The night should have been calm.
Instead, the stars trembled.
Every lantern in Kyomisu guttered inward, their flames bending toward the mountain rather than away. The wind died, leaving only a sound like distant water echoing from the sky. Then came the pulse—faint at first, then steady as a heartbeat felt beneath the earth.
Kevin awoke instantly. The vibration shook the air with a rhythm he recognized—the same rhythm as his own mark, magnified a hundredfold. He sat up before the others stirred, already feeling warmth spread up his spine followed by a slicing cold that made the edges of his vision blur.
Beside him, Kris muttered in his sleep. The glow from his skin flashed between crimson and violet. Dylan jolted upright mid‑dream, sparks hissing across the floor before dying without sound.
"Do you feel that?" Kevin asked quietly.
Kris nodded, eyes unfocused. "It's like she's… inside the pulse."
The Rising Light
Outside, the shrine glowed.
The Heart Seal beneath the mountain had awakened fully, projecting its luminescence through cracks in stone and air alike. Gold and sapphire light climbed upward, fracturing into flowing patterns that wrapped around the temple like living script.
Kelivin, standing atop the stairway, watched the glow break through the courtyard's tiles. Torches ignited in phantom flame without fuel—and through that shimmer he saw her.
A reflection at first, faint but certain. Maiko's silhouette shimmered in the curve of the light—a woman of half‑shadow, half‑radiance, rising from the depths of her own seal.
"Maiko," he whispered, the name leaving his lips as if it belonged to another lifetime.
Her image flickered. Every shimmer of her form pulled air from the world, as though reality itself held its breath to make room for her return.
From behind him, Lady Ai's prayer broke into disbelief. "No mortal barrier could have contained this long. The Seal isn't holding—it's transforming."
The Brothers' Descent
The tremor deepened until the doors of their quarters burst open of their own will. Kevin, Kris, and Dylan stepped into the courtyard, drawn by an invisible call.
Kelivin didn't turn. "Stay back."
"No," Kevin said firmly. "She's calling us."
As he spoke, three spirals of light arced from the Heart's projection, winding upward into the night sky before descending to rest just above each brother's heart. The light flared so brightly that they staggered back—painlessly, yet shaken—as the marks on their chests burned awake.
Where before those symbols had represented elements—flame, stone, storm—they now spun with faint threads of black ink weaving through their edges.
Not absence, but shadow.
Kelivin clenched his jaw. "The fusion begins. Her essence bleeds into you."
The ground sighed, soft and terrifying.