The next morning, Aurion arrived.
The mountain shook before anyone saw him.
Refugees screamed.
Elias ran outside.
The golden Guardian climbed the slope.
Damage covered his body.
One arm cracked.
Half the stone across his chest blackened.
He knelt.
Elias walked to him.
“Don’t.”
Aurion paused.
“Don’t kneel.”
The giant slowly stood again.
Something changed between them.
Respect instead of ceremony.
Aurion’s voice entered his mind.
You are learning.
“Slowly.”
Serah called from behind.
“What happened?”
Aurion looked toward the west.
Varkas is opening the Gate.
Tal emerged.
“How long?”
Seven days.
The old Keeper’s face became grave.
If the Gate opened fully, the First Shadow would return.
No army could stop it.
Only the Stone Covenant.
Elias looked toward the sleeping Guardians inside Mount Arken.
“You said I’m not ready.”
Tal stared.
“You are not.”
“Then we have seven days.”
This time the Keeper did not smile.
The plan required returning to Valoria.
Not hiding.
The Gate lay beneath the royal palace.
Of course it did.
The current dynasty had unknowingly—or deliberately—built its throne above the prison of the greatest enemy in history.
Mira looked at Elias.
“You’re going back where the king wants you dead.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Serah frowned.
“Why good?”
“Because apparently pain tells us things.”
Elias laughed.
They marched with no great army.
At first.
Aurion traveled openly.
Elias rode beside Serah.
Mira rode badly and complained constantly.
Refugees followed.
Then villages joined.
Farmers with spears.
Hunters.
Former guards.
By the second day, five hundred people.
Third, two thousand.
Not because Elias promised land.
Or titles.
He barely spoke.
People came because Aurion walked beside him without chains.
That symbol mattered.
On the fourth day, Prince Corvin escaped Valoria.
He reached Elias’s camp at dusk with twelve loyal guards.
Everyone expected confrontation.
Corvin dismounted.
Thirteen years old.
Golden cloak torn.
One cheek bruised.
He looked at Elias.
“So.”
Elias looked back.
“So.”
“You’re apparently my brother.”
“Half.”
Corvin frowned.
“You’re shorter than I expected.”
Mira muttered, “Good beginning.”
Elias ignored her.
“Are you here to arrest me?”
“No.”
“Kill me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Corvin looked toward Aurion.
“Because Father ordered the northern district burned to stop the dead.”
Serah went still.
“With people inside?”
“Yes.”
Elias felt sick.
Corvin continued.
“I refused.”
“What happened?”
“He hit me.”
Corvin said it without emotion.