They didn't sleep that night
The White Crow—Aris—stood by the shattered arch of the Bloodgate chamber, her blade sheathed, her back straight her eyes on Syaoran She had revealed her name but not her trust.
Nor had she earned theirs.
Kira never let her windblade leave her hand Teren kept the parchment and maps close Even Syaoran sat with his blade unsheathed across his lap while the lightning within it moving slowly
The silence stretched
"Why now?" Syaoran break the silence and finally asked "Why come to me?"
Aris looked at him and said "Because I needed to know if I'd been sent to kill my brother… or to be killed by him"
---
By dawn, the map pulsed again
A faint red glow traced a new path—under the city.
Beneath the oldest part of Velostra the Street of Blades a buried relic vault built before the war Some called it myth while Others swore that it held failed magic or the forbidden weapons and the remnants of the first war mages.
Kira studied the pulse "It's reacting to the Bloodgate opening something down there is waking up"
"Or something's been watching" Aris added
Syaoran stood "Either way it's waiting for us"
---
They moved quickly Aris leading the way through tunnels only she seemed to know the way "I trained in these ruins" she said "The Crows use them for exile missions and executions so no one comes here willingly"
As they passed under rusted arches and half-collapsed stone bridges Syaoran noticed the carvings on the walls
Veil symbols its faded and cracked.
Warnings!
> Beware the Hollow Flame
Do not wake up the Masked One
Blood seals. Soul breaks. Memory lies.
Teren stopped suddenly, eyes locked on one symbol.
A single, simple spiral—marked over and over again in different hands.
He looked up at them and said
> "This is the mark of a Veilbound relic"
---
They found the vault in a sunken plaza beneath the ruins—an obsidian door chained with red iron, the walls covered in shackles and rusted blades.
And in the center of the door…
A mask.
White. Faceless. Cracked.
Syaoran approached it, feeling a hum beneath his ribs, like static like a buried thunder.
"It's breathing" he said.
Teren stepped forward cautiously "This isn't a Seal It's a vault for something that used to be human or maybe even a failed Veilborn."
Kira's voice sharpened "Why would the map bring us here?"
Aris answered coldly "Because the cult is trying to open it isn't that right?"
And behind them—
A voice echoed
> "Too late"
---
The cultists surged from the shadows
Black cloaks. Masked faces. Voidfire curling in their hands and there's dozens of them
Syaoran's blade came alive in a flash of blue lightning Aris also unsheathed hers with each swing white flame trailing behind it and with each motion that Kira unleashed,a slicing gust that can split the stone appear
Teren dropped the map and raised both hands, summoning a protective barrier as the first spell hit
The air turned to chaos.
---
But while they fought, the cult leader—a tall gaunt figure with silver-threaded robes and a burning brand on his forehead—approached the mask.
He knelt and Whispered.
> "Awaken O Masked One The blood has come again"
The mask vibrate intensely
A cracks like spiderweb appear across its surface
And on the other side of the door something began to scream.
---
Syaoran saw it but it's too late
Lightning arced toward the figure—only to be swallowed by a wall of shadow. The vault door split open and with a groan of ancient metal, and red mist poured out like steam from a dying god.
The cultists began to chant.
Kira shouted "We have to stop it!"
Aris grabbed Syaoran's arm "No, We have to run"
But he didn't move
Because something inside that vault… knew him.
> "Brother…"
A voice that sounds soft and young.
But he was wrong.
And the last thing Syaoran saw before everything went dark…
was the mask opening its eyes.