Chapter 3 Whispers Beneath the Maw

The Maw was louder tonight.

Seren Veyra stood at the edge of the Vale of Echoes, staring down into the swirling abyss that carved through the heart of Noctarion. It wasn't just wind that howled from below-it was something older. Something hungry.

She clutched her pendant, now glowing faintly with silver light. It pulsed in rhythm with the Hollow Moon overhead, which had begun to bleed light across the sky like a cracked mirror.

She hadn't slept since the dream.

Kaelen. Her twin. A name she hadn't known until yesterday. A face she'd never seen until it appeared in her vision, cloaked in ash and shadow.

"You were never meant to remember," he'd said.

But she did now.

And that changed everything.

The Citadel of Ash had given her answers, but not peace. The Archivist's words echoed in her mind: You are the lock and the key. Together, you and Kaelen decide the fate of Umbros.

She didn't know what that meant. Not fully. But she knew she had to find him.

And to do that, she had to descend into the Maw.

The Maw was forbidden.

Even the Keepers feared it. It was said to be a collapsed timeline, a place where reality folded in on itself. Creatures that had been erased from history roamed its depths-Threadless beasts, memory-feeders, shadow-born horrors.

Seren didn't care.

She was Threadless too.

She stepped forward.

The descent was steep and treacherous. The air grew colder with each step, and the light from the Hollow Moon faded until only her pendant lit the way. The walls of the Maw were carved with ancient runes-some glowing, some bleeding, some whispering.

She ignored them.

She had one goal: find Kaelen.

Hours passed. Or maybe days. Time didn't work properly here.

Seren stumbled into a cavern lit by bioluminescent moss. At its center stood a pool of black water, perfectly still. She approached, heart pounding.

Her reflection stared back at her.

But it wasn't her.

It was Kaelen.

He looked older. Worn. His eyes were silver like hers, but colder. He didn't speak. Just watched.

Seren knelt by the pool. "Are you real?"

His reflection blinked. "Are you?"

She reached out. The water rippled. Her pendant flared.

And Kaelen stepped out of the pool.

He was real.

He was here.

And he was not alone.

The shadows behind him shifted. Shapes moved-too many limbs, too many eyes. Creatures born of broken threads. They hissed at the light from Seren's pendant but didn't retreat.

Kaelen raised a hand. The creatures froze.

"You shouldn't have come," he said.

Seren stood. "I had to."

"You don't belong here."

"I'm Threadless."

Kaelen's expression darkened. "That's not what makes you dangerous."

They stared at each other, the silence between them thick with memory and magic.

Seren stepped closer. "Why did they hide you?"

"To protect you."

"From what?"

"From me."

He turned away, walking toward a stone arch carved into the cavern wall. Seren followed.

Beyond the arch was a tunnel lined with glowing veins of silver. The air shimmered with unstable magic. Time bent here-Seren saw flickers of herself, younger, older, different.

Kaelen didn't look back.

"They said we were born during the Hollow Moon," Seren said. "That it fractured the weave."

Kaelen nodded. "It did more than that. It opened a door."

"To Umbros?"

"To something worse."

They emerged into a chamber filled with floating crystals. Each held a memory-Seren saw flashes of her childhood, moments she didn't remember, scenes that felt wrong.

Kaelen touched one. It showed Seren as a baby, cradled by a woman with silver eyes.

"Our mother," he said.

Seren's throat tightened. "She was a Keeper."

"She broke the law to save us."

"Why?"

Kaelen turned to her. "Because we were born with Umbros inside us."

Seren staggered back. "That's not possible."

"It is," Kaelen said. "We're not just Threadless. We're vessels."

Seren's pendant flared. The shadows hissed again.

Kaelen stepped closer. "You've felt it, haven't you? The hunger. The pull. The way your emotions twist the world around you."

Seren nodded slowly.

"It's Umbros," Kaelen whispered. "And he's waking."

The ground trembled.

The crystals shattered.

The shadows surged.

Kaelen grabbed Seren's hand. "Run."

They fled through collapsing tunnels, dodging falling stone and lunging beasts. The Maw screamed around them, a chorus of broken time and unraveling fate.

They burst into a narrow passage that led upward. Light flickered ahead.

Kaelen stopped. "You need to leave."

Seren shook her head. "Not without you."

"I can't leave," he said. "I'm bound to the Maw."

"We'll break it."

Kaelen smiled sadly. "That's what scares me."

He pressed a crystal into her hand. "Take this. It holds the truth. But be careful-truth is a blade."

Seren nodded.

Kaelen stepped back into the shadows.

And vanished.

Seren climbed out of the Maw, heart heavy, crystal glowing in her hand.

The Hollow Moon pulsed overhead.

And far below, Umbros stirred.