The Ashplain stretched like a wound beneath the blood-colored sky. The wind smelled of cinders and carried the distant cries of dying things. Kael moved through it, his crimson cloak wrapped tightly around him, the enchanted runes on his arm humming with quiet hunger.
Sirena walked beside him once a knight of the Hollow Flame, now a fugitive and his reluctant ally. Her sharp green eyes scanned the desolate horizon as her hand rested on the hilt of her curved blade.
"We're close," she muttered. "The Ember Gate lies beyond those ridges."
Kael nodded, though his thoughts were elsewhere. He could feel it, Vel'tarion pulsing in its shattered form against his back. It thirsted. The relic was no longer just a blade. It was a being. And it whispered.
"The Warden comes."
Kael stopped. "Did you hear that?"
Sirena shook her head. "Hear what?"
Before he could answer, the skies split.
A shadow descended silent, swift. The earth cracked as a figure landed before them, clad in black armor forged from voidmetal. A long blade shimmered with star-eating runes.
The Phantom Warden.
Sirena drew her blade. "Run."
"No," Kael said, stepping forward. "I've run enough."
The Warden moved. Faster than thought. Kael barely deflected the first strike. Sparks exploded as blade met blade, flame clashing with void.
Each movement from the Warden felt final like time itself stuttered around his attacks. Kael countered with flame, his body remembering lessons he had never been taught.
Sirena joined the fray, leaping from a boulder, blade flashing. She bought Kael seconds seconds that felt like lifetimes.
Kael's vision blurred. His runes blazed.
Ashrift, the relic whispered.
Kael let go of fear. He raised his hand and tore open the space between flame and shadow. A burning rift exploded forward, swallowing the Warden's strike and tossing him back.
But it wasn't enough.
The Warden rose, cloak in tatters, eyes glowing.
"You carry the legacy," it said in a voice like a funeral bell. "But you are unworthy."
A second strike came.
Kael blocked it barely. His arm shattered under the force, bones breaking. Pain shot through him like lightning.
Sirena screamed.
Kael fell.
But the Warden paused.
"You've passed the First Gate," it said.
And vanished into smoke.
Kael collapsed. Sirena rushed to him.
"Kael!" she called, cradling his broken arm. "Stay with me."
His lips cracked into a smile. "I need… a better sword."
She laughed despite the tears.
And overhead, the stars shifted.