Soulbound Rebirth: The Devouring War God

The Obsidian Steppe wasn't truly made of obsidian but it may as well have been.

The land stretched endlessly, cracked and gleaming like broken glass under the moonlight. No birds sang here. No beasts wandered. It was the graveyard of a war the world had forgotten.

Kael, Elira, and Ashen moved cautiously, each step echoing across the jagged terrain. The wind whispered in tongues that weren't quite human, brushing their minds with fragments of memory.

"This place was a battlefield once," Elira said. "Thousands of Sealbearers died here."

Kael nodded. "Trying to protect the Sixth Node."

"And they failed."

Ashen's voice was distant.

Kael glanced at him. His soulflame flickered erratically sometimes blue, sometimes red, sometimes nothing at all. The boy was unraveling, and the system knew it.

System Alert:

Carrier Node Resonance: 91%

Caution: Psychological distortion and memory leaks increasing.

Estimated Time Until Full Awakening: 6 days.

Kael clenched his fists.

They had to reach the archive before then.

---

Hours later, they stood before it: the Black Archive.

A tower carved from soulstone and sealed with a thousand glyphs. At its peak, a crystal eye rotated slowly—watching even though it no longer lived. The door bore the symbol of the First Sealbearer Order: a chained flame wrapped in wings.

Elira stepped forward. "We need blood."

Kael raised his hand and drew a shallow cut across his palm.

Silver flame spilled.

The door hissed.

With a groan that sounded like a dying god, it opened.

---

Inside, the air felt thick with history.

Scrolls hovered midair, rotating endlessly. Soul echoes flickered—silent specters of long-dead rebels, caught in the final thoughts of their lives.

A whisper passed through them as they stepped inside:

"Only the broken may bind."

Kael walked to the central pedestal. The moment he touched it, the Archive flared.

And then—

*Everything changed.*

He was standing in a throne room made of mirrors.

At its center sat a woman cloaked in flame, her face obscured, her voice like wind over steel.

"You seek to defy the cycle, child," she said.

Kael frowned. "Who are you?"

"I am what remains of the Sealbearer Core Intelligence. I was the system before your system. You walk a path long sealed."

"Then tell me how do I stop the Fifth Node from awakening?"

She stood, and the mirrors shattered revealing Kael's past, present, and possible futures.

"There are only three options," she said. "And none are painless."

"One: Kill the carrier. End his life, and the Gate remains sealed at the cost of your humanity."

Two: Sever the Fifth Node prematurely. Risk catastrophic backlash and a partial Gate opening.

Three: Let it awaken and prepare the Sealbearer Ritual to lock the Gate before the Devouring One escapes."

Kael clenched his jaw. "None of those are wins."

"No. But one may be survival."

She raised her hand and his soul was branded with a new glyph.

System Update: Archive Key Received

> New Trait Unlocked: Gatebind Protocol

> Allows temporary suppression of carrier resonance through soul tethering.

Kael gasped as the vision ended.

He was back in the archive. Elira steadied him.

"You were gone for five minutes," she said.

Ashen sat silently, trembling. His eyes glowed faintly gold.

"Five minutes too long," Kael muttered. "We're running out of time."

---

Outside the Archive, Serin knelt in the dirt, drawing blood runes into the stone. Her soulflame burned with unnatural darkness now.

A voice whispered behind her. "Do you have them?"

She didn't answer. The shadows behind her solidified into Devourer Inquisitors soulbinders who had once burned down entire cities to contain rebellion.

"They'll reach the ritual site soon," she said. "Intercept them there. The boy must awaken."

The Inquisitor smiled.

"Yes. Let the Fifth open the Gate… and end the old gods once and for all."

---

Far beneath the earth, in a sealed chamber no longer dormant, the Gate pulsed.

And something on the other side began to stir.