Chapter 84: The Forgotten Oath

The rain hadn't stopped for hours.

Thunder rolled overhead, but Kael Arclight barely noticed. His boots splashed through the marsh as he led the group forward. Behind him, Drayke Norr dragged the edge of his Infernal Gauntlet against a wet tree trunk, bored and twitchy.

"Tell me again," Drayke muttered. "Why are we chasing a whisper in a swamp?"

Zera Vaelith answered before Kael could. "Because that whisper belongs to an Eternal."

Kael stopped, eyes narrowing through the fog. "What's its name?"

Zera's smile faded.

"Oathborne. The one who guards forgotten promises."

Noctheron's Heart – The Marsh Graveyard

The terrain changed fast.

What began as creeping fog and shallow water gave way to drowned ruins—pillars half-submerged, temples leaning sideways as if bowing in mourning. Every stone they passed bore old vows—etched in dying aura. Promises of vengeance. Of love. Of freedom.

"Why does it feel like… the world's watching?" Lyra whispered, hugging herself.

"Because it is," Zera said. "This entire region is a memory. A prison made by regret."

Kael paused at a half-buried statue. A woman in armor, blade rusted into her hands. Words barely visible beneath the moss.

"I swear, even if you forget me, I'll wait."

Drayke read it and clicked his tongue. "Creepy."

"No," Kael said. "It's… sad."

Approaching the Shrine of the Oathborne

At the center of the ruins, a dome of black stone pulsed with lightless aura. It didn't emit energy. It pulled it in.

"Inside is the seal," Zera explained. "If we touch it, the Oathborne awakens."

Lyra hesitated. "Can we really fight another Eternal? After everything in the Vault…"

"We don't have a choice," Kael said. "If we're going to stop the chain of awakenings, we need to confront them. All of them."

"Then let's knock," Drayke smirked.

Awakening the Oathborne

Kael reached for the shrine's seal—a circular plate of obsidian inscribed with concentric rings of vow-runes. His aura touched it—

—And time froze.

In an instant, he stood alone in a memory.

A war-torn battlefield.

Bodies everywhere.

And at its center—a woman in white armor, long hair soaked in blood, standing over a child's corpse.

"They forgot," she whispered.

"I didn't."

She turned.

Her eyes were stitched shut, lips cracked and bleeding.

"You remember too much. That's why you're here."

The Forgotten Oath – Battle Begins

The moment shattered.

Kael's eyes snapped open—and the shrine exploded.

From within rose the Oathborne. A tall, gaunt figure in flowing robes of shattered glass and black feathers. Her arms were bound by glowing chains, and her face covered in a mask of thorns. Aura spiraled around her—one of the heaviest Kael had ever felt.

"I am Oathborne. I waited. I watched. I remembered."

"Now... you will too."

Combat Initiated – Domain of Forgotten Vows

The entire area shifted.

Reality twisted, and suddenly they weren't in the marsh—but in fragments of different memories.

Kael found himself back in his childhood village—burning.

Lyra stood before a vision of her first failure—her brother dying under her care.

Drayke? Faced his mother, begging him not to go into the flames.

Zera was alone, in a place no one else could recognize—silent, haunted.

"She's making us relive our regrets!" Kael shouted. "Snap out of it!"

Counterattack – Echo Reversal

Kael forced himself to stab into the illusion—his blade passing through his younger self—and everything shattered into ash.

Back in the battlefield, he activated Ashen Domain.

The ground beneath him cracked with aura, forming a wide dome of grey fire. He connected with Lyra and Drayke through Sync Fusion—a temporary bond allowing amplified support.

Drayke roared to life, both gauntlets now fully ignited. His skill: Hellfang Spiral—a spinning attack burning everything within a close radius.

Lyra stood firm, activating Solar Beacon—a passive aura that repelled illusions and fortified willpower.

Zera emerged last, eyes glowing like dying stars. "Oathborne… you chained yourself to eternity. Let me break them."

Final Phase – Breaking the Vowchains

The Oathborne screamed—not in rage, but sorrow.

She summoned hundreds of floating vow sigils—each a promise broken or forgotten. They rained down like blades.

Kael deflected some, but others cut through aura and straight into the soul.

He fell to one knee.

Memories surged—his team, lost in the first dungeon. His brother, Drayke Arclight, walking away into darkness. Lyra dying in a vision. So much failure.

"You can't carry this," the Oathborne whispered.

"Let it end."

But Kael looked up.

"No."

He stood.

"I'll carry all of it. The regrets, the failures, the broken pieces. Because that's what makes us human."

He unleashed his new skill:

Ashen Severance — A strike that severs emotional bindings. Effective only against aura constructs or corrupted oath-bound entities.

He slashed—

—And the chains binding the Oathborne snapped.

Oathborne's End – and Gift

She collapsed—not dead, but released.

The mask cracked and fell away, revealing tear-stained cheeks. Her lips mouthed something.

"Thank you."

The dome around the shrine shattered. The illusion dissolved.

Rain returned. Reality settled.

In her place, a new relic hovered.

Name: Oathcore Fragment

Type: Domain Key

Effect: Unlocks sealed pathways left behind by ancient vow-bearers. Grants access to a secret Eternal Vault beneath Zenith's Reach.

Kael took it silently.

"We're getting closer," Zera whispered. "One more seal, and we'll reach the heart."

Drayke exhaled. "About damn time. I'm ready to punch an Eternal in the face."

Lyra just looked at Kael. "You okay?"

He nodded. Slowly.

But in his heart, the echoes of promises still rang.