The flames burned silver.
Grim stood at the heart of a scorched arena nestled deep within Biringan's sacred grounds. The third trial had begun the moment he stepped through the obsidian gate beneath the Lunar Monolith. Now, he faced the blazing spirit known as **Siklaban**—the Lunar Ember, the third of Bakunawa's shadowed servants.
Siklaban surged, a storm of flame and fury, its voice a thunderclap of anguish:
**"Do you burn for vengeance, or for truth?"**
Grim didn't answer with words. He raised **Silagan**, the first named shadow—now forged into a living sword of pale bone and silver fire. Its whispers danced around him, a loyal hum that steadied his heart.
The battle was a blur of speed and soul. Siklaban rained down comet-like lashes, igniting craters across the marble floor. Grim deflected them with Silagan's serrated edge, the shadows singing with each strike. But power wasn't enough—the trial wasn't just to conquer, but to understand.
Breathing heavily, Grim lowered his weapon. "You're not angry. You're in pain."
Siklaban froze mid-lunge. The flames dimmed. A low hiss escaped the entity's flaming jaws.
Grim stepped closer. "You're not just fire. You're the rage Bakunawa sealed within himself. But I don't need to control you. I'll carry you."
The flames slowly retracted into a small ember, floating toward Grim's chest. It seared his skin—and marked him.
**The Third Seal ignited.**
A crescent of flame joined the other two sigils along his right arm, each pulsing in rhythm with his breath.
Siklaban's voice echoed once more, calm now:
**"The ember is yours, Arclight. Guard it well, for shadows rise where warmth once lived."**
---
They didn't have time to rest.
Biringan shuddered.
A rift cracked through the sky, warping the eternal moonlight above the city. A wave of corrupted mana spilled forth—followed by something... wrong.
From the tear descended a figure cloaked in midnight robes, skin gray like ash, eyes gleaming with unnatural intelligence. He hovered above the platform as if gravity was beneath him, not above.
Grim stepped forward, hand already on Silagan's hilt. Elyse joined him, her gravity aura spiraling to life.
"Who are you?" Grim demanded.
The being smiled. "Ah. So this is the Prime Summoner." He floated downward, speaking fluent Tagalog with a tone too refined to be anything mortal. "I am **Berbalang**, servant of Sitan, General of the Fifth Circle. And your world's time is almost up."
"Xavier sent you," Elyse whispered, realizing too late. "He's trying to open the Underworld Gates."
Berbalang smiled. "Correct. And Biringan is a weak point. Too divine for its own good."
He raised a finger. The air cracked—then **celestial beasts** twisted by demonic corruption tore through the rift, their wings cracked, their horns warped, eyes glowing red with unholy venom. Once protectors of the realm, now pawns of decay.
The city's defenses ignited. Guardians of moonlight and crystal fire clashed with the invaders. Grim and Elyse leapt into action.
Grim's sword danced with Silagan's silver flame, slicing through corrupted spirits. Elyse, her eyes aglow with lunar gravity, crushed foes with precision force. Every movement was survival. Every strike was resistance.
Berbalang didn't fight directly. He watched. Studied.
"You're not ready," he said to Grim, disappointment laced in mockery. "But Sitan is stirring, Prime Summoner. Soon, the gates will open—and this world will weep."
Grim hurled a wave of shadow-flame upward, but Berbalang was gone—swallowed by the same rift he had torn open.
---
Silence fell.
Biringan was wounded. The silver spires still stood, but the ground bore scorch marks that wouldn't heal. The air was heavy with the scent of ash and celestial blood. The divine beasts knelt in mourning around the altar.
Grim stared at the place Berbalang had vanished, fingers clenched tightly around Silagan's hilt.
Elyse stepped to his side, touching his arm. "You okay?"
"I don't know," he said honestly. "But I can't stop now."
---
Later, as the moon bathed Biringan in pale serenity once more, the city's guardians began cleansing rituals to purify the desecrated grounds. Sacred waters flowed through ancient runes, and the beasts sang low hymns that vibrated through the stone.
Grim sat alone at the edge of a cliff overlooking the city, Silagan resting across his knees. He closed his eyes, listening.
A whisper echoed in his mind—**Silagan's voice**, clearer than before.
**"I was once protector of this city. When the Maw rose, I fell trying to shield the sky. I return now, bound to your purpose. Let us not fall again."**
Grim nodded, understanding the weight he carried wasn't just power—it was history, duty, and the memory of a war that never truly ended.
---
**At the High Temple, later that night…**
A gathering of Biringan's elder spirits convened. Grim and Elyse overheard murmurs of **Sitan**, the Underworld King, stirring for the first time in centuries. Even the celestial realm trembled at the thought.
"We need to stay," Grim said.
Elyse gave a tired but firm nod. "If the shadows guard this world's hope, then we'll master them all—no matter what rises next."
---
That night, Grim dreamt.
He stood on a silver bridge under a blood-red moon. The waters below whispered truths in forgotten tongues. In the distance, a dark eye opened across the sky—massive, lidless, eternal.
A voice boomed within him.
**"The eye opens. Four remain. Prepare, Arclight, for Sitan watches through the veil."**
---
As the dream faded and dawn broke in Biringan, Grim stood at the balcony of their guest sanctum, his hand resting on the third seal now branded on his arm.
The shadows had grown louder. The trials had only begun.
But they would not return to Earth yet.
Not until they were ready.
A soft knock broke the morning stillness, a quiet interruption to Grim's deep contemplation. His eyes fluttered open, lingering for a moment on the fading remnants of the trial. The feeling of Silagan's presence still thrummed on his arm, as if the shadow sword itself were alive, constantly shifting beneath the surface of his skin.
He turned toward the balcony doors, where Elyse stood framed by the soft, golden light of dawn. In her hand, she held a scroll, sealed with a moonstone clasp that shimmered faintly in the light, its glow like a promise of something ancient and profound.
"They left this for you," she said, her voice low but filled with quiet curiosity. "It came from the Temple Elders."
Grim extended his hand without hesitation, feeling the cool weight of the scroll as it passed into his palm. The moonstone clasp glimmered in the soft light as he broke the seal, his fingers brushing over the delicate celestial designs etched onto the paper. Unfurling the scroll, his eyes scanned the intricate script—symbols woven together with ancient ink that seemed to pulse with an energy all its own.
Seven symbols appeared before him—the **Lunar Servants**. Each was a delicate, glowing mark, faintly shimmering with celestial power. The three symbols already activated on his arm seemed to respond to them, pulsing with life, as if they were awakening in tandem. Four more remained dormant, their potential only hinted at.
But it was the new inscription beneath the symbols that drew his full attention. The words were sharp and urgent, as if they had been added only moments ago:
> *"The next trial lies not within Biringan, but beyond the Hollow Sea.
> Where dreams die and silence reigns, seek the Watcher."*
Grim's brow furrowed, a deepening sense of unease settling in his chest. "They want us to leave the city," he muttered, his voice barely more than a breath. The weight of the task seemed to settle on his shoulders, and for the first time in a long while, doubt crept into his mind.
Elyse stepped closer, her expression serious but not without a trace of concern. Her gaze flicked toward the distant horizon, where the city of Biringan lay nestled between the mountains and the sea. "The Hollow Sea…" She repeated the name as though testing it in her mind, as if trying to place it among the countless other legends she had studied. "That's where Dungawan sleeps, right? The one who sees across time?"
Grim nodded slowly, the image of the great celestial being forming in his mind. "Dungawan, the Watcher of the Void. A being who can pierce the veil between realms, whose sight stretches beyond time itself. If the Hollow Sea is where he resides, it could mean more than just a trial—it could mean we're approaching something far greater."
"The Hollow Sea…" Elyse's voice dropped to a whisper as she stared out at the endless expanse of water that stretched toward the horizon. "It's said to be cursed. No maps, no stars to guide you. Just endless waves and the weight of silence. It's a place where the very air feels wrong."
Grim caught the edge of unease in her tone, a slight tremor in her voice, but he pushed it aside. He couldn't afford to let uncertainty rule them now. "We've made it this far. We've walked into the dreams of a moon serpent and survived an encounter with one of the Underworld's generals. I think we can handle whatever the Hollow Sea throws at us."
Elyse smirked, her lips curling into a wry smile, though her eyes betrayed her thoughts. She crossed her arms, standing tall despite the unease she felt. "Cocky now, are we?" she teased, but there was something more in her gaze—a deeper, unspoken worry.
Grim chuckled softly, trying to mask the weight of his own thoughts. "Maybe a little. But, hey, we've already made it through worse. Besides," he added with a hint of something lighter, "I've got you to watch my back."
Her smile faltered just for a moment, her gaze softening before she nodded. "And I've got you."
Before they could speak further, the air shifted, a strange pressure building as though the world itself held its breath. A shadow passed over them, massive and dark, blotting out the sun. Grim's heart skipped a beat as both he and Elyse instinctively looked up.
Descending from the heavens, a creature of unimaginable grace and power appeared. **Minokawa**, the celestial eagle, its wings stretching wide and folding as it landed beside them. The sheer size of the creature was awe-inspiring, and the golden feathers that adorned its body shimmered with divine light, casting ethereal rays across the city below.
Minokawa's presence felt like a celestial storm, an ancient force that carried with it the weight of countless ages. The air itself seemed to hum with its power, the ground beneath them reverberating with each beat of its immense wings.
The voice that followed was both thunderous and soothing, a melody that resonated deep within their souls, reaching places untouched by the world around them.
> *"Time grows thin, Prime Summoner,"* Minokawa's voice boomed, as though the very heavens spoke through it. *"You carry more than fate upon your shoulders. The world stirs, and Sitan watches. The fourth trial will test your very will."*
Grim's breath caught in his throat, his pulse quickening at the sound of the name. **Sitan**—the ruler of the Underworld. The thought of the demonic overlord sent a chill through his bones, and he instinctively clenched his fists.
"I'm ready," Grim said, his voice steady despite the heaviness in his chest. He stood tall, meeting Minokawa's gaze. The weight of his words rang true. There was no turning back now. No escaping the path that had been set before him.
Minokawa's golden eyes softened, its gaze filled with something akin to understanding, as if the eagle saw the turmoil within him but knew the time for doubt had passed.
> *"The trials will not wait, nor will the darkness. Remember this: The path to the Hollow Sea is treacherous, and the Watcher does not answer lightly. But the time is near, Prime Summoner. The world is waiting for you to act."*
With those words, Minokawa spread its wings once more, the air crackling with its divine energy. A gust of wind stirred the leaves and the dust at their feet, carrying with it the promise of what was to come. And then, with a powerful beat of its wings, Minokawa ascended into the sky, its form growing smaller with each passing moment until it was but a shimmering speck against the heavens.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Elyse turned to Grim, her expression serious as the last remnants of Minokawa's presence faded from the air. "The Hollow Sea…" she murmured. "We'll need everything we've got for this one. The Watcher doesn't give his guidance freely. And once we're out there, we'll be on our own."
Grim nodded, his thoughts already turning toward their next steps. He glanced toward the horizon, where the sea seemed to stretch endlessly before them—a vast expanse, shrouded in mystery and danger. But beneath that weight of uncertainty, he felt something stir within him, a quiet fire of resolve that burned brighter with each passing moment.
"We'll gather our strength," he said, his voice firm. "But this time, we'll be ready. And when we face the Watcher, we'll do it together."
As the first rays of dawn broke over the city, casting a warm, golden glow over the world, a quiet unease lingered in the air. The seals on Grim's arm, each one a symbol of trials passed, seemed to glow with an intensity that reflected the weight of what was to come. The Hollow Sea awaited.