The tunnel devoured them whole.
Not with silence—but with breath. The air pulsed, alive and watching. Kaen could feel it curling over his skin like unseen smoke, probing, hunting.
Each step deeper felt like trespassing into a memory that didn't belong to him.
Lira moved beside him, silent and focused. Her blade was drawn, glowing faintly with runes that Kaen hadn't seen before. She hadn't spoken since the chamber.
Since he changed.
The mark on Kaen's arm beat in sync with his heart. The Forsaken Blade—now part of him—murmured in a language without sound, just pressure, weight, intent.
Finally, Kaen broke the silence. "What is this place?"
Lira didn't turn. "If the legends are true... we're beneath the Crown Vault. Where the first kings locked away what they feared most."
Kaen's voice was low. "Like that shadow?"
She stopped. "That wasn't just a shadow. It was history. A curse... a trial."
The path narrowed, winding deeper into black. Symbols bled across the walls—carved in blood or something worse.
Kaen's gaze hardened. "I saw it. A battlefield. A king. My blade—it killed him."
Lira turned slowly. "Then it's real."
"What is?"
She looked at him—not just with fear, but reverence. "The Hollow Crown. It's not a legend. It's a burden. A chain passed from soul to soul. And now… it's yours."
Before Kaen could reply, a shriek split the air—raw, ancient, wrong.
The wall ahead cracked, revealing a chamber bathed in sickly green glow. Bone trees rose from the stone, roots writhing like veins. And at the center stood a thing not meant to be—half-knight, half-wraith, cloaked in rusted plate and rage.
It saw them. And charged.
Lira met it mid-strike, steel against shrieking steel.
Kaen froze.
Then—the brand pulsed.
No words. No spell. Just will.
Kaen stepped forward. Fire bloomed in his hand—ash-gray and crimson.
He released it.
The flame didn't just burn—it unwound. The creature shrieked as its form unraveled, its memories pouring out in raw screams: betrayal, oath, ruin.
Then—silence. Only ash remained.
Kaen dropped to one knee, chest heaving. The fire faded. His arm steamed but held.
Lira reached him. "Are you alright?"
He nodded slowly. "I... I heard them. The ones before me."
She stared, blade trembling slightly. "Kaen... you're changing."
He looked at his arm, at the mark that now glowed.
"No," he whispered. "I already have."
Far above, in the forgotten halls of dead kings, something ancient stirred.