Chapter 25 : The Threshold Beckons
The stars were still out when Eren awoke.
He sat up slowly, every muscle tense, every breath careful. No danger stirred nearby no ash drifting unnaturally, no chants on the wind but the air carried a weight that hadn't been there the night before.
Elira was already awake, crouched at the edge of the ridge, her cloak pulled tight against the chill. She didn't look at him when she spoke.
"They're following us. Just far enough to not be seen. But close enough to remind us they're there."
Eren joined her, gazing across the landscape. Below, the valley stretched like a wound through the mountains. And far on the other side barely visible beneath the thinning mist stood a blackened archway carved directly into the stone.
It pulsed faintly.
Even from here, Akreth reacted to it. The sword hummed with restrained heat, like a beast sensing the return to its den.
"That's it," Elira said. "The Threshold."
Eren said nothing. His fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword.
They spent the morning in silence, descending from the ridge and approaching the path that led to the arch. The trail was narrow, winding, and marked with glyphs long worn by time. None of the symbols matched those Eren had seen before not the Seers, not the Circle, not the Covenant.
These were older.
Elira ran her hand along one as they passed. "Pre-Flame script," she murmured. "Before Akreth. Before the bearer. This place wasn't meant to seal anything. It was meant to contain."
Eren frowned. "Contain what?"
"I don't know," she said. "But whatever it was… it never left."
They reached the archway by midday.
It stood twenty feet high, framed by obsidian stone laced with veins of silver and crimson. No doors barred the way. Just darkness beyond. The stone beneath their feet shifted subtly, and the air buzzed with unseen magic.
Eren took a step forward and stopped.
The darkness inside wasn't just shadow.
It was depth. It pulled.
Akreth flared. The runes along the blade glowed steadily, as if recognizing the path.
Elira placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You don't have to do this alone."
He glanced at her. "You said the Threshold speaks only to the bearer."
"It does," she said. "But the bearer doesn't always listen."
He took a breath.
And stepped through.
The world shifted.
Not in light. Not in sound. But in truth.
Suddenly, he wasn't walking into a cave. He was walking into memory.
The space beyond the arch was vast an infinite corridor lined with mirrors that held no reflection. Instead, each surface shimmered with images. Visions. Realities that had once been, or could still be.
He saw Cael kneeling before the blade, whispering her name.
He saw the first bearer, arms outstretched, fire pouring from his chest.
He saw himself, standing atop a mountain of ash, Akreth buried in the heart of the world.
And beyond that blackness.
A void. Silent and endless.
Waiting.
"Welcome back," said a voice.
Eren turned.
The flame-shaped being stood at the corridor's end, where the light collapsed into shadow. Its form was more defined now. Less like fire, more like armor. A silhouette wearing his shape taller, older, crowned in broken light.
"Is this the truth?" Eren asked.
"This is the edge of it," the being replied. "You stand at the seam where thought becomes fire. You may step through. Or turn back."
"What's on the other side?"
The flame-echo extended a hand.
"Your final name."
Eren stared at it.
"I'm not ready."
The being nodded once.
"No one ever is."
Then it vanished.
The corridor trembled.
Eren stumbled back, and the space around him cracked like glass.
He blinked and Elira was beside him again, back at the arch.
"You were gone," she said. "For hours."
"It felt like seconds," he replied.
She steadied him as he caught his breath.
"You saw it, didn't you?" she asked. "The door beyond the world."
He nodded.
"And?" she asked.
Eren looked down at the sword, now quiet. For the first time, it didn't burn.
It waited.
"I'm not walking through yet," he said.
"But you will."
"Yes," he said quietly. "When I know who I'll be on the other side."