The knock came without urgency.
Early in the morning even before sun could rise, palace was still in half sleep.
Who would've come?
No guards announced their presence, not even the message.
But it achieve its goals.
Limbo woke up and looked up from the half packed bag on the table as the door opened just enough, from the door slowly a a silhouette entered first.
It was a Elder of the temple.
"Walk with me," the elder said. "Three of you."
Without explaining and giving a reason.
Limbo stood immediately wondering and confused.
Rin noticed first. She paused mid-motion from a task, her fingers tightens around the bag she was adjusting.
"Now?" She Asked.
The elder nodded once. "Now."
Gaja frowned. "Where?"
"Not far," the elder replied. "And not long."
That answer somehow made Gaja more uneasy than the silence made itself.
Limbo glanced at them, then shift back at elder. And nodded.
The elder didn't confirm or explain so.
He turned and walked away.
Limbo followed.
The direction they were heading wasn't the palace hall.
Instead the elder led through a side passage which rarely used, made of stone and tough surface as no one used it in age.
The air felt older here, less shaped by routine and different from palace.
They stopped in a small chamber open to the sky.
It was sight tobe hold.
No markings, no banners...
Nor any ceremonial floor.
Just stones and quite environment.
"Your companion," the elder said without looking back, the whole carries fire he had not earn."
Gaja stiffened instantly.
But something inside stir—the curse inside reacted.
Not violently, but with enough pressure, like something was tightening under his skin.
The pain he thought had gone, greeted once again.
"I'm fine," gaja muttered with uneasiness, clenching his jaws.
The elder turned at last. His gaze settled on gaja, not with judgement, no to concern or rejection.
But it was kind of Recognition.
"This is not corruption," the elder said calmly. "It is inheritance without consent."
Gaja blinked. "Then why does it feel like it's trying to tear me apart from within?"
"Because it was never meant to be yours," the elder replied.
He raised one hand, not to cast a spell, nor in a commanding gesture.
But something... The air shifted.
A thin, almost invisible mark traced itself briefly along Gaja's wrist before fading into his skin.
The heat reduced.
The pressure back to normal.
Gaja exhaled sharply, almost stumbling back at step.
"What...was that?" He asked.
"A restraint," the elder said. "Temporary for time being."
Limbo's system flickered faintly.
No identification.
No classification.
Just a simple note of external stabilization.
"Will it remove it?" Rin asked quietly.
"No," the answered of elder didn't meet their expectations. "It will delay consequences...until."
Gaja clenched his fists. "So i still have to suffer with the timer."
"Yes."
The honesty and straight forwardnes carried more weight than comfort ever could.
But time being it under control.
Gaja wanted to asked, but elders gaze shifts towards Rin.
He did not touch her, or invoke anything.
"You try to decide everything in advance," he said. "That's is why your power resist you."
Rin's breath caught. "Resist...me?"
"You respond better than you command," the elder continued. "Your strength is in adjustment, not assertion."
Silence streched.
Rin swallowed. "So I've been doing it wrong."
"No," the elder corrected. "You've been doing it early."
That landed harder than acusation.
She nodded slowly, absorbing what he said.
No awakening followed by surge of energy.
Just a Clarity.
After the two of them finally,
"Now," the elder said, turning back towards Limbo, "you."
They did not speak further until the land began to change.
The path narrowed.
Stone rose unevenly beneath their feet, as if remembering a shape long forgotten.
Limbo felt it before he saw it.
Not a mana.
Law.
The place did not respond to efforts.
It responded to alignment.
As they began to move again.
"Ahobilam..." Revealed itself without grandeur.
Now with towering gates, without any declaration.
Just a structure embedded into the mountain as though the mountain had decided to keep it.
Outside stood a broken guardian. Head gone. One arm shattered.
It's posture still spoke of protection.
Limbo stopped walking.
The elder watched him—not surprised.
"You notice the absence first," the elder said. "Good."
Inside, the air did not press down.
It waited.
At the center stood the statue.
Half man-half lion.
The same place once they visited before.
Limbo stepped forward instinctively.
Not to touch, not to test.
The statue reacted, not my making sound.
But with memory.
Stone hummed softly as he get closer.
Light, not fire trace along carved lines older than language.
And suddenly, like a tiny flare escape from the fire.
The Fragment appeared without violence.
It wasn't summoned.
But returned.
It hovered for a brief moment before setting into Limbo's open palm.
It was Cold and heavy.
At the same time silent.
The system reacted violently for a less second and stopped.
It didn't provide any data.
No classification.
Limbo just stood there holding the light pratical in his hand.
But suddenly,
Quest progress updated.
Status: Incomplete.
Limbo looked up, unable to process.
Unaware of what was happening, surprised.
He looked aside.
The elder was smiling.
Not proudly or in appreciation.
As if a long held assumption had been finally confirmed.
"So," the elder said softly, "the lion lord chose correction."
"What is this?"
Limbo asked.
"Be grateful, no one is as lucky as you?" The elder replied.
"A blessing," that elder said. "Not a weapon, that no outsider has been granted before."
Not even the royal blood.
"Can it be used?"
"It must not," the elder said at once. "If it demands use, the World has already failed."
"And beside it effect can't be guess."
Limbo closed his fingers around the Light source.
It did not resist.
"Do not show it," the elder continued. "Do not name it. Do not let the world assign you a role before you choose one."
"What about sambha and king?" Limbo asked.
"He was the medium, that brought u back." The elder said. "Not the bearer."
Beside something already has been decided for that child, he's innocence and potential of had reached beyond imagination.
He's future is yet uncertain and mystry.
Relief - actually it wasn't relief.
A release.
The elder turned away.
"We will speak again," he said. "When silence becomes dangerous."
They returned without ceremony.
No announcement followed, no reaction from the palace beyond subtle attention.
When they reach the palace it was almost time of afternoon.
Sambha's laughter echoed faintly from a distance.
The elder left without farewell.
Limbo stood alone for a moment, the Fragment heavy in his hand.
The lion had not roared.
And what was the warning.