Damon stumbled into the darkness, the roar of the Resonant Stride silenced behind him as the massive stone seal clanged shut. The air was heavy. Ancient. He was deep within the earth, inside a circular cavern.
The space looked small from outside — but inside, it stretched impossibly wide.
A single obsidian platform stood at the center. Smooth. Waiting.
"Where... where am I?" Damon muttered. His voice echoed back. His legs gave out. He collapsed onto the cool stone, clutching the broken crystal shards in his hand.
Outside, Solaren's "No" made Daichi bark in protest. Solaren couldn't understand him — not in words — but he knew. He scooped Daichi into his arms and ran.
Fast.
Too fast.
Solaren moved like a comet scraping the edge of reality — he moved faster than Daichi's eyes could understand, the world blurring into streaks of colour and wind.
Inside the cave, Damon struggled to rise. He turned from his stomach to his back, breath shallow.
"I did it," he whispered.
But the cave was dark. Not dim — absent. Light didn't exist here.
He summoned Radiant Veil. His body lit up, tracing his frame in gold.
He didn't use it for long.
Crystals embedded in the cave walls responded to his Eterna — glowing purple, blue, and green. The ceiling stretched high, impossibly vast.
Then he saw him.
A man. Sitting in the chair.
"Who is that?" Damon whispered, stepping forward carefully.
The man's eyes opened — black rimmed with green. Moss in shadow.
He stepped through the haze, brown hair tousled and pushed back just enough to show the sharpness in his jaw.
His armor wasn't heavy. Just layered metal with faded etchings, shaped like something passed down, not forged new. Orange light flickered across him — not from magic, but from the fire behind him.
"The Seraph has returned," the figure said. His voice wasn't sound. It was vibration.
"I am the Keeper of this vault. You stand at the heart of your beginning. Are you prepared?"
Damon dusted his clothes. "Prepared for what exactly?"
The Keeper frowned.
"I have dwelled in this place, waiting, hoping, praying that the chosen one would come to release me — and YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY YOU'RE HERE?"
Green aura surged. Wind howled. Damon staggered.
"He must have a wind affinity," he thought.
"If you want to be released early," Damon shouted through the gusts, "why not skip the drama and tell me what I'm here for?"
The aura cooled. The crystals still shone.
"You are here to be tested. The Chosen One must succeed this trial if he has any intention of saving the Twin Planes."
Damon tilted his head, crystal light reflecting in his blue eyes with a hint of gold.
"I never said I was the Chosen One. So I'll just be on my way."
He turned.
"Halt," the Keeper said. The word sent shivers through Damon's spine.
"Only the Chosen One can break the seal on this cave. You seem to have broken it."
Damon exhaled. "What's the trial?"
The Keeper descended the stairs. Each step bold.
"Fight me. Win, and receive your reward. It will help you in your journey."
"And if I lose?"
"Then I will tell the people of Woewyn to prepare for their inevitable ends. If you fail, I will be the reason you take your last breath."
Damon's eyes widened.
'This is about the tenth time I've faced death in four months,' he thought.
"What's the reward?"
The Keeper charged. Sword an inch from Damon's face.
"He's fast," Damon thought.
"I won't give you the satisfaction of knowing"
A punch came from below — just like Solaren's. Damon bent backward, dodging both blade and fist. He kicked upward in a backflip, sending the Keeper crashing into crystals.
The Keeper rose like nothing happened.
"What stage are you at?"
"Well I beat a Blaze state guy," Damon said, glancing at his palm.
Too late.
"Never take your eyes off me."
A punch to the gut. Damon flew back, crashing into the wall behind the chair.
He got up slower than the Keeper.
"Let's make this fair," the Keeper said, dropping his sword.
They launched at each other.
At the castle, Solaren found the Queen watching tutors train Rika. She turned, sensing urgency.
"Is Damon okay?"
"He finished Resonant Stride," Solaren said. "Then stumbled into the cave."
Her eyes shifted — calm to shock.
"No one has ever unlocked it except him."
"There's nothing we can do," she said. "We wait. And hope."
Daichi growled.
She knelt, stroking his fur. "I'm sorry."
Daichi walked away. Paused. Turned. Pulled Solaren.
Solaren followed. Daichi dragged him to the cliff of the Canyon.
Daichi pointed at the cave. Then transformed into his puppy form.
Solaren understood. He leapt from the canyon cliff, completing Resonant Stride effortlessly.
At the cave's seal, Daichi sat. Tried to contact Damon telepathically.
Nothing. So he waited. Eyes full of patience.
Damon dodged strikes laced with Eterna. He punched, kicked — fists glowing.
The Keeper had the upper hand. Damon held his ground.
He jumped, aiming for a spinning kick— but the Keeper caught his legs and threw him. Damon slid across the floor, nearly impaled by a crystal tip.
"C'mon Damon. Think," he muttered.
"This guy doesn't run out of energy. And I'm starving. And I've failed Resonant Stride too many times, so my back hurts like hell. I feel faster — but it's not enough."
The Keeper walked toward him. Damon rose slowly.
"Time to use Radiant Veil in a real battle."
He stood. Fists clenched. Legs apart. Body hunched.
Light rose — not from the ground, not the air — but from his own frame.
Radiant Veil shimmered across his skin, tracing his outline like memory. Brighter. Brighter.
But his fists dimmed.
"I don't have enough energy for this," he muttered.
The Keeper scoffed. "How are you struggling to do something as simple as that? You will fail."
Damon's jaw tightened. "Shut up. Just shut up."
The Veil surged. He groaned. Light crawled up his arms like fire learning to walk.
"I won't fail," he said. "You don't decide that. I do."
They clashed again.
Damon moved like light itself — not fast, but deceptive.
The Veil flared. The Keeper blinked.
Damon feinted left. The light dragged the eye.
The real strike came from the right — ribs. A clean strike.
The Keeper staggered.
Punches landed. Some Damon took. Some the Veil absorbed.
He dropped once — but rose again. Blood trailing. Light burning.
No words. Just motion.
Damon's strikes chipped the Keeper's armor.
Each blow deeper.
Plates cracked.
Then Damon jumped — both feet horizontal, slicing through the air like twin blades.
Impact.
The Keeper blocked with both forearms. Still slid back and crashed into the chair. Damon saw his eyes, this time they flickered with sorrow.
Armor clattered.
Damon landed. Breathing heavy. Blood dripping. Light dimming.
They launched again.
Trading blows. Kicks. Counters.
Until one stopped.
Outside, Daichi and Solaren heard the bangs.
"I hope that's not Damon taking those," Daichi growled.
He was but he was returning them too.
Inside, Damon's body was failing. The Keeper was relentless. Damon thought 'Shit… this guy's insane. Doesn't even lose energy'. His Radiant Veil flickers. His will is fraying.
Natsuki sits alone, holding the Shard of Luminaris. It pulses faintly — a flicker of Damon's struggles reaching her across voids.
She sees him falter. She feels his pain.
She whispers "You're not alone, Damon. You've come too far. Don't stop now." The shard pulses brighter.
"Don't stop now…"
His breath catches. His eyes widen. The Radiant Veil flares again — brighter, steadier.
He whispers "Natsuki…"
And then he goes stronger, faster, harder. Not for glory. Not for victory. But because someone believes in him.
The Keeper fell first. Damon collapsed second.
Both breathing heavy.
The Keeper looked up. Eyes softer.
"Thank you… for freeing me."
He gestured to the chair.
"Touch it. Say the word. Awaken it."
Damon didn't know what he was awakening. But he stood and took one long breath, Walked to the chair and placed his hand on it.
Nothing.
Then he whispered — not a command, but a decision.
"Unveil."
The chair pulsed. Light surged. Damon stepped back.
It twisted. Folded. Reshaped — not by magic, but by resonance. And where it had stood, a short rod now waited. Not glowing but breathing.
It didn't look like a weapon. Just a short metal rod, dull and unpolished, with a green gem embedded at one end — not glowing, not humming, just watching. Cold, shaped like it had been broken off something older. No hilt or edge or inscription.
The moment Damon's fingers closed around it, the gem pulsed once — not with light, but as if it remembered him.
The rod twisted. Metal folded outward like wings unfurling. A thin band of steel wrapped around his forearm, locking into place with heatless energy. The blade didn't extend immediately. It waited.
Then, as Damon's will surged — as the Radiant Veil flared across his body — the sword responded.
Light traced the veins of the metal. The gem brightened. The band split open, and from it, the blade unfolded — the vibe like it wanted to prove it could reveal itself.
It wasn't a sword made of light.
It was a sword that remembered Damon's light.
The Keeper, still on the floor, turned his head.
"It's more magnificent than I thought it could be. This is the only time you will freely release the seal. Next time, your will must be strong enough. The sword is only as powerful as your will."
Damon's eyes followed the band folded around his forearm, tracing the steel to the blade's tip. Pain seared his bicep. He groaned as a tattoo burned into him — bold, angular lines spiraling across his arm, glowing faintly blue. It wrapped from shoulder to bicep like a circuit, a binding. Not ornamental. A seal.
When he moved, the glow intensified, syncing with the sword's energy. It wasn't ink. It was memory.
The Keeper's voice softened.
"I've been waiting for this day a long time. Hopefully the Eternal One believes I've served my punishment well."
"Punishment?" Damon asked.
The Keeper's eyes dimmed.
"Has the Queen told you of Gamishi and Sora? I was one of the protectors who joined Sora in his war. I regret it more than anything. I wish everything could go back to the way it was. Greed… greed is an evil friend."
The sword dimmed, folding back into its short rod state.
"Please," the Keeper said, groaning as he rose. "When you see Gamishi… put an end to him. He must be stopped, even though he is only a victim."
He steadied himself, breath shallow.
"Damon Vale. You have nothing. But soon, you will hold everything."
"What do you mean?" Damon asked.
But the Keeper's body was already dissolving — transforming into dust specks of green light, flowing upward into the cavern.
His last words echoed in Damon's mind.
The dust rose, fading into the crystals above. Damon stood alone, marked, the sword breathing at his side. Twilight had chosen him.