The cold air of the Sanctum's lowest chamber tasted ancient—older than kingdoms, older than history, older even than the concept of time as mortals understood it. Aeryn stepped down the last stair carefully, boots brushing against stone so smooth it seemed polished by millennia of forgotten footsteps.
Lunaria followed a half-step behind him, her silver hair shimmering like moonlit water even in the faint blue glow emanating from the walls. Her expression remained focused, but Aeryn noticed the way her fingers hovered near the hilt of her blade—an instinctive preparation rather than fear. She rarely grew afraid.
Kael descended last, gauntlet scraping the banister as he muttered, "I swear if another ancient spirit tries to eat my soul, I'm quitting this party and opening a bakery."
Aeryn managed a smile despite the tension.
"You'd burn the bread."
"Exactly. They'd fear me."
Lunaria exhaled through her nose. "I'm not certain that's how bakeries work."
"Not with that attitude."
Their banter faded as the corridor widened into a massive circular hall, its ceiling lost in shadow. A single monolith dominated the center—towering, obsidian, carved with runes that seemed to shift like living serpents.
And beneath it, half-buried in the floor, lay a gate.
But not a gate of stone, or metal, or magic in any familiar form. It resembled a cut in reality itself—a black oval like a hole torn into the world, edges rimmed with faint violet light.
"The Abyssal Vein…" Lunaria whispered. "The elves believed it destroyed."
Aeryn's heartbeat thudded hard. He remembered the vision he saw at the end of Chapter 44—the shadowed figure chained in a luminous prison, the enormous hand reaching toward him, the whisper:
"Your origin… lies below."
Kael walked a slow circle around the gate, brow furrowed. "Whatever this thing is, it's breathing."
He wasn't wrong. The oval pulsed gently—like a heartbeat. With each pulse, the air shivered and the runes around the room flickered.
Aeryn stepped closer.
The moment his boot crossed an invisible threshold, the runes on the monolith brightened violently—blinding white light flooding the chamber.
"Move!" Lunaria grabbed Aeryn's wrist, but the floor beneath him flashed and dissolved.
He fell.
---
Aeryn's Descent
Darkness swallowed the world, yet he wasn't falling. Or flying. It felt like being suspended in a liquid void—weightless, soundless.
Then a voice—feminine, ancient, layered like a choir of thousands—whispered:
"Ah… you've finally returned."
Aeryn spun, but there was no body, no presence, no silhouette—just voice.
"Who are you?!" he shouted into the nothing.
"You already know."
He didn't. But some part of his soul shuddered, like a dormant memory twitching awake.
"You're mistaken," Aeryn replied firmly, forcing clarity into his voice. "I came here for answers. Not riddles."
A soft laugh—like a melody carried by shadow.
"Brave, as always. But answers are painful things."
The void trembled.
Lights erupted—thousands of shards of purple glass drifting like stars. They assembled, swirling in a careful spiral until they formed the outline of a woman. Tall. Elegant. Wearing a crown of fractured gemstones.
Her eyes opened—violet, endless.
"I am Elyndra," she sang softly. "Mother of the Abyss. Mother of… you."
Aeryn felt the world tilt.
"I'm not… Abyss-born. That's impossible. I wasn't born here. I have memories—parents, my home village, my childhood—"
Elyndra raised a finger, and Aeryn's voice froze.
"Those were given to you."
His throat clenched.
"What…?"
"A vessel must believe in its humanity, or it breaks," she whispered. "You were made for purpose. To contain something even the gods feared."
Aeryn staggered back—but the void moved with him, not allowing escape.
"No. No, you're lying," Aeryn hissed. "I bleed like any other. I grow. I feel. I'm not some vessel."
Elyndra stepped closer, and the void dimmed around them.
"You feel because your creators wanted you to feel. Emotion anchors the power inside you."
She swept a hand outward, and a burst of imagery appeared—fleeting, chaotic: an enormous crystalline prison; a shadowed titan screaming against runes of light; robed figures shaping a child from pure magical residue.
A child that looked like Aeryn.
His chest tightened so hard he could barely breathe.
"That's not…" He shook his head violently. "That can't be me."
Elyndra cupped his cheek gently—shockingly warm.
"You came from me long before you came into flesh."
"You are the key—and the lock. The destroyer—and the salvation."
Aeryn's pulse hammered.
"Stop talking in riddles! What am I supposed to do?!"
Her gaze softened.
"Choose."
---
The Real World
"—AERYN!"
He jolted awake, gasping.
He wasn't in the void. He wasn't with Elyndra.
He was lying on cold stone. Lunaria was kneeling beside him, her hands glowing with healing magic as sweat dripped down her forehead from overexertion.
Kael had both blades drawn, standing protectively over them.
"What—what happened?" Aeryn croaked.
"You collapsed," Lunaria said quickly, voice trembling—an extremely rare sign of distress from her. "Your body went rigid, your eyes were open but unseeing. It looked like your soul was dragged somewhere."
Kael added, "The gate reacted violently. Like it recognized you."
Aeryn swallowed hard.
Recognized him… because Elyndra said he came from the Abyss. A vessel. A creation. Not born—crafted.
His stomach turned.
Lunaria noticed the way he held his arms slightly away from his own body, like he suddenly didn't trust the skin he lived in.
She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Aeryn… what did you see?"
He met her eyes.
Honesty would break her. But lies would break him.
He steadied himself.
"I saw someone. A woman. She… she claimed to know what I am."
Kael's eyebrow twitched. "And what did she say?"
Aeryn inhaled sharply.
"That I was made for a purpose."
Silence spread like frost.
Lunaria spoke carefully. "Aeryn… only you can decide what that means."
He nodded stiffly—but the weight inside him was crushing.
---
The Chamber Changes
Before anyone could continue, the runes on the monolith burst into new patterns—spiraling, interlocking, shifting like a puzzle being solved at unnatural speed.
The entire chamber trembled.
Kael cursed. "Oh, great. Your mom's waking up again?"
"Not helping," Aeryn muttered.
The monolith cracked—cleanly splitting down the middle.
From within, light seeped out—silver and violet mingling like silk. The crack expanded, and a narrow pathway formed inside the monolith, stairs descending into deeper darkness.
Lunaria whispered, "This Sanctum… it's not just a vault. It's… an invitation."
Aeryn felt a powerful tug—like a magnet pulling his soul.
He forced his fists to unclench.
"We go down."
Kael glared at him like he grew two heads. "Why? You literally passed out two minutes ago!"
"I'm fine."
Lie. But necessary.
Lunaria studied Aeryn's eyes. She knew he wasn't fine. Yet she also knew that stopping him would only push him deeper into self-doubt.
"Very well," she said quietly. "We're with you."
Kael groaned loudly. "If we die, I'm haunting you."
---
The Descent Through the Monolith
The stairs spiraled down for what felt like forever.
The walls grew smoother—almost metallic. Strange murals appeared, carved with precision beyond mortal craftsmanship. They depicted:
A figure surrounded by chains of light.
A shattering crystal.
A world drowning in shadow.
A second figure—smaller—holding the shattered pieces together.
Aeryn stopped, staring.
Lunaria noticed his expression. "Aeryn… is this…"
"Prophecy," Aeryn murmured. "Or memories. Or warnings."
Kael tapped a mural. "Is that supposed to be you? Because it kinda looks like you. Except taller. And angrier."
Aeryn didn't answer.
But yes. It resembled him disturbingly well.
At the end of the stairway, a door awaited—shimmering like liquid metal. It rippled at their approach and dissolved.
The chamber beyond was vast—circular, lined with pillars of glass, each containing flickering silhouettes.
Souls.
Thousands of them.
Lunaria stepped back in horror. "This is… a soul archive. Forbidden magic."
Kael's jaw tightened. "Aeryn. Tell me your lady didn't say these are yours."
Aeryn didn't want to answer.
Because the moment he entered the room…
every soul turned toward him.
Thousands of flickering eyes.
Thousands of silent screams.
Thousands of whispers:
"A vessel."
"The container."
"The anchor."
Aeryn's entire body locked.
Lunaria grabbed his hand tightly. "Aeryn, look at me—look at me, not them."
He forced his gaze away.
Kael stepped in front of them both, blades drawn, glaring at the swirling souls.
"No one touches him," Kael growled. "I don't care if they're dead."
A faint laugh drifted from behind them.
Elyndra.
Her silhouette appeared at the opposite end of the chamber, stepping out from a pillar of shadow.
"You've come far, my child."
Aeryn's teeth clenched. "Don't call me that."
She smiled gently. "Your denial is adorable."
Lunaria drew her blade, aura flaring like a moonlit flame. "State your purpose. Why bring him here?"
Elyndra extended her hand toward Aeryn.
"To give him the truth."
She tapped the air. The ground trembled.
A massive sigil illuminated beneath Aeryn's feet—impossibly complex, spinning, unraveling, rewriting itself.
Kael shouted, "Aeryn—MOVE!"
He tried.
His body didn't respond.
Elyndra whispered with unbearable softness:
"Unlock."
The sigil detonated into light.
Aeryn screamed—light tearing through him, burning through cells, memories, and the false layers of his past.
Lunaria lunged, but a wave of shadow flung her back.
Kael roared, slamming his fist into the floor as he tried to reach Aeryn.
But it was too late.
The seal broke.
And Aeryn felt something inside him wake.
Something vast.
Something ancient.
Something monstrous.
Light swallowed the chamber.
And Aeryn vanished.