They found him at dawn.
If dawn could be said to exist in a
Realm where the sky never held a sun.
A flicker of blue light rose above the
black horizon like the tip of a flame through glass. The ground cracked beneath
their feet, etched by threads of unstable mana. The earth wasn't decaying. It
was wounded.
Something had passed through here.
Something twisted.
Ash stood on a jagged ridge above the
ruins of what had once been a Trial Arena — now nothing but craters, ash, and
bones of stone. Elya was beside him, wrapped in a grey cloak, her arms crossed
tight across her chest. She hadn't spoken since they left the Vault.
She didn't have to.
Ash could feel it.
The tremor in her aura.
The dread inside her heartbeat.
He turned to her gently.
"He's here, isn't he?"
Elya nodded, eyes locked on the
horizon.
"Yes."
"His name was Caien. He was… kind."
"He always spoke to the lesser
summons. Treated them like people. Even the formless ones."
Ash remained silent, letting her
continue.
"They hated that. The Echobinders.
Said it was weakness. Said I'd made him soft."
"So they took him."
"They didn't kill him."
"They made him obey."
Behind them, Iriis and Xeravon stood
still, watching the wind bend the dead grass. Neither spoke. The gravity of
what they were about to face hung like a blade above all their heads.
Ash inhaled slowly, then stepped
forward.
"We finish this."
The Arena's remains were quiet when
they entered.
Not empty. Just… still.
The Trial stones were cracked and
dead. The summoning platforms flickered with fractured runes. Half-built summon
constructs, barely humanoid, twitched in corners — discarded test subjects from
a training Trial long since abandoned.
Ash stopped at the center.
"He's close."
Xeravon growled.
Iriis stepped closer to Elya, blade
drawn.
"You don't have to—"
"I do," Elya said, voice trembling. "I
need to see what's left of him."
The air thickened.
And then they saw him.
He emerged from the far edge of the
Arena, stepping through the smoke like a memory crawling out of a grave.
He still resembled a human — tall,
lean, once elegant. His armor had once been ceremonial Binding plate, silver
and etched with cresting runes.
Now it was scorched. Twisted.
Chains wrapped around his chest like
armor, binding his limbs. His face was covered by a mask of shattered light,
flickering with a pulsing red glyph.
And behind him floated a shard — not a
summon, but a containment crystal filled with corrupted mana.
Ash recognized the aura immediately.
A Reverse Binding Engine.
Caien stopped twenty feet away.
The corrupted glyph on his mask pulsed
once.
Then the voice came.
Not his voice.
A distorted, echoed System signal,
barely functional.
"Target: Elya. Priority:
Reassimilation."
"Court Status: Invalid. Nullify."
Elya took one step forward.
"Caien," she whispered. "It's me."
The corrupted figure twitched. The
crystal behind him sparked. The glyph on his mask cracked slightly.
Ash raised his hand.
"Don't."
She turned toward him, eyes wild.
"He's still in there!"
Ash's voice was calm but firm.
"I know. But you can't reach him like
this."
Iriis stepped forward.
"The engine has rewired his instincts.
It's not a summon anymore. It's a weapon."
"To break it, we must either destroy
the engine…"
"Or let him remember."
Elya turned toward the figure again,
tears on her cheeks.
"Then we help him remember."
Ash stepped into the center of the
Arena.
The corrupted figure responded
instantly.
With violence.
Chains launched from its arms, laced
with void-script. A pulse of corrupted Binding magic exploded outward,
scattering runes like shattered glass.
Ash threw up his arm.
"Now!"
His Court responded.
[COURT ABILITY –
Starbound Ward
ACTIVATED]
• All members protected from
Fragmentation effects
• Reverse Bonds nullified in field
radius
• Memory Sync pulse unlocked
Iriis vanished, teleporting mid-strike
across the Arena to intercept the first barrage of black threads. Her blade
clashed against corrupted chains, violet sparks raining like thunder.
Xeravon charged the shard engine,
fangs glowing with disruption mana. His body slammed into the outer shield like
a comet.
Ash sprinted forward, ducking a wide
sweep of energy, his palm glowing with the full burn of the Binder's mark.
"Caien," he shouted, "You are Bound to
memory! Not to chains!"
A surge of resistance hit him — a
blast of corrupted energy that sent him tumbling back.
But even as he hit the ground, Ash
felt it:
A flicker.
Something inside the corrupted summon twitched.
Elya stepped forward.
The battle paused.
Even the chains seemed to hesitate.
She walked across the arena slowly,
the air pulsing around her.
"You told me," she said, "that even
broken things could shine."
Her voice shook.
"You said summons weren't weapons.
That they remembered."
"Do you remember me?"
The corrupted glyph cracked again.
Harder this time.
The figure staggered.
Ash stared, his breath caught.
"It's working…"
Suddenly — the crystal behind the
figure began to hum.
Not chaotically.
In defense.
It was rejecting the memory pulse.
It recognized that Caien's will was
trying to reassert itself.
The corruption tried to reinforce
itself.
Ash made his move.
He sprinted across the Arena and
slammed his palm into the crystal's face just as Xeravon launched a second
attack from the side.
Ash's mark flared.
"I Bind you not to power."
"Not to pain."
"But to the truth."
"Remember her."
The crystal screamed — a soundless
implosion of light and fractured will.
It shattered.
The mask on the figure's face cracked.
And then — fell away.
Caien collapsed to his knees.
The chains unraveled.
His breathing was ragged, shoulders
heaving.
Elya reached him, dropped to the
ground beside him.
"Caien?"
He looked up.
And for a moment — just a moment — his
eyes were his.
"Elya," he whispered. "I'm sorry I
forgot."
She broke down.
Ash stood quietly as Iriis returned to
his side, blade sheathed.
Xeravon sat nearby, watching with wary
silence.
The corrupted threat was gone.
But the message was clear.
[SYSTEM ALERT – COURT STATUS:
VINDICATED]
You have successfully reclaimed a
corrupted summon.
New Trait Gained: Oathbinder – Rank I
• You may attempt to restore broken
Bonds through shared memory.
• This ability will grow with Court
Sync.
Elya and Caien have joined your Court.
Court of Broken Stars – Members: 5
Ash turned toward the dark edge of the
Realm.
He didn't speak for a long time.
But when he did, his voice was cold
fire.
"They're using Echoes as weapons."
"They're turning Binders into
batteries."
"We're going to end them."