Chapter 16: The Return of the Fallen
The winds that blew across Zion that morning carried a bitter scent.
Not smoke. Not metal. Memory.
Infirmary lights flickered as Abraham sat on the edge of the medical cot, awake but unmoving. His reflection in the window didn't match his posture anymore. Every blink, every twitch… a second slower than his real body.
Something inside him was growing. Not the flame. Not the divine energy.
Something older. Something that had been waiting for the seals to crack.
Saral stood just outside the glass wall, fists clenched.
He's not responding, the medic whispered. He hasn't spoken in two hours.
Saral didn't speak. She simply walked in.
The door hissed behind her as she sat beside him. Quiet. No questions.
After a long silence, Abraham finally whispered.
I dreamed of the chains again.
Her breath caught. The chains?
From the pit. From the mountain. From before all this.
He looked at her, and for a moment, he wasn't Abraham.
He was something else.
Saral reached out and held his hand.
You're here now. With me. Not in the pit.
But he didn't nod. He simply looked out the window again.
In the distance, bells rang from the cathedral tower.
A high-alert signal.
Ezra stormed into the room.
You need to come. Now.
Zion's central cathedral was on lockdown. Light barriers were falling. Something was tearing through the oldest part of the city.
The Seal beneath the Temple Vault had cracked completely.
It wasn't another beast.
It was a man.
Seraph-13 had awakened.
---
At ground zero, dust filled the air.
Two ExoSaint elite units lay destroyed. Bodies turned to ash without wounds.
And there, walking barefoot through the center aisle of the broken cathedral, was a figure wrapped in torn holy robes. Seven glowing glyphs floated around him like orbiting moons.
His face was calm.
His eyes were red.
He did not raise his hands.
He did not speak.
He simply walked forward, and all around him, the walls wept blood.
Reuel appeared on a projection above the site.
Target is live. All squads engage.
But it was useless.
Weapons malfunctioned. Exo-suits exploded. Words choked in priests' throats.
Abraham landed behind the cathedral, Saral beside him.
Is that him? she asked.
He didn't answer.
He already knew.
Seraph-13 stopped in the center of the ruined altar.
Welcome back, Gate, he said without turning around.
Abraham stepped forward.
Why did you betray Zion?
Seraph-13 turned. His smile was gentle.
Zion betrayed me first. I only removed the blindfold.
Abraham's hands lit up with gold fire.
Then I'll put it back on.
Saral joined his side. Her cross-symbol glowed behind her like wings of scripture.
Seraph-13 raised a hand.
At once, the flame inside Abraham flared—and bent toward the fallen saint like iron to a magnet.
He's pulling the flame out of me, Abraham gasped.
Saral touched his shoulder. Her voice cut through the pressure.
Remember who you are. Not the Gate. Not the Weapon. Just Abraham.
His flame realigned. It returned to him. Stronger. Sharper.
And it whispered a verse.
You shall walk through fire, and not be burned.
They charged together.
Light versus fallen light.
Chains versus freedom.
And above them, in the empty sky, the Fourth Seal cracked.
Something ancient stirred again.
But in that moment, on the cathedral floor, the Gate stood firm.
And Seraph-13, for the first time in a century, blinked in surprise.
End of Chapter 16