The floor lay fractured, the walls split open, and the scent of residual energy still burned in the air like invisible fire.
Sealers surrounded the area.
Some activated containment seals, golden inscriptions forming over the cracked ground.Others examined the scars left by the rift, whispering in low, tense voices.
Ren sat on a broken slab of stone, gripping his wrist.
The symbol still burned.
Not painfully.
But insistently.
Alive.
Kael stood nearby, leaning against a support beam while a female Sealer treated him. A soft green resonance pulsed from her palm — a healing Echo stabilizing his life force.
“You almost lost your vital core,” she said firmly.“If that weakening had lasted longer… your body would have collapsed.”
Kael didn’t answer.
His eyes were on Ren.
“It came for you.”
Ren clenched his jaw.
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“I didn’t ask for this.”
Heavy footsteps approached.
An older Sealer stepped forward, his dark mantle bearing the sigil of the Sealer’s Fortress stitched in silver thread.
Authority radiated from him — quiet, controlled.
“We felt the awakening from afar,” he said.“Not the Abyss.”
His gaze settled on Ren.
“You.”
Ren felt his chest tighten.
The word echoed louder than the creature’s voice had.
“What is this ‘Origin’?” he asked.
The older Sealer studied him for several seconds.
Not like a child.
Not like a threat.
But like a phenomenon.
“Something that no longer manifests in this world.”
A pause.
The wind shifted through the ruined structure.
“And something many will attempt to take from you.”
The words did not carry menace.
Only certainty.
Kael pushed himself upright despite the lingering weakness.
“So what do we do?” he asked.
The Sealer’s voice did not waver.
“You will not fight alone anymore.”
He extended a medallion.
At its center was the engraved crest of the Sealer’s Fortress — a tower encircled by layered sigils.
“The Sealer’s Fortress wishes to see you.”
The surrounding Sealers fell silent.
This was not a suggestion.
It was an invitation backed by power.
Ren looked down at the dark symbol on his wrist.
It still glowed faintly.
Unstable.
But alive.
And deep down, he knew—
What lurked within the Abyss…
Was still watching.
Waiting.