The symbol burned in Ren's hand.
Not with heat—the shard was cold as ice, so cold it felt like it was draining the blood from his fingers.
But it burned in another way.It burned like something that shouldn't exist.Something that carried a name no one should ever speak aloud.
Lyra sat close beside Ren.She didn't touch him, but she stayed near enough that he felt her presence like a quiet anchor.
"Ren… do you recognize this symbol?" she asked softly.
He didn't answer right away.The air around the shard felt thicker, almost as if the stone itself were breathing.
Borin stepped forward, axe on his shoulder.
"Looks like a scar."
"It's not a scar," Draven whispered—trying to sound brave, but his voice trembled."It's a mark… a seal."
Ren finally lifted his gaze.
"It's a rift," he said quietly.
Lyra frowned.
"A rift… like a crack?"
Ren rotated the shard between his fingers.The mark looked like a clean cut, crossed by another diagonal one—like an eye forced shut.
"No," Ren replied."It's the Rift."
The way he said it made Draven's stomach twist.
"You… you've seen it before?""No," Ren said."But you know what it means?""No."
Ren closed his fingers around the shard.
"But I felt it."
Lyra touched his arm gently.
"Felt… what?"
Ren drew in a slow breath.The staff vibrated beside him—almost answering for him.
"This symbol belongs to someone who shouldn't exist."His words were quiet, but heavy."Someone who gave up their own humanity to reach something greater."
Draven shrank back.
"Like… a monster?"
Ren looked at him.
"No. Worse."
He lifted the shard again.
"A cultivator who broke his own Path."
Silence fell—hard and absolute.
Borin's jaw tightened.
"Ren… are you saying the man who freed the colossus… isn't fully human anymore?"
Ren nodded.
"He's still human."He paused."But he did something no cultivator should ever do."
Lyra exhaled slowly.
"Ren… what did you see in there?"
Ren closed his eyes again.Searching for the right words was painful.
"His hand… it was broken from the inside.""Cracked?" Draven asked."Cracked," Ren confirmed."Like he absorbed too much energy."
Lyra's eyes widened in horror.
"You think he touched the colossus?"
Ren shook his head.
"Not just touched it."His voice darkened."He made a pact with it."
Even the wind seemed to freeze.
Borin muttered something under his breath, like a prayer or a curse.
"What kind of man makes a pact with something like that?"
Ren stared at the symbol.
"The kind who leaves a mark like this."He lifted the shard."The Mark of the Rift."
Draven's legs wobbled.
"So this is… dangerous?"
Ren gave him a long look.
"Draven… this is the mark of someone who abandoned their own limits to touch a forbidden force."
Lyra's lips tightened.
"Forbidden… how?"
Ren hesitated.
The truth was not simple.
"There are powers in this world that don't belong to the cultivation paths."He touched the staff."They're not part of the Cycle."He touched the earth."They don't come from the living world."His eyes darkened."They come from the dead one."
Draven froze.
"D-Dead… world?"
Ren nodded slowly.
"It's like the colossus—something alive and dead at the same time.""So… an abomination?" Borin asked.
"An error," Ren corrected.
Lyra looked at the shard again.
"So this is the mark of someone who chose… an error?"
Ren tightened his grip.
"It's not a common choice."His voice dropped."It's a choice made by someone who wants to break the world."
Draven's voice cracked.
"BREAK?! The world?!"
"Draven," Borin snapped, "shut it."
Ren continued:
"This symbol isn't just a name."He lifted the shard."It's a warning."He drew in a slow breath."It's the name of someone who opened a forbidden path."
Then he spoke the truth aloud:
"The one who walks the Rift."
The White Spirit Flower quivered.Inside the box, the fragment stirred—as if the name itself vibrated through its roots.
Lyra gripped Ren's arm.
"He left this… for you."
"Yes."
"To say what?"
Ren stared deeply at the shard.
And the answer came—quiet, painful, undeniable.
"That he knows who I am."
Lyra's breath hitched.
"And he knows what you can become?"
Ren nodded.
Then, with a calmness no child his age should possess, he added:
"And he wants me to follow him."
Borin exploded.
"WHAT?!"
But Ren did not flinch.
"He wants to see if I'll break my Path too."
The clearing fell into a suffocating silence.
A silence that screamed.
Ren slipped the shard inside his tunic.
The staff thrummed.The fragment pulsed.The flower dimmed.
And Ren, eyes fixed on the forest ahead, spoke the words that would reshape the future:
"He's challenging me."