Chapter 2677: Story 2678: The Door

“Open.”

The word echoed inside Kael’s heart.

He froze.

His sword remained raised, but the white fire surrounding its blade suddenly dimmed. Something beneath his ribs was beating with a rhythm older than blood.

The prisoner watched him carefully.

“You hear it now.”

Kael clenched his teeth.

“Who is speaking?”

“Not who,” the prisoner whispered. “What.”

The empty memory trembled.

Far away, beyond the white eye, countless stars appeared and died in a single breath.

Kael looked around.

“This place is changing.”

“No,” said the prisoner. “You are remembering.”

A crack spread across the ground beneath Kael’s feet.

From it came whispers.

His own voice.

Hundreds of versions.

Elarion.

Azrael.

Kael.

Each one spoke the same word.

“Open.”

Kael swung his sword downward.

White fire struck the crack.

The memory screamed.

The prisoner suddenly pulled against his remaining chains.

“Stop!”

Kael looked at him.

“Why?”

“Because that door is not beneath you.”

The prisoner pointed toward Kael’s chest.

“It is inside you.”

The seventh mark blazed.

Kael staggered as images exploded through his mind.

A white city beneath a dead sun.

Millions of beings kneeling before him.

A black throne.

A sword made from living darkness.

And himself standing before an enormous sealed gate.

But he was not alone.

Behind him stood eight figures.

Lena.

Elias.

Azael.

The fifth child.

The sixth.

The forgotten child.

First Father.

And someone whose face Kael could not see.

The unseen figure placed a hand against Kael’s back.

“You must enter first.”

Kael gasped.

The vision vanished.

The prisoner stared at him.

“You remember the beginning.”

“Not enough.”

“You remember why the eight were created.”

Kael raised his sword.

“Then tell me.”

The prisoner lowered his head.

“To make a soul strong enough to survive becoming a prison.”

Silence followed.

Kael’s eyes widened.

“A prison for what?”

The prisoner looked toward the enormous white eye.

“For the thing that existed before the First Soul.”

A deep vibration rolled through the empty memory.

The white eye began closing.

“No,” whispered the prisoner.

Black chains suddenly wrapped around Kael’s arms.

He struggled.

“Let me go!”

The prisoner shouted.

“Do not resist!”

“Why?”

“Because the prison has chosen its body.”

The chains pulled Kael toward the white eye.

He drove his sword into the ground.

White fire erupted around him.

For one moment, he stopped moving.

Then another voice spoke from inside his heart.

Not the enemy.

Not the prisoner.

A voice Kael recognized.

His own.

“I remember.”

The chains shattered.

The white eye opened completely.

Beyond it stood an endless black world.

And at its center was a colossal figure wearing Kael’s face.

Its silver eyes opened.

“I have been waiting for you, Elarion.”

Kael stared in horror.

The prisoner fell to his knees.

“Brother...”

The figure smiled.

“Come home.”

Then the black world reached through the white eye.

And Kael stepped forward.

Before he crossed, Lena’s voice echoed beyond the darkness, calling his forgotten name. And the prison began breaking.