. The walls changed from rusted steel to smooth black stone, ancient and carved with glyphs that pulsed faintly as Kael passed. His presence awakened them, as though the very structure remembered its creator.Seren walked close behind him, her footsteps echoing softly. The silence between them was not empty—it was alive, heavy with unspoken thoughts. Above them, the chaos of the Divine Protocol had faded into a distant hum, muffled by layers of earth and machinery.“Kael,” Seren said finally, her voice small in the vast dark. “How deep does this go?”Kael didn’t look back. “Far deeper than any human city. The Vault wasn’t built—it was grown.”“Grown?”He nodded slightly. “In the beginning, when the Architect still ruled the Source, this world was only one of thousands. The Vaults were seeds—roots of a greater network meant to feed energy through all creation. When t

The ground trembled beneath their feet. The Vault’s ceiling split with a thunderous crack, shards of radiant stone tumbling from above like pieces of a dying star.Kael instinctively moved in front of Seren, his hand glowing faintly with unstable energy. “Move!” he shouted, grabbing her wrist and pulling her toward the edge of the collapsing platform.“What’s happening?” Seren gasped, struggling to keep her footing as the floor disintegrated beneath them.“The Vault’s link to the Source is collapsing,” Kael said through gritted teeth. “When you broke the seal, it rewrote the energy threads. The Architect’s control here is gone—but so is the stability holding this dimension together.”He leaped forward, dragging Seren with him. A wave of molten light surged across the floor where they’d just stood, dissolving everything it touched into nothingness.Seren glanced over her shoulder and froze. The space behind them had already begun folding in on itself. The air rippled like shattered gla

The sky burned.Dozens—no, hundreds—of Celestial Wardens descended from the fractured heavens, their wings made of radiant steel, their halos spinning like rings of light. Each one was a weapon forged from the Architect’s will — programmed to destroy anything carrying the Abyssal mark.Kael stood at the center of the storm, his shadow stretching across the cracked plains. Around him, the wind howled with unnatural force, carrying the metallic cry of the Wardens. His blade pulsed with gold fire, runes crawling across the metal like living veins.“Stay close,” he said quietly, his voice calm despite the thunder overhead.Seren nodded, her heart racing. “You think I’m letting you take all the fun?”Kael smirked faintly, then stepped forward — straight into the army of light.The first Warden struck, a spear of radiant energy slicing down like lightning. Kael raised his sword and caught the blow midair. The impact sent a shockwave across the ground, shattering stone and dust. He twisted,

The wind carried no sound. Only dust and silence.Rhael stood at the edge of what was once the Spire. The great monument that had reached into the heavens now lay in ruins, its foundation split open like the scar of a dying god. Where divine light had once bathed the land, there was now only a dull grey haze. The air itself felt fractured, as though reality hadn’t decided whether to hold or collapse.He walked slowly across the broken plain, his boots crunching against glass-like shards that had once been divine metal. The scent of burned energy hung thick — acrid, metallic, almost human. His cloak fluttered in the faint wind, the sound too quiet for a world that had seen such destruction.Rhael’s eyes, sharp and cold as steel, scanned the horizon. No life. No movement. No Kael.Only the aftermath.He crouched beside a pool of liquid light — remnants of the Architect’s energy — and dipped his fingers in. It pulsed faintly, then dimmed as if recognizing him. His jaw tightened. “So it’s