The wind outside the dungeon howled like a wounded god.
Kael stood beneath the shattered arch of Gravemarrow Ridge, cloak torn, skin scorched, breath misting in the twilight. Behind him, the corpses of demon soldiers were buried beneath rubble.
Beside him stood Rael Stryne, his new, unwanted companion — flipping that same silver coin between his fingers like nothing had happened.
"You really aren't the team-up type, huh?" Rael muttered.
Kael didn't answer.
His mind wasn't here.
It was back in the moment when the last demon had crumbled — and a strange pulse of light had flashed through the air. For just a heartbeat, time stopped. Space folded. And Kael had heard it:
"Kael..."
Not a scream.
Not a memory.
A whisper. Soft. Clear. Her.
He didn't tell Rael.
"She's alive… or something of her is," he thought.
"And if she's calling me from beyond the veil… then I have to find a way to answer."
As the two warriors walked through the valley below, Rael finally broke the silence.
"The tournament's in three days. Calvyrin. It's gonna be ugly."
Kael gave him a sideways glance.
"What's the reward again?"
"A relic," Rael replied. "Some say it's a fake. Others say it's the Graviton Keystone itself."
Kael stopped walking.
"And if I win it…"
"You'll unlock the next tier of your gravity magic — and maybe stop almost killing yourself when you lose control."
Kael stared toward the horizon, where the golden spires of Calvyrin Arena pierced the skyline.
Suddenly, his chest ached. The scar flashed again.
The world shifted — for just a second.
The trees around him blurred. The grass turned to ash. The clouds overhead froze mid-motion. And in the stillness… he saw her.
Lyra.
Standing in a field of violet fire, untouched. Smiling softly.
Her lips moved.
"Find the place where I sang for you..."
Then she was gone.
"Kael?" Rael waved a hand in front of his face. "Did you just blank out or… are you meditating with rage?"
Kael looked down at his hand. The grass beneath his fingers had crumpled inward — bent by invisible weight.
"She's trying to lead me somewhere," Kael said.
"She who?"
"Lyra."
"The dead girl?"
"She's not dead."
Rael looked at him sideways but didn't argue.
"Then we better win this tournament. Because whatever answers you're chasing they're waiting on the other side of that Keystone."
That night, Kael sat alone beneath a tree, sharpening his blade. The moonlight reflected in his scar like silver ink.
He closed his eyes.
"I heard you."
"Now help me hear more."
And somewhere, far beyond the veil of this world, in a realm of echo and flame… a song began to hum.