The sound of the chain snapping didn't echo like normal metal.
It reverberated.
Through stone.Through bone.Through her.
Amelia's breath hitched as the vibration traveled straight up her spine, lodging itself behind her ribs like a second heartbeat—one far too powerful to belong to her.
Kael tightened his arms around her.
"Xuan," he said low, dangerous, "tell me that wasn't what I think it was."
Master Xuan didn't answer.
He was staring at Amelia again—with fear sharp enough to cut.
The celestial stepped forward, voice trembling in a way no celestial voice should:
"A Devourer's chains cannot break on their own. Something—someone—is empowering it from the outside."
Kael's eyes darkened."Who?"
The celestial didn't blink.
"Her."
Amelia stiffened.Kael shook his head violently.
"No. She'd never—"
"She isn't doing it consciously," Master Xuan interrupted. "But the lock inside her is responding. Whatever name it whispered… she once carried that identity."
Amelia felt sick.
"I don't remember anything like that… I don't even know what that thing is."
The courtyard cracked again.A fissure shot across the stones, reaching toward her feet like a living creature.
Kael stepped in front of it, blade drawn.
"Over my dead body."
The shadow fissure hissed.
Amelia grabbed Kael's arm.Her voice trembled.
"Don't— it wants you to fight. It feeds on conflict."
He turned toward her, eyes blazing with frustration and fear.
"Amelia, it's trying to take you. I'm not just going to watch."
His voice cracked.
"I can't."
For a moment—one small, quiet moment—she rested her forehead against his.
"I'm not leaving you."
Kael's breath hitched.
But the Devourer laughed beneath the earth.
"Lies…You left once before…"
Amelia's vision blurred.
Not because of the monster.
But because she suddenly saw something—a fragmented memory slamming into her mind like a comet:
A throne.A battlefield.A blade of light in her hand.
And Kael—no, someone who looked like Kael—standing beside her in armor of scorched silver.
Her head snapped up.
She gasped.
Kael's face wavered—overlapping with the face in her memory.
He saw her panic and cupped her cheeks gently.
"Amelia—what did you see?"
She shook her head, terrified.
"I think… I think I knew you before this life."
Silence fell like a hammer.
Kael's hands trembled against her skin.
Master Xuan inhaled sharply."That confirms it."
Amelia looked between them, dizzy.
"Confirms… what?"
The celestial stepped closer, wings folding.
"That your soul has cycled. And in your first life… you were not human."
Kael's throat bobbed.
"And me?" he forced out.
Xuan's gaze softened—almost painfully.
"You were her shield."
Kael froze.
Amelia's heart caved inward.
The Devourer hissed happily.
"Yes…Yes… remember him…Remember me…"
Another chain snapped beneath the city.
BOOM.
The ground shook violently.The courtyard lanterns burst into sparks.
Amelia clutched her chest.
"I can't— I can't hold it—"
Master Xuan raised his staff.
"We move NOW! The Sanctuary must bind her awakening before the third chain breaks!"
Kael swept Amelia into his arms without hesitation.
Her fingers curled weakly into his shirt.
"Kael… don't let go."
His voice was a vow.
"Never."
Behind them—the earth cracked open wider.
A massive eye—red, ancient, hungry—opened deep below, staring directly at her.
And it whispered:
"Two chains down…Dawn-child…You do not have long."
Kael held her tighter as the celestials opened a portal of blinding white light.
Master Xuan shouted:
"GO!"
Kael jumped through with Amelia in his arms—
And the portal snapped shut just as the third chain began to break.