The message on the mirror disappeared.
The seals are weakening.
Eryndor remained still for several seconds.
The words had been simple.
Their meaning was not.
He looked at the golden barrier surrounding Vaelcrest.
If the barrier was a seal, then what exactly was it sealing?
The Ten Domains were remnants of dead Primordials.
The barriers were manifestations of their remaining Authority.
The Tower had shown Eryndor ten ancient lights.
Now the mirror had shown him ten seals.
Everything was connected.
But the connection still had a missing piece.
What had the Primordials sealed?
Eryndor looked toward Kael.
“How long have the changes in Drakemere been happening?”
“Since yesterday.”
“Anything before the Awakening?”
Kael shook his head.
“No.”
“Any ancient structures?”
“Several.”
“Any signs of corruption?”
Kael’s expression hardened.
“One.”
Eryndor’s attention sharpened.
“Where?”
“Inside the mountains.”
“Did anyone touch it?”
“Three people.”
“What happened?”
“They became sick.”
Kael paused.
“Then they began attacking the others.”
Eryndor’s expression became serious.
“Are they alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then they weren’t completely corrupted.”
Kael frowned.
“You know what this is?”
“Not yet.”
Eryndor looked toward the barrier.
“But I’m beginning to understand it.”
Aldren stood nearby, listening.
“You’re planning to leave, aren’t you?”
Eryndor didn’t answer immediately.
Kael looked between them.
“You have somewhere else to be?”
“Drakemere.”
Aldren sighed.
“I knew it.”
Eryndor turned toward him.
“I need to investigate.”
“I know.”
“You don’t have to come.”
Aldren gave him a tired look.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Eryndor frowned.
“This could be dangerous.”
“So could staying here.”
Aldren looked toward the barrier.
“Besides, someone needs to make sure you eat.”
Kael looked at Eryndor.
“Your guardian?”
“Yes.”
Kael nodded slowly.
“I understand.”
Eryndor looked at him.
“What?”
“My family was like that.”
For a moment, Kael’s usual confidence disappeared.
Then it returned.
“We should leave.”
Eryndor nodded.
But before they could move, the ground trembled.
Once.
Twice.
Then the entire town shook.
People screamed.
Buildings rattled.
Dust fell from rooftops.
Eryndor immediately released his perception.
His Core responded.
The energy beneath Vaelcrest was moving.
Not randomly.
It was following a pattern.
A pulse traveled beneath the ground.
From the barrier.
Toward the center of the town.
Eryndor’s eyes widened.
“It’s beneath us.”
Kael looked at him.
“What is?”
“The Domain.”
Another tremor shook the town.
Then the ground split.
Not violently.
A perfectly straight line appeared across the earth.
Golden light emerged from beneath it.
The crowd backed away.
Eryndor stepped forward.
Aldren grabbed his arm.
“Don’t.”
Eryndor looked at him.
“I need to see.”
“That’s exactly what people say before something terrible happens.”
Eryndor smiled faintly.
“I’ll be careful.”
“You always say that too.”
The golden line widened.
Stone descended.
A staircase appeared.
It had not been built.
It had always been there.
Hidden beneath Vaelcrest.
The stairs descended into darkness.
Golden symbols covered every step.
Kael crouched beside the entrance.
“These are old.”
Eryndor studied them.
“They aren’t written language.”
“What are they?”
“Laws.”
Kael looked at him.
“You can understand them?”
“Some.”
Eryndor touched one symbol.
A sensation entered his mind.
Void.
Silence.
Distance.
Emptiness.
Then another.
Inner World.
Eryndor pulled his hand away.
The symbol had not spoken.
It had transmitted a concept.
He looked deeper into the passage.
“These aren’t inscriptions.”
“What are they?”
“Fragments of Authority.”
Kael stood.
“Then this really is connected to the Void Primordial.”
Eryndor nodded.
They began descending.
Aldren followed.
Kael walked behind them.
The farther they went, the quieter the world became.
The sounds of Vaelcrest disappeared.
The sunlight disappeared.
Even the feeling of air disappeared.
Eryndor realized something strange.
He was still breathing.
But he didn’t need to.
His Core had already begun adapting.
He remembered the Tower.
Higher beings eventually stopped depending on ordinary biological needs.
He hadn’t expected it to begin so early.
They continued.
The staircase seemed endless.
After several minutes, Eryndor looked upward.
The entrance was no longer visible.
Kael noticed.
“We’ve gone far.”
“Too far.”
Aldren stopped.
“How far?”
Eryndor shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
They continued.
Then the staircase ended.
They stepped into a vast chamber.
Eryndor stopped.
The chamber was impossible.
It should not have fit beneath Vaelcrest.
Its ceiling disappeared into darkness.
Its walls stretched farther than his senses could reach.
And at the center stood something enormous.
A black sphere.
It floated above a circular platform.
Golden chains of light surrounded it.
Not physical chains.
Laws.
Countless Laws.
Some were broken.
Others were fading.
And beneath the sphere stood a stone throne.
Empty.
Eryndor stared.
Something about the throne felt familiar.
Not because he remembered sitting there.
Because something within him recognized its purpose.
A place for a ruler of the Void.
Kael stepped forward.
“What is that?”
Eryndor shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Aldren looked around.
“Then perhaps we should leave.”
Before Eryndor could answer, a voice echoed through the chamber.
Not from the sphere.
Not from the throne.
From everywhere.
[Unauthorized existence detected.]
Eryndor froze.
Kael immediately raised his fists.
Aldren stepped behind them.
The chamber brightened.
A golden figure appeared above the sphere.
It had no face.
No body.
Only a humanoid outline formed from countless lines of light.
Eryndor recognized it.
A remnant.
Not a living Primordial.
Not a soul.
A preserved fragment of Authority.
The figure spoke again.
[Void Domain preservation protocol active.]
Eryndor stepped forward.
“You are the remnant of the Void Primordial.”
The figure remained silent.
Then:
[Identity cannot be confirmed.]
Eryndor frowned.
“You don’t know?”
[Original consciousness absent.]
That answer sent a strange feeling through him.
The Primordial was truly dead.
What remained was only Authority.
A memory of existence without the person who had once possessed it.
Eryndor looked toward the black sphere.
“What are you protecting?”
The figure turned.
The chamber shook.
The sphere cracked.
Only slightly.
But the sound was enough.
Kael’s expression changed.
Aldren took a step backward.
Eryndor felt his Core tremble.
The remnant spoke.
[Seal integrity: 87%.]
Eryndor’s eyes narrowed.
“What’s inside?”
The figure did not answer.
The sphere cracked again.
A thin black mist escaped.
The moment it appeared, Eryndor felt something ancient.
Hunger.
The same sensation he had felt through the mirror.
The mist touched the floor.
The stone darkened.
Eryndor stepped backward.
“Corruption.”
Kael looked at him.
“What?”
Eryndor raised his hand.
“Don’t touch it.”
The mist continued spreading.
Slowly.
Almost lazily.
But everywhere it passed, the golden Laws surrounding the sphere dimmed.
The remnant moved.
[Corruption detected.]
Eryndor’s eyes widened.
“You can detect it.”
[Containment protocol active.]
Golden light erupted.
The mist recoiled.
For a moment, the chamber stabilized.
Then the sphere cracked again.
A second line appeared.
Then a third.
Eryndor stared.
This wasn’t the source of Corruption.
It was a prison.
Something had already been sealed here.
Something powerful enough that the Void Domain had dedicated its remaining Authority to containing it.
The mirror had not been warning him about the barrier.
It had been warning him about what the barrier concealed.
“The ten seals,” Eryndor whispered.
Kael looked at him.
“What?”
“The Ten Domains.”
Eryndor looked at the black sphere.
“They aren’t only protecting the world.”
He remembered the mirror.
Ten remnants.
Ten inheritances.
Ten seals.
Now he understood.
The Primordials had left behind their Domains because their Authority was needed.
Not merely to preserve their territories.
To contain something.
Something that could not simply be destroyed.
The chamber suddenly shook violently.
The black sphere cracked wider.
A faint voice emerged from inside.
Not words.
A whisper.
Yet Eryndor understood it.
Hungry.
His Core reacted violently.
Pain shot through his chest.
The mirror pendant became ice-cold.
Eryndor fell to one knee.
“Eryndor!”
Aldren moved toward him.
“Stay back!”
Eryndor forced himself upright.
The black sphere was no longer silent.
Something inside was aware.
Not fully awake.
But aware.
He could feel its attention.
It touched his existence.
For one brief moment, the presence seemed to recognize something within him.
Then it recoiled.
The sphere stopped cracking.
The black mist withdrew.
Silence returned.
The remnant spoke.
[Seal stabilized.]
Eryndor breathed slowly.
“What happened?”
[Unknown existence encountered incompatible existence.]
Eryndor froze.
“Incompatible?”
The remnant did not answer.
The mirror pendant pulsed once.
Eryndor looked down.
For the first time, the surface showed something different.
Not ten lights.
Not the ten figures.
A single reflection.
Himself.
Behind him stood two enormous silhouettes.
One was made of endless light.
The other was made of darkness.
Neither had a face.
Eryndor blinked.
The reflection returned to normal.
He said nothing.
Not to Kael.
Not to Aldren.
Not even to himself.
He wasn’t ready to understand what he had seen.
But one thing was becoming clear.
The Awakening had not created the danger beneath Aetherion.
It had only disturbed its prison.
And somewhere beneath the other nine Domains, nine more seals were beginning to weaken.
Eryndor looked at the ancient chamber.
He had entered Vaelcrest searching for answers.
Instead, he had discovered a question far more terrifying.
What had the Ten Primordials been afraid to destroy?
The answer remained buried beneath the world.
For now.