The sky over Aurenya had never looked so wrong.
Above Solmaris, the light of dawn fractured like glass, casting prismatic shadows over the city's golden spires. Birds didn't sing. Magic-tech airships stalled mid-flight. Even the wind seemed hesitant—caught between fleeing and watching.
The boundary had cracked.
Kael Arclight stood on the edge of a Sunspire cliff, ash trailing from his boots. His aura flickered unnaturally—charcoal streaked with molten silver, coiling like smoke learning to breathe. Behind him, Lyra approached, her expression tight with both awe and fear.
"You feel it too," she said.
Kael didn't look back. "The air is too still. Like the world is holding its breath."
Lyra nodded. "They're calling it the Broken Dawn. Since Velhara fell, four new dungeons opened overnight. All uncharted. All warping aura patterns across the continent."
"And the Vanguard?" Kael asked.
"Veyl has her hands full. Drayke's helping lead containment. But… people are scared, Kael. They don't understand what's happening."
"I do," Kael muttered. "This is a signal."
Lyra hesitated. "From who?"
Kael turned, his eyes sharper than before—like blades waiting to be drawn.
"From them."
Elsewhere – The Fallow Depths
A dungeon unlike any charted before bloomed in the heart of the Duskar Wastes.
Its entrance looked like a tree turned inside out—roots twisting toward the sky, bark made of obsidian marrow, and its leaves? None. Only drifting echoes that moaned like memory.
Inside, six silhouettes stood beneath a pulsating monolith.
Each was veiled in silence. One with wings made of shadow. Another whose skin cracked with celestial light. One held a mask—blank as the void. The others stood motionless, waiting.
Then, a voice broke the quiet.
"It has begun," said the winged one. "The final key has awakened."
"And Velhara has failed," added the masked Eternal.
"We knew she would," said the tallest. "But her failure served its purpose. The Ashen has tasted power."
The monolith flared.
"Then it is time," said the one with the cracked skin. "Time we prepared for our descent."
Sunspire – Vanguard Assembly Hall
Inside the golden walls of the Sunspire Vanguard, Veyl Solane addressed her core generals. Maps floated mid-air, showing rapid dungeon growth, aura disruption points, and unstable relic zones.
"This isn't a natural surge," she said. "This is a pattern."
Zera Vaelith leaned against the edge of the room, arms folded.
"Of course it is," she said softly. "Kael broke the last thread. The rest of the Eternals are reacting to that."
"You keep speaking like you know them," Veyl snapped.
Zera only smirked. "Because I do."
Everyone in the room froze.
Veyl stepped forward. "Explain."
"I was born during the first fracture. Before the Codex was rewritten. Before the world decided to forget the cost of balance. My aura? It wasn't just cursed. It was contaminated. Touched by the Eternals themselves."
Silence.
Zera pushed off the wall and walked toward the center.
"There's no stopping what's coming. There's only one chance left. You either bet on the Ashen God… or you pray to vanish quickly."
Kael's Hideout – Ashen Hollow
Lyra sat near the fire, clutching the Sunveil Feather like a lifeline. Drayke paced nearby, his Infernal Gauntlets glowing faintly.
Kael, seated in the shadows, let his blade rest on his lap.
"What now?" Lyra asked. "We can't keep running. We've already made enemies of the Vanguard, and if what Zera said is true—"
"They're coming," Kael said. "Not one by one. All at once."
"Then what the hell do we do?" Drayke growled.
Kael stood.
"We strike first."
Drayke's eyes lit up.
"You serious?"
Kael nodded. "We go to the Fallow Depths. That new dungeon. The one they're hiding in."
Lyra's voice shook. "That's suicide."
"No," Kael replied. "That's war."