March of Silence
The horizon was bleak, swallowed by a shroud of gray ash. Nael and Rayyan trudged across the desolate plain where silence reigned like a tyrant. There was no wind, no birds, not even the whisper of time. Only the heartbeat of the Shard of the First Oath, pulsing faintly at Rayyan's side, guided them forward.
Ahead loomed a structure carved into the heart of the earth: the Pillar of Woe. Monolithic, jagged, and half-buried in obsidian sand, it pierced the horizon like a broken fang.
Rayyan winced as pain shot through his sealed eye. Nael steadied him. Both had changed since the Valley—Rayyan, humbled and conflicted; Nael, fire-forged and focused.
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Layth's Return – The Sky Walker
Above the world, between clouds and starlight, Layth wandered the Tempest Fold. Wind coiled around his ankles like living chains, and strange symbols flared in the air when he walked.
A spirit—a falcon made of stormlight—guided him through visions. Memories he had buried. Temptations he had refused. Regrets he could never voice.
He saw Samira in danger, calling his name.
"You may return," the falcon spoke, "but you will not return the same."
A surge of wind enveloped him, forming into Chains of Wind bound to his arms. His body surged toward the mortal world, wrapped in translucent light.
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Descent into the Pillar
The entrance to the Pillar was sealed by an ancient mechanism—a riddle in stone:
*"The flame that forgets burns brightest. The eye that sees mercy dies blind. Who among you holds both truth and defiance?"
Rayyan touched the stone with his hand. Nael placed his palm beside it. Their marks glowed. The door opened.
Inside, walls wept black ichor, and voices of long-dead prisoners echoed in every breath. They passed murals of jinn crucified on runes, their eyes scratched out, their mouths sewn shut.
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Zahir the Speaker
Deep within, they found him: Zahir, once prophet, now prisoner. His body was fused to the wall of the chamber, roots of pain entwined with his ribs. Yet his voice was gentle, timeless.
"Children of fire and light... You stand where many refused to walk."
He told them of the Veilborne Curse. Of a hidden Child of Balance, born of neither light nor flame. He warned of a truth that Iblis himself buried:
"Your father was not alone when he turned. One wore his face before him. One greater still watches beyond the sun."
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Samira's Capture
Far away, Samira led a rebel cell through the desert, only to be ambushed. Sammael stood before her, his voice dipped in honeyed venom.
"You could save them all," he whispered, "if you let him fall."
She spat in his face. He smiled and marked her with a sigil of blood—a tether to Nael's Solar Eye.
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The Awakening Below
The Pillar quaked. The shard at Rayyan's belt burned.
From the depths, something stirred: a Veilborne Wyrm, cloaked in sorrow and shadow, slithered from the abyss. Screeching, blinding, ancient.
Nael unleashed a beam from his Solar Eye. Rayyan called upon fragments of divine light.
It wasn't enough.
Until a cyclone split the sky—Layth returned, his Chains of Wind slicing the beast in a spiral of roaring air.
Together, they subdued it, though it did not die—it slithered back into the deep, whispering Rayyan's name.
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Choices
Outside, as ash fell like snow, the three stood united.
Layth shared his vision of Samira's capture.
Nael stared toward the horizon, his voice low. "Sammael wants more than corruption. He wants to rewrite the world."
Rayyan closed his eyes, hearing Zahir's final words echo within:
"The enemy is not just Iblis. The real shadow wears a thousand faces... and one is your own."
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End of Chapter 18