Chapter 19: Fragments of Veyrith

Kael staggered back, his mind reeling. Veyrith's Fall.

The name wasn't just a place. It was a memory. Not his, but something buried within the Mark of Aetheris.

The battlefield around him had turned into a storm of destruction.

Aelyth and the Eradicator clashed, their powers warping reality itself. Each strike sent ripples through space, distorting the ruins around them.

But Kael's focus was elsewhere.

Because when the Mark whispered Veyrith's Fall, something had changed.

The world around him flickered.

For the briefest moment, he wasn't in the ruins anymore.

He was somewhere else.

A city bathed in twilight. Towers of obsidian and silver, half-crumbling. A battlefield soaked in golden fire.

And in the center of it all—a monolith.

A blackened structure that pulsed with the same energy as his Mark.

Then—pain.

Kael gasped as he was ripped back to reality. He fell to one knee, breathing hard.

Aelyth noticed. "You felt it, didn't you?"

Kael's pulse pounded. "What... what was that?"

Aelyth didn't answer immediately. Their golden eyes flickered toward the Eradicator, still hovering in place, its form shifting as it adapted.

Then they spoke.

"Veyrith's Fall wasn't just a place."

Their voice was quiet, but the weight behind it was undeniable.

"It was the first recorded erasure."

Kael's blood ran cold.

Aelyth continued. "A city that was erased from time itself. And if your Mark reacted to it... then you're tied to it in ways even I don't understand."

The Eradicator moved again, faster this time. The cycle wasn't going to give them time to talk.

Kael clenched his fist. His Mark pulsed again, stronger this time.

He didn't have all the answers.

But one thing was clear.

If he wanted to survive, Veyrith's Fall was where he needed to go.