Chapter 29: The Twelfth Seal
Location: Mobile Command Ship "Dawnrunner" – En Route to Site Theta
The Arctic Vault was behind them, but the weight of what they had unleashed clung to Rayven like frostbite. The Nullborn wasn't just a weapon — it was a warning. One creature, sealed beneath the ice for untold centuries, had nearly annihilated a fully equipped team. And that had been the weakest.
Now, eleven more sites pulsed on their map.
But it was the twelfth that wasn't marked — and that was what worried him the most.
"The records clearly say twelve," Jex muttered, flipping through the decrypted Echo logs. "Vault 07 held Subject One. That leaves eleven… but no record of the twelfth's location. Like it never existed."
Nyra leaned over his shoulder.
"Or like it was never sealed in the first place."
Rayven paced quietly at the edge of the ship's observation deck, staring at the glowing planet below.
Selene approached.
"You think the twelfth is already out there?"
"No," Rayven said softly. "I think it never needed to be freed."
An Ancient Memory
That night, Rayven dreamed — or remembered. The Echo within him stirred, replaying a vision not his own:
A city of light, suspended in the sky. Towers woven from time. Beneath it, the Twelve stood — not creatures, but people once. Warriors. Scholars. Guardians.
Then came the Fracture. The war. The betrayal.
One among them broke the Seal Pact and turned on the others.
The Eleven were imprisoned. But the Twelfth vanished into the chaos… choosing to become human.
Rayven woke in a cold sweat.
His voice trembled.
"The Twelfth Nullborn isn't asleep. It's hiding. Among us."
The Face Among the Crowd
Kael, the Seraphim defector, reviewed the transmission logs sent from the Council of Ash. A recent sighting had occurred in Orlin City, far south of Bastion. Civilians had reported flickering shadows, impossible reflections, whispers in places of silence.
The Echo signature was faint — corrupted — but present.
"Site Theta is just a smokescreen," Kael said. "This… this is where we need to go."
Selene narrowed her eyes. "So the Twelfth's already found a way to mask itself?"
"It's likely changed forms," Nyra added. "It could be a child. A priest. A soldier. Anyone."
"No," Rayven said. "It won't be random."
He pulled up a photo from the Orlin City archives — grainy, taken at night — a silhouette standing atop a ruined spire, eyes glowing white.
"It's looking for something. Or someone."
Arrival in Orlin City
The "Dawnrunner" touched down on the outskirts under camouflage protocols. Orlin was a broken city — a neutral zone, unclaimed by Seraphim or Resistance. Markets bustled beneath ruined skyscrapers. Life had grown in the cracks of destruction.
As the team moved through the crowded streets, Rayven kept his Echo sense open. Every heartbeat felt like a drumbeat from another world.
A child bumped into him — a small boy with pale hair and wide eyes.
Rayven instinctively reached to steady him.
"Careful—"
The boy looked up.
"It's almost time, Heir."
Then vanished into the crowd.
"Did you see that?" Rayven barked.
"Who?" Selene asked.
"The kid — he just disappeared."
Nyra's voice was cold.
"We've been marked. The Twelfth knows we're here."
A Trap of Reflections
That night, they tracked the Echo pulse to an abandoned cathedral. Statues of long-dead saints lined the walls, their faces cracked and weeping black moss.
Jex scanned the area.
"Echo residue everywhere. Heavy distortion. We're walking into a trap."
Rayven didn't stop.
"We don't have a choice."
The team entered the nave. As soon as they stepped inside, the doors slammed shut. The stained-glass windows shimmered… and then reflected back twisted versions of themselves.
From the mirrored surfaces, the Twelfth stepped forward.
Human in shape. Skin of shifting obsidian. Eyes like burning halos.
It smiled.
"You finally found me, Heir."
The Truth of the Twelfth
Rayven stepped forward, flanked by his team.
"Who are you?"
"Once, I was called Althar. Scholar of Echo. One of the Twelve. I refused the imprisonment. I chose to live. To become… part of your world."
Rayven's heart raced.
"You're not like the others."
"No," the Twelfth said. "But they are awakening now — and they will not forgive. The Seraphim think they control what's coming, but they only opened the wrong doors."
Nyra raised her weapon.
"Then help us stop them."
The Twelfth looked at her.
"I've already done enough. I left behind a key — hidden in this city. A key that can seal or free the rest."
He turned to Rayven.
"But only you can unlock it."
"Why me?" Rayven asked.
The Twelfth's form flickered — revealing a vision of Rayven's father.
"Because it was your family who created the seals in the first place."
The Beginning of the End
Before they could ask more, the cathedral shook. A Seraphim dropship tore through the sky — followed by two more. The building was marked. They had been tracked.
The Twelfth vanished.
"He gave us the location," Kael shouted, downloading the final Echo ping. "We have to move!"
As the team fled into the night, sirens echoed. Seraphim foot soldiers poured into Orlin.
Rayven looked back once.
The city burned in silence.
But now he knew the stakes.
The war wasn't just for territory, or for power. It was for the very fabric of existence.
And the key to winning it was buried in the past his family tried to forget.
Next Chapter: "Bloodlines and Seals"
Rayven returns to the ruins of his ancestral estate, searching for the Seal Key hidden by his father. But buried secrets don't stay quiet — and someone else has been waiting for him to come home.