The wind in the desert died.
Not faded. Not quieted.
Died.
The silence was unnatural, heavy like the breath before a scream. Nael and Rayyan stood at the edge of a black canyon, where light itself dared not cross. The moonlight behind them seemed afraid to fall into the shadow below.
"This is it," Rayyan said, voice low. "The Valley."
Nael stepped forward. The Mark of the Veilborne on his hand began to glow faintly, pulsing in rhythm with something far below. "It's calling," he whispered.
They descended.
---
The Gate of Black Root
Hours passed in darkness. The further they walked, the more the land twisted—trees like bone, rocks that whispered, air thick like breathless lungs.
And then they found it.
A massive stone gate, half-buried in the earth, overgrown with veins of obsidian and rotting vines. Upon it burned runes in a dead tongue, but Nael understood them.
"We who once ruled in silence now dream of flame."
Nael reached out. The mark on his palm flared.
The gate opened.
---
The Sleeping One
Inside lay a vast cavern. And within it—a tomb.
Chains made of smoke and silver circled a giant sarcophagus, engraved with a forgotten sigil: a horned crown shattered in two.
Rayyan stepped back instinctively. "There's something alive in there. Something... ancient."
As Nael approached, the tomb cracked.
A groan echoed—like a mountain exhaling.
Then the sarcophagus burst open, smoke hissing into the chamber. A figure rose from within, half-covered in armor that looked fused to his flesh, with one eye burning like molten glass.
"I am Kahl-Zar, first of the Veilborne Lords. Who dares wake me?"
Nael clenched his fists. "I seek truth."
Kahl-Zar tilted his head. "Then let us speak... in memory."
---
Trial of Memory
In an instant, the world around Nael collapsed. He found himself in a realm made of flame and sorrow—a spiritual echo, stitched together by Kahl-Zar's will.
There, he saw:
A younger Iblis, standing among angels, proud and radiant.
The moment he refused to bow to Adam.
A blazing war among jinn, fire clashing with fire.
A child crying in the arms of a jinn woman—Nael's own mother—as Iblis turned his back on them both.
Kahl-Zar appeared beside Nael. "We were betrayed by pride. We became monsters because mercy was too heavy for us to carry."
Nael looked at him. "Then why do you keep spreading hate?"
Kahl-Zar paused.
And Nael, eyes full of burning resolve, said: "I will end the curse. Not with rage. But with choice."
---
The Broken Curse
In the real world, Kahl-Zar's body trembled. Smoke bled from his armor.
Nael reached out—and instead of striking him, he touched his chest.
For a second, the fire inside Kahl-Zar stopped flickering with wrath. It became warm. Still.
The chains dissolved. His armor fell away.
"I remember now," the Veilborne Lord whispered. "We were not meant to be weapons."
His body turned to ash, but from within it, a relic dropped—a crystal shard, glowing with a pale blue fire.
Rayyan picked it up. "The Shard of the First Oath," he said in awe. "It's… from the time of Adam."
Nael looked into the distance. "This was just the beginning."
---
Rayyan's Vision
That night, while resting in the outer cliffs, Rayyan's eye twitched.
The sealed divine eye opened for a heartbeat.
And in that second, he saw a future war:
Cities burning.
A monstrous horned figure, standing atop a mountain of bones, crowned in black flame.
Nael, cloaked in white, holding the Shard like a sword—but torn between two paths.
The eye sealed again. Blood trickled from Rayyan's temple.
A voice returned, cold and distant:
"The seals are failing. The last one awakens soon."
---
Sammael's Seeds
In a distant kingdom, far from the canyon, Sammael sat at a royal table.
"My lord," he said with gentle malice, "they awaken the old ones. The world will not survive their mercy."
The king frowned. "Then we must act."
Sammael slid forward a scroll—The Rite of Blood Nullification.
"Let us cleanse the mistake... before it devours us all."
---
End of Chapter 17
The stars returned to the desert sky as Nael looked up, the shard glowing at his side.
"We need to reach the Pillar of Woe."
Rayyan nodded. "Before they find us first."
And deep beneath the sands, something stirred.
Something... worse than Kahl-Zar.
---
To Be Continued…