The Axis Theory
---
The Sanctum's ruin had fallen silent again, but Kael hadn't.
Not inside.
As he and Elara trudged back through the snow-laced mountain paths, the second Shard — now embedded into the flesh over Kael's sternum — pulsed in time with his heartbeat.
And with each pulse, more of the world felt… different.
Like the wind carried whispers. Like trees held memories. Like time watched him from behind its veil.
Elara had barely spoken since they left. When she finally did, her voice was tight.
"That wasn't supposed to happen."
Kael gave a sharp glance. "You mean the Requiem showing up?"
"No," she said. "I mean the Shard. It chose you. That's not how they work. Shards don't choose. They awaken. They anchor. But this…"
She trailed off.
Kael rubbed his chest. "They called me the axis."
Elara stopped walking.
"What?"
"That's what they said. That I'm not just a wielder. That I'm the Veil's answer to… to them."
She stared at him, expression unreadable. "That's a myth. A prophecy warped by zealots. The 'Axis' is just a concept — the idea that one soul could unify fractured Veils. It's not real."
Kael looked at her. "You sure about that?"
A silence passed between them — colder than the air around them.
She didn't answer.
---
When they returned to the Echo Blades' citadel, the tension was thick.
Word had already spread — Kael's second Shard was no secret.
In the Hall of Echoes, Theron waited. His arms were folded behind his back, his face unreadable as always — but his eyes were watching Kael like a blade waiting to strike.
"You bonded with it," Theron said.
Kael stood straighter. "It didn't give me a choice."
"That's what they all say." Theron turned, walking toward the great veiled mosaic that depicted the First Fracture. "Do you know how many people in the last thousand years have bonded with two Shards?"
Kael shook his head.
"One."
He turned to face him again.
"And he started a war that killed a continent."
Kael clenched his fists. "I'm not him."
"No," Theron said slowly. "But neither was he. Not at first."
Elara stepped in. "He didn't take the Shard. The Requiem gave it to him."
That got Theron's attention. His brow furrowed.
"What?"
"They called him the Axis," she said. "Said he's what the Veils have been waiting for."
Theron's gaze returned to Kael. Not sharp now. But wary. Calculating.
"You've become something that doesn't belong to any side, Kael," he said. "And that makes you dangerous. To us. To them. To yourself."
Kael stepped forward, jaw set.
"Then help me figure out what I'm becoming."
---
That night, Kael stood alone atop the citadel's north tower. The wind was a whisper here — carrying fragments of voices not yet spoken.
The Veil shimmered faintly at the edge of his perception.
And then — without warning — it spoke.
Not in broken urges. Not in instinct. But in words.
"Find the Third. Before the Crown does."
Kael's eyes widened.
"The Crown?"
The wind answered nothing more.
But across the darkened lands, far beyond the mountains, a hidden empire stirred — one not aligned with Requiem nor Echo.
The Veilcrowned Dynasty.
They had waited centuries for the Axis to be born.
Now that he had awakened — they would claim him.