The ground continued to tremble long after Kaine's warning settled into Mae's bones. The thin line of gold light at the horizon pulsed once, then again, like a distant heartbeat answering her own. Ash drifted through the air, clinging to her skin, her chains humming low beneath it all. Whatever had awakened was not rushing. It was gathering.
Sethis stood rigid beside her, shadows drawn tight, coiled like a blade held back by restraint alone. His gaze never left the glowing horizon. "That light does not belong here," he said. "It feels wrong."
Kaine watched it with a familiarity that unsettled her. The gold in his eyes flickered, dimmer now, as though something in the distance pulled at him. "It does not belong anywhere," he replied. "That is the problem."
Mae forced herself to breathe. Every instinct screamed that this was spiraling beyond her control, yet the fracture inside her was calm. Not quiet. Calm. It pulsed steadily, as if this was always the direction things were meant to move. She hated that certainty more than the fear.
"You said another champion," she said. "What does that mean?"
Kaine turned to face her fully. "The first was bound to command destruction. This one will not be." His jaw tightened. "This one will be born from division."
Sethis's shadows flared outward in a sharp, violent arc. "Explain."
"The fracture was never singular," Kaine said. "It was a threshold. A door that could open more than once." He looked at Mae then, truly looked at her, and the weight in his gaze nearly broke her. "When you submitted, you proved it could be crossed without annihilation. That knowledge does not vanish."
Mae's stomach twisted. "You are saying I showed it how."
"Yes," Kaine said softly. "And now it is answering itself."
The gold light at the horizon flared brighter, spreading upward like a crack tearing through the sky. The air thickened, heavy with pressure. Mae's chains tightened around her arms, not in warning, but recognition. She felt it clearly now. The fracture was no longer focused solely on her. It was echoing outward.
Sethis stepped closer, lowering his voice. "Then we end it before it finishes forming."
Kaine shook his head. "You cannot kill what has not taken shape. And when it does, force will not stop it."
Mae closed her eyes briefly, gathering herself. Kaine's return, the kneeling champion, the orb's warning. None of it had been isolated. It was a progression. A widening path. She opened her eyes again. "Then what do we do?"
Kaine hesitated.
That pause told her everything.
Sethis noticed too. "You know," he said flatly. "You know what comes next."
Kaine exhaled slowly. "The fracture will seek balance. It always does." His gaze returned to the horizon. "If one champion fell through submission, another will rise through refusal."
Mae felt cold settle in her chest. "Refusal of what?"
"Of you," Kaine said.
The gold light surged again, spreading wider now, a裂 that burned against the darkening sky. The ground beneath them cracked, veins of light pulsing beneath the surface. Mae staggered slightly as a sharp pulse ran through her veins, stronger than anything she had felt before. This was not just a call to her. It was responding.
Sethis caught her arm instantly, shadows bracing her weight. "Enough," he said. "Whatever that thing is, it is reacting to you. You do not go near it."
Mae steadied herself, shaking off the weakness. "I do not think distance will save us."
Kaine nodded once. "It will come to you. Whether you stand or run."
Silence stretched between them, heavy and unavoidable.
Mae straightened. "Then we prepare."
Sethis's eyes narrowed. "For what."
"For war," she said. "Not the kind we have fought before."
The air shifted abruptly, a ripple of force rolling outward from the fracture line in the sky. Ash lifted from the ground, spiraling upward, forming a slow, deliberate vortex. Mae felt the pull immediately, not physical, but internal. Something inside her answered with an ache that felt like memory.
Kaine stiffened. "It is closer than I thought."
Sethis swore under his breath, shadows snapping into defensive arcs. "We are exposed out here."
Mae scanned the ruined battlefield. The others were still scattered, regrouping in pockets beyond the ash and smoke. Lucien. Ashar. Riven. None of them was ready for this. Neither was she. But waiting would only make it worse.
"We bring them back," she said. "All of them."
Sethis hesitated. "Mae."
"They need to know," she insisted. "No more secrets. No more half-truths."
Kaine studied her with something like approval. "That choice will matter."
She met his gaze. "Everything matters now."
Another tremor rolled through the ground. The gold light pulsed again, brighter than before, and for a moment, Mae thought she saw a shape forming within it. Tall. Narrow. Not as vast as the first champion. Focused. Intent.
Sethis felt it too. His shadows recoiled, then tightened defensively. "It is learning."
Mae's chains flared instinctively, violet light surging along her arms. She welcomed it, grounding herself in the sensation. The fracture did not feel hostile. It felt curious.
That frightened her more than any roar of destruction.
Kaine stepped closer, lowering his voice. "When it emerges, it will seek to define itself against you. It will not kneel. It will not submit."
Mae swallowed. "Then what will it do?"
Kaine's expression hardened. "It will challenge you."
A distant sound echoed across the ruined plain. Not a roar. Not a scream. A resonance, low and vibrating, like something being drawn slowly from stone. The vortex of ash tightened, spiraling faster.
Sethis drew closer to Mae, shadows wrapping around both of them. "We are running out of time."
Mae nodded. "Then we stop running out of courage."
She stepped forward, chains blazing brighter as she moved toward the growing light. Every step felt heavier, not from resistance, but from significance. This was not instinct driving her now. It was an intention.
Behind her, Kaine spoke quietly. "Mae."
She turned.
"For what it is worth," he said, "I do not believe the fracture chose wrong."
Her throat tightened. She gave a short nod. "Neither do I."
The ground split open at the base of the golden rift, a shockwave tearing outward. Mae braced herself as a surge of energy ripped through the battlefield, flattening ash and debris in a wide arc. The vortex collapsed inward, light condensing, compressing, shaping itself into something solid.
Something alive.
Mae felt the fracture scream in recognition. And for the first time since this began, fear threaded through the calm. Whatever was coming had learned from her. And it was ready.