Chapter 52: The Sleep Beyond Silence
Chapter 52: The Sleep Beyond Silence
The mists curled slowly around the third Vault's edge as Kael struck the final blow into a monstrous, horned behemoth, watching its body dissolve into ash and runes. He barely registered the EXP gain this time. Sweat glistened on his brow, breath ragged, and yet something else pulled at him—something deeper than fatigue.
A pulse. Not from the Vault. From the bond.
Selene.
His heart skipped.
Not her voice.
Not her presence.
But her fear.
[Bonded Emotion Detected: Selene]
Status: Unconscious — Emotional Flux: Escalating Distress
He froze in place.
It wasn't physical pain she radiated—it was something worse. Terror.
Kael's gaze shot across the shifting terrain of the Vault toward the place where Selene had undergone her inheritance ritual. A silver mist hung heavy in that direction, now darker, as if a fog of shadows had begun to encroach upon her sanctuary.
[Threat Detected: Foreign Will Attempting Mental Assimilation]
Target: Selene (Sel'na'thal)
His eyes widened.
"NO."
The ground cracked beneath his feet as Kael exploded forward, leaping across broken platforms and flickering bridgeways of crystal and rune. He didn't wait. He didn't think.
He felt.
Every heartbeat, every broken breath Selene took inside that dream-realm, reverberated within him through their bond.
Within the Dream Core...
Selene floated.
Or rather, her mind did.
Wrapped in an endless ocean of silver silence, her awareness had begun to blur. The power she had accepted—the Moonblood Crest—had awoken, yes.
But something else had, too.
Something buried deeper than memory.
A seed planted long ago.
A voice coiled around her thoughts like an ancient serpent:
"You are not enough. You were made. You were crafted. And now... you belong to us."
She struggled to move. To speak.
But her limbs no longer responded. Her form remained still in the glowing pool of moonlight.
And within that stillness, shadow crept across the light.
Kael reached the chamber's outer ward.
The air was dense here—soaked with divine residue and something else. Something wrong.
[Alert: Sacred Pearl Rejecting External Influence]
Warning: Mental contamination spreading in Dream Sanctuary
He rushed into the moonlit chamber—only to skid to a halt.
Selene lay in the center of the pool, her hair spread like silver threads, her breathing shallow. The moonlight above had darkened into a dim violet. Faint tendrils of black smoke coiled around her forehead like chains tightening with every breath.
Kael's fists clenched. He stepped forward—only to be pushed back by a force he couldn't see.
[Barrier Active: Divine Will Lockdown Initiated]
"No. I'm not letting her fall to this."
Kael drew his blade—not to cut, but to anchor. He dropped to his knees beside her and pressed his hand to her temple. Energy flared.
[Bond Sync Attempt Detected]
Warning: Soul Descent Initiated — Entry into Dream Core Possible (Irreversible Until Event Concludes)
He didn't hesitate.
"Take me to her."
Inside Selene's Consciousness.
He fell.
Like crashing through stars and memories, like tearing pages from a book too fast to read.
And then he was there—standing on a shattered plain made entirely of black glass, with towers of moonlight piercing the sky above.
Selene knelt in the center.
But she wasn't alone.
A figure cloaked in shadow loomed behind her—a mirror version of Selene, only twisted. Red eyes. Black veins. A smile that didn't belong to her.
Kael stepped forward, voice shaking. "Selene."
Her head snapped toward him—but her eyes were blank.
"You shouldn't have come here, Kael," the shadowed reflection whispered. "She belongs to me now."
The fake Selene vanished in a blink—and reappeared in front of him, slamming her palm into his chest. Kael flew back, skidding across the glass.
[Bond Resonance Instability Detected]
[Willpower Resistance Active]
Kael forced himself up. Blood ran down his lips. "You're not real. You're a parasite feeding off her confusion."
The shadow chuckled. "I am every part she repressed. The part that wanted to kill. The part that felt nothing when the world bled beneath her blade. I am what the Moonblood left behind."
Kael's grip tightened on his sword.
"She's not that anymore."
"Then why is she still afraid?"
And Selene screamed.
A psychic pulse sent Kael to one knee.
He looked up—Selene had begun sinking into the black floor, her form vanishing like sand in water.
"No!"
He rushed to her, sliding across the obsidian platform, grabbing her wrist.
"I'm here. I won't let you go."
Her fingers twitched.
For the first time since entering, her eyes flickered with light.
Kael poured everything into her—his mana, his soul, his memories. Their dance under the fractured moons. Their first kiss amid the ruins. Her soft laugh during his worst night.
"Wake up, Selene... Please."
But the shadow was not done.
It rose again, now a titan of twisted silence looming above them both. Chains of doubt and grief slithered across the black plane, aiming to pull her deeper.
Kael shielded her with his body, summoning a barrier of radiant flame.
[Bond Shield Activated: Harem Link — Dual Soul Synchronization (Temporary)]
He glared upward.
"Then fight me instead."
Outside, the sanctuary glowed violently. Tendrils of smoke and light clashed midair. Evelyne stood at the chamber's entrance, alarmed.
"What is happening?!"
The Sacred Pearl trembled.
[System Alert: Spiritual Clash Detected. Unknown Entity Identified — Memory Eater Fragment]
She paled.
"Selene... hold on. Kael's coming for you."
Within the mindscape...
Kael's flames clashed with the creature's void.
It screamed, twisting and coiling away.
But the black sea below Selene still bubbled.
He held her tighter, even as his strength waned.
"I don't care if this kills me," he said, forehead pressed to hers. "You brought me back from my darkness. I'll do the same."
Her fingers finally gripped his.
[Emotional Resonance Stabilizing... 41% → 59%... 71%...]
The light returned to her chest.
But she did not wake.
Instead, the shadow reformed around them—more fragmented now, more desperate.
Kael held her close as the dream began to fracture.
[Warning: Conscious Link at Risk — Memory Domain Collapsing Soon]
He whispered, "I'm not leaving you. Not again. Not ever."
And far beyond them, in the deepest sanctum of the Pearl...
A presence stirred.
Ancient. Watching.
Waiting.
Sel'na'thal has begun to awaken. But to truly rise, she must first remember the price of silence.
[STATUS WINDOW: KAEL VIREN]
Level: 14
EXP: 1,926,000 / 6,900,000
Realm: Starforged Realm — Tier 5/9
HP: 4,900 / 6,400
Mana: 4,200 / 6,700
Base Stats (+60% Shared from Bonded Wives):
Strength: 188 → 300
Endurance: 172 → 275
Willpower: 196 → 313
Charm: 218 → 349
Intellect: 164 → 262
Dexterity: 176 → 282
Bonded Wives (Realms):
Evelyne — Moonglade Realm — Tier 3/9 (Inside Dimension)
Selene — Starforged Realm — Tier 5/9 (Asleep, Inheritance Ongoing)
Thalaria — Sunbound Realm — Tier 2/9 (Outside)
Nysera — Skyshatter Realm — Tier 1/9 (Sealed)
Valeria — Skyshatter Realm — Tier 3/9 (Sealed)
[PET PANEL]
Emberfang — Flame Tiger Cub (Tier 3) — Ash Devourer — Outside Dimension
Vira — Sky Serpent Hatchling (Tier 2) — Storm Pulse — Resting
Cultivation Realms:
1. Initiate Realm
2. Essence Drawn Realm
3. Veinwoven Realm
4. Soulroot Realm
5. Starforged Realm
6. Sunbound Realm
7. Moonglade Realm
8. Skyshatter Realm
9. Worldpiercer Realm
10. Heaven's Echo Realm
11. Celestiaflame Realm
12. Worldbreaker Realm
13. Eternal Crown Realm