Chapter 9: The Firmament Rift

Beyond the Harbinger's spire, the Firmament Rift opened — not a cave but a wound in the air itself, lit by light that had no sun. Vale's records called it the seal's eastern vent: the place where pressure from the broken guardian network escaped into the sky.

Rift serpents coiled through that light, and Firmament Knights stood at the threshold — void-armored sentries sworn to the Null Sovereign, the last guardian of the eastern fracture. They were not evil by choice; they were duty bent past breaking, holding a wound open because no one had yet arrived to close it.

The traveler fought through the rift while Vale mapped each chamber from the apex above. When the knights fell, only the throne remained — a sphere of null light where the Sovereign kept the eastern seal from healing.