Location: The Outer Sectors – Black Monastery Remnants
Ash drifted like snow through the ruined sanctum of the Black Monastery, a former Reclaimer fortress now reduced to nothing but bone towers and fractured Seedstone. Statues once carved in Kael's likeness had been melted—face disfigured, crown shattered.
Kael stared at one of them in silence.
> "Looks accurate," Yanis muttered beside him. "You always had that arrogant chin."
> "I don't remember being worshipped."
> "That's the problem," she replied. "The world does. And not all of them are glad you're back."
---
[Broadcast Intercepted – Secure Reclaimer Channel]
> "To all Echo Rings and Purity Squadrons:
The traitor, Kael Riven, Seedborn Class: 'Null Throne', is alive.
He has absorbed Gate XIII and reignited Heretic Protocol status.
He is now considered a Priority Threat Class Omega.
Engage with lethal intent. No resurrection authorized."
Yanis winced. "That's fast."
Kael didn't blink.
> "They fear the throne."
> "Or what you might do with it."
---
Location Shift: High Orbit – The Choir of the First Memory
Far above the atmosphere, nine cloaked figures stood in a spiral aboard a station built entirely from blackened Reclaimer armor. Known as The Choir, they were the ruling voice left behind when Kael vanished—and they did not plan to step aside.
One of them leaned forward.
> "The throne calls again."
> "We silenced it once."
> "But now it sings inside him."
They all turned toward a pulse of light in the center of the chamber—a frozen Seed fragment glowing red.
> "If Kael has reawakened…" said the eldest voice, "then we must summon The Heretic Choir."
> "Even if it means breaking the pact?"
> "Especially then."
---
Meanwhile – Kael and Yanis in the Black Monastery Library
Kael opened a sealed vault only he could access—etched with his own blood signature.
Inside: ancient Seed scrolls, locked memory cores, and a single floating orb labeled:
> [HERETIC LOG: FORGOTTEN RECLAIMERS]
Kael touched it.
A projection flared.
Faces. Names.
People he once exiled.
People he once called brothers.
And among them: Aeyra Vael — a woman once called The Second Reclaimer.
Now believed dead.
She wasn't.
The file ended with a single line:
> "If Kael lives, she will come for the Seed. Not to claim it. To burn it from the timeline."
---
Kael turned to Yanis.
> "I remember her now."
> "Who?"
> "The only person I ever trusted more than you."
> "What happened?"
Kael looked toward the broken sky.
> "I crowned her once."
> "And she nearly destroyed the universe."
---