They quickly arrived at the palace. They jumped into the rubble, horrified by the sight. When they fled for their lives, they had not even looked back, but now, they were horrified. Bodies were lying everywhere. Some were riddled with holes, others were covered in thousands of small cuts. Some had been split into two or more pieces, lying separately, not far from each other. It was hard for Kiyeri to watch, knowing he trained the people who had done this. There were quite a few corpses of Sun guards, judging from wounds, they fought each other to the death.

“How is it possible to plant spies so deeply in a foreign land without anyone knowing?” Kiyeri found it hard to comprehend. All three of them were walking through pools of blood, which were gradually replaced by the already cooled, melted rocks. “The relics were probably kept in treasury vault. In which corner of the palace could they be?”

“In their style, probably on the northern flank, near the library, but it’s almost destroyed.” Seyre answered.

“It doesn’t matter,” Kiyeri explained, “Celestial stones are indestructible, anything forged from them cannot be destroyed by any ordinary means. If you want to forge a relic from one, you have to use another of the related element for it. For example, to forge an amulet from a fire stone, you have to use a water one, to forge an earth one, you use a life stone and so on. If it were that easy to damage them or make them portable, we wouldn’t have any left.”

While Seyre worked with his sleeves rolled up and turned over the debris using the powers of the Sigil, the other two walked around the palace grounds, looking for survivors.

“If Seyre finds the stone and the theory is confirmed, will we have to rush to fight them right away?” Ashiya asked.

"Yes. We still don't know what they're planning for the equinox, we need to hurry, otherwise we might find ourselves in an unfamiliar situation again. Before it seemed like they were rushing us, now it seems like they're stalling." Kiyeri replied.

"And will you have enough mana? They definitely won't invite you to replenish. I'm empty and I don't think Seyre has much."  Ashiya looked worried.

Kiyeri jumped over a few wreckages and smiled, "You said it yourself that my reserves are huge, I could fill you up to the brim, and still have half left” Kiyeri talked without thinking. He blushed, hoping Ashiya hadn’t caught the blunder, and hurried to continue taking.

“Don't worry. Besides, according to legend, the three chosen ones terrorized the land for a long time without rest. It seems incredible that they would run back and forth to recharge. Maybe reborn Sigil doesn't need mana, or it comes from somewhere else. Or maybe it's gathering in the body faster. I won't know until I try."

“Kiye,”

The voice that called from behind was very gentle and sounded especially pleasant to Kiyeri's ears, so despite everything, he responded in the same way and slowed down his steps.

"Hm? What else is troubling you?"

Right then, someone took his hand, and he stopped in his tracks.

"I'm afraid that...." Ashiya's voice faltered.

Kiyeri squeezed his hand, "I know... I know this time. But don't forget our conversation..."

"I FOUND IT!” shout came from around the corner, “ I FOUND IT... What's going on here?" Seyre looked at them, having just emerged from that corner, tilting his head to the side. “Now? Really?"

"There's no better time than now!" “Kiyeri shot back, squeezing that hand once more, before letting it go and walking towards Seyre, “Give it to me, I have some blood that needs to be drained."

Seyre held out the medallion with a raised eyebrow, and Kiyeri lost consciousness again upon touching it.

When Kiyeri woke up, he was in complete darkness. Not knowing where he was, he didn't dare to move or speak, but in his mind he screamed at the top of his lungs.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHH WHY DO THESE STONES HATE ME???"

Not understanding why, he couldn't see anything, he tried to blink hard, which didn't help. First, a strong strange smell stung his nose, he thought for a while and concluded, "Herbs?". Then he realized that someone was breathing next to him and his heart dropped.

His legs didn't seem to be shackled, but something heavy was on his waist. "A hand?!" And also, on his right shoulder. Something similar to threads, tickling his nose. A few more seconds passed before he started complaining, brushing those strands off. "Ahi, your hair is on my face..."

"Shhshhshh"

“SSShhhhh”

Hushing sounds were heard from both sides in the darkness.

A voice next to him whispered, "You finally woke up, but be quiet and don't use mana, we're hiding."

"From what?" Kiyeri whispered back, of course.

"What do you mean from what?! It's unbelievable. At first, he touches something he shouldn't, then falls down like a dead man, and when he gets up, and doesn't remember!" This shouting whisper was heard from a little further to the left and the intonation was scolding.

"There's no need for that tone. I meant are they close enough for us to do this? Kiyeri felt a little ashamed of his imprudence, “And I simply forgot about the stone..."

"Oh yes, I believe you, I would forget too, being so busy holding hands…"- hissed sarcastically from the left side.

SILENCE.

"Okay, enough, I understand. Ashi, maybe... Move?"

“Of course…” A disappointed voice came from the right.

“It’s not enough. Do you know how long you were out? Seyre on the left did not give up, “We carried you all the way to the Temple, afraid of not being able to make it. If you hadn’t woken up by morning, I was already planning to bathe that medallion in your blood myself, maybe then you’d finally wake up.”

“And you two are like completely different people... One is too brave, the other is more outspoken than ever!” Kiyeri reproached in his mind, thinking about what the two could have been talking about, “How long?”

"Tomorrow, or rather in the morning is the first equinox, we couldn't wake you up, nothing worked."  Ashiya answered.

"TOMORROW?!"  Kiyeri expressed his scream in a whisper, suddenly sitting up.

"Wait.” Ashiya warned him, “Don't move too much – we're in the pharmacy basement, there are cabinets and jars everywhere, you'll trip."

"Oh." Kiyeri slowly sat up more comfortably, feeling around and realizing that he was lying on the floor. “Why can't we use light?"

Seyre explained, "The basement has a small window, only a flower garden separates us from Temple. They're inside it”

"It's impressive, you managed to get so close without being noticed. And while carrying me."

"Elanta helped us. “Ashiya intervened, “When you fell, we sought refuge in the town and met her. She oversaw the evacuation of the residents and was already returning to the palace when we told her what happened..."

"Didn't believe it?" Kiyeri tried to guess the reaction.

"She even tried to take the medallion from me.” Seyre complained. “In the end, we managed to talk and she went out to scout. When we returned the next day, she helped us get here, it wasn't very difficult, people were crowding around the temple in panic. Zeni spends all his time inside there with Ruki, and Dali is looking for you."

"They don't harm the residents?" Kiyeri was surprised.

"No. In Elanta's words, they are both like under a spell or something. They don't say anything but scan the surroundings with their dead eyes. According to her, their state is called corruption, it happens to Sigils that merged. The three legendary warriors were also not themselves after the sacrifices, but when they killed the other marks, it was as if they lost their souls, they only did what they were told and hardly spoke until finally went crazy."

"Well, that's worrying... Now it seems that Zeni is just using them and they didn't know what they were doing. I'm not a Bearer technically, so if he can take that power from me, he will be powerful, intelligent AND have two killing machines obeying him.” Kiyer thought, “So we wait till the morning, I will make a sacrifice, and attack?"

"That's the plan,” Seyre confirmed. “First, we need to neutralize Zeni, but you - don't go near him, it's unclear what he can do to you with that dagger or what other tricks he has that we don't know about. You take care of Dali and Ruki, and Ashiya and I will face Zeni."

Kiyeri shook his head, but in the darkness, no one could see it, "Let's hope that after rebirth, I will have enough steam to fight Dali and Ruki. During my Sigil ritual, the three participating sages and twelve others who were around were sacrificed, it's unclear how much it gives to me."

The three of them chatted quietly in the darkness and developed theories. Kiyeri made sure that the nearest residents were evacuated and learned more details about the events while he slept. They exchanged ideas about what awaited both kingdoms if the outcome of the upcoming battle was favorable. Kiyeri thought about the fate of Dali and Ruki, comparing them to the Sun warriors, whose suffering was only ended by death with Millennial Dagger, and his heart became heavy. At one point, he felt a hug from behind and it made him think about his future. After a year of caring only for himself, the lives of other people were in his hands again, and if before it had been a matter of course and even considered a career goal, now he seemed to not know if he wanted the same life again.

As they whispered like this, the first rays of sunlight began to penetrate through the small window in the ceiling and the trio could already see the outlines of the room, and soon after, faces.

"It’s time." Kiyeri said.

Seyre placed the medallion on the floor in front of Kiyeri, "Just don't touch it."

Kiyeri shot him a look and wanted to remind, that it was Seyre who had handed the medallion to him as soon as he found it.

He pulled out his dagger, but then he paused, "You need to leave first. We don't know what the reaction will be, at the very least, the mana could spread and they would notice us."

"Okay, give us five minutes," Seyre asked, "we'll retreat to another building."

Seyre and Ashiya got up from the floor and walked towards the exit. Before leaving, Seyre turned and wished him good luck. Kiyeri nodded and Seyre disappeared through the door. Stopping at the door, Ashiya looked at Kiyeri with worried eyes. Kiyeri gave him a slight smile, "I'll be fine, please think about yourself, be vigilant."

Ashiya, after looking into his eyes for a few more seconds, also disappeared through the door.

After waiting as long as he thought fit, Kiyeri cut his palm with his dagger and began to drip blood onto the medallion, pleading in his mind, "Hope I won’t need that dagger, please don't ask for that damn dagger." A few seconds later, a bright light blinded him and he was already in Beyond.