The Heart's glow swelled until it drowned the chamber in light. The air seemed to vanish, replaced by a white-blue brilliance that pressed against their eyes and skin. Shadows dissolved, swallowed whole in the blinding flood. Then, with a sharp crack that split the silence, a narrow beam tore loose from the Heart and lanced straight into Eddy's right hand.

His scream ripped through the chamber. His body arched, muscles seizing as though lightning had been poured through his veins. The sound of his knees striking the floor echoed, sharp and hollow. Fingers spasmed around his wrist, the light curling up his arm in trembling ribbons that refused to release him.

"Eddy!" Alice's voice broke through the roar of power. She surged forward, panic flashing in her eyes, only to be stopped short as Cassandra's arm shot across her chest, firm and unyielding.

"Don't touch him!" Cassandra's voice came tight, the strain evident even through her control. The lines of her jaw tightened as she held Alice back. "That's not ordinary magic, it's reacting to something inside him!"

Maris's eyes glimmered in the reflection of the light, her lips barely moving. "That light... it isn't striking him. It's answering him." Her brow creased, the usual calm faltering. "But why would it do that?"

Eddy's face contorted, veins standing out at his temples. His breath came in ragged gasps, sweat tracing down his cheek. His knuckles whitened as he clutched his arm tighter. "Make it stop," he choked, voice rasping and raw.

Aiden took a quick step forward, his body taut, shoulders squared, every instinct screaming to move. "He's burning! We have to do something!"

"Wait!" Thorne snapped, his hand half-raised before freezing. His eyes caught the shifting glow around Eddy's body, widening as the realization hit. "That light... it's not attacking him." He turned toward the Heart, his voice rough with disbelief. "It's... reacting to him?"

The words hung in the air like a spark before thunder. The others froze mid-motion, Cassandra's hands hovered, her forming spell dimming to a faint shimmer.

Elias's eyes narrowed, catching the way the light rippled in uneven waves. He took a step forward, expression hardening as the blue reflected across his face. "No… this reaction—it's completely different from the way it responded when it chose us," he said quietly, though his tone carried weight. "Back then, it hurt, but it never interacted with us like this. Now the question is, why is it interacting with him like that?"

Across the chamber, Sentinel remained still. His cloak shifted faintly in the current of power, but he didn't move to shield his eyes as the others did. The glow burned across his face, revealing a flicker, barely there, of shock breaking through the calm that never faltered. His golden-flecked eyes widened, their usual steadiness cracking.

"That shouldn't be possible," he said under his breath, the words barely carried over the hum. His tone, stripped of its authority, sounded almost human. "It wasn't supposed to awaken for him, not like this."

Inside him, Vaelthar's voice stirred like thunder rolling through ancient stone, rough and edged with awe. You knew what he was... but even you did not expect this.

Sentinel's hand curled slowly into a fist at his side. His gaze didn't waver, but his breath came heavier than before. No. The boy wasn't supposed to trigger it. Not yet. The thought rang through him, sharp as steel. The Heart's bond is older than all of us, it shouldn't recognize him so soon.

Beneath the thrumming glow, Vaelthar's answer came soft and certain. And yet it does. It calls to him as it once called to the first Anchorion. The cycle begins again.

Before Sentinel could answer, the light finally dimmed, folding back into the Heart until only a faint pulse remained at its core. The air, thick moments ago, thinned as if the world exhaled. Eddy's arms trembled under his weight, his breath coming in short, uneven bursts. Sweat clung to his temple, trickling down the side of his face as he steadied himself on one shaking hand pressed to the cold floor, the other gripping his wrist as if afraid to let go.

"Eddy?" Cassandra's voice broke the silence first, sharp with command yet frayed at the edges. Her brows knit together, eyes darting over him with the quick, assessing gaze of someone trained to read more than words. "Talk to me. Are you hurt?"

He drew a shallow breath, his chest rising unevenly. A small nod followed, though his skin was pale and his lips trembled faintly. "I—I think so," he rasped. "It felt like an electric shock ran through me. My whole body still feels like it's buzzing." His wince deepened as he rubbed at his wrist, knuckles whitening. "It's burning here... like it branded me."

Alice stepped forward, tension replacing her usual spark of mischief. Her jaw clenched, and for once, no smirk curved her lips. "You're scaring the hell out of us, idiot. What just happened to you?" She crouched, lowering herself to his eye level, searching his face for answers he didn't have.

Lyric stood a step behind, still and distant. The faint shimmer rippling across her shoulders betrayed the strain beneath her calm mask, her gaze flicked between Eddy and the Heart. "The Heart doesn't make mistakes," she murmured, voice low and steady despite the tension tightening her throat. "If it struck him, it saw something."

Aiden moved to Eddy's side, the lines around his eyes softening. He crouched, one strong hand resting gently on Eddy's shoulder, steadying him. "Easy, man. Don't push yourself. You're shaking like you've been hit by lightning."

Eddy's lips twitched into a faint, unsteady smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "That's exactly what it felt like," he said with a breathless chuckle, more reflex than humor.

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Maris sank to one knee beside him, movements smooth and deliberate. Her healer's focus had replaced her earlier shock; her eyes tracked his every flinch. "Let me see," she said softly. "You're covering your wrist, did it burn you?"

Eddy hesitated, his breath hitching. His right hand trembled as he slowly lifted it away, the faint sheen of sweat glinting in the Heart's dying light. "It's not... burned," he whispered, the words almost breaking.

As his palm moved aside, the air seemed to hum again. Light slid across his skin, catching the faint shimmer beneath it until the glow sharpened into focus.

The mark unveiled itself like a secret the world had been holding its breath to reveal. Delicate lines unfurled across his wrist, curving and twisting in intricate harmony, alive with movement. It wasn't a wound—it pulsed, faintly breathing with his heartbeat, alive in a way that no mark should be.

The group edged closer, drawn by silent awe. The reflected glow danced in their eyes as five distinct symbols revealed themselves: flame, fang, wing, moon, and bloom, each etched with precision, forming one seamless, glowing ring.

Eddy's eyes widened, disbelief cutting through the lingering haze of pain. "What the hell..." he whispered, voice shaking. "It's glowing."

Thorne leaned closer, his usual cocky posture forgotten. His shoulders stiffened, lips parting as if to speak but caught somewhere between wonder and disbelief. "That's... not possible." His hand hovered midair, cautious not to touch. "That's a flame mark. Our kind's crest."

Elias blinked, frowning deeply as his gaze darted from one glowing sigil to another. His voice came out low, heavy with confusion. "And a fang. That's a vampire's sigil. How can both?"

Lyric's eyes narrowed, the faintest shimmer lighting her irises. "The wing's fae," she murmured, her tone flat, though her expression betrayed the tremor of unease she fought to contain.

Alice's breath caught audibly as she stepped closer, hand trembling slightly before she forced it still. "And the bloom... that's the witches' mark. Our seal."

Aiden's jaw tightened as he crouched beside them again, eyes tracing the mark's rhythm. "And the moon... that's ours," he said, his voice rough with disbelief. "The wolves' bond mark."

No one spoke after that. The silence thickened, broken only by the faint pulse of the mark and the soft, synchronized rhythm of their breaths.

Eddy's throat worked as he swallowed hard, glancing between them all. The panic in his expression bled through his effort to stay composed. "What does it mean? Why would I have," he stopped, voice cracking slightly, "all of these?"

Across the chamber, Sentinel remained motionless. His cloak hung still against him, untouched by the faint breeze. Only his eyes betrayed movement—sharp, golden-flecked, locked on Eddy's wrist with a focus that could pierce through illusion itself. His jaw flexed once, the faintest tell of something breaking beneath his control.

Cassandra's gaze hardened, her spine straightening as disbelief and fear warred in her expression. "No one carries more than one. That's forbidden by nature itself. It can't exist."

Even Sentinel said nothing. The light caught half his face, casting the other into shadow. His expression was unreadable, though his eyes burned with something between recognition and dread. He had seen it before, a fleeting shimmer beneath the boy's skin, but this time it wasn't hidden. The mark lived.

Inside his mind, Vaelthar's voice unfurled like thunder crawling across a stormy sky. So, it awakens. The seal has finally accepted him.

Sentinel's thoughts tightened, steady and deliberate even as unease coiled in his chest. No one knows what this means yet. If I speak now, they'll recoil before they understand.

They will have to, Vaelthar replied, his tone calm but resonant, like the echo of fate itself. Truth cannot be postponed forever. You know what he is to them.

Sentinel's gaze lingered on the boy bathed in blue light, the faint gleam of the Heart reflecting off his face. His jaw tensed slightly, though his expression remained composed. Not yet, he answered within, the thought edged with quiet conviction. His eyes softened just for a moment before hardening again. If I tell them now, they'll reject him before they ever see him. They must witness it, feel it, for themselves. Only then will they accept what he truly is.

Eddy flexed his hand slowly, watching the faint glow pulse in time with his heartbeat. His brows furrowed as he studied it, the tension in his shoulders easing when the light began to dim. His breath steadied, though his chest still rose and fell unevenly. A shaky smile tugged at his lips as he looked up, his voice breaking the thick silence. "So, I guess I did something again... not sure what, though."

Thorne exhaled through his nose, running a hand over his jaw, disbelief flickering in his eyes before he forced a crooked grin. "You think? You just got branded by the Heart with every elemental sigil in existence."

Maris stood rigid beside him, her arms folded tight across her chest. Her eyes, sharp and assessing, moved from Eddy's wrist to the Heart and back again. "This is no accident," she said, her tone calm but cold. "The Heart reacts only to what it recognizes. Whatever it saw in him... it wasn't chance."

The light around them began to fade, the glow sinking back into the Heart until only a soft pulse remained. The walls, once bathed in blue, returned to muted stone. The humming that filled the chamber ebbed away, leaving behind an almost reverent quiet. Eddy's breathing came shallow, his lashes lowering as he stared at the faint shimmer dimming beneath his skin. His hand trembled once before lowering to his lap — the light was gone, but the mark remained, a silent imprint radiating faint warmth and confusion.

Cassandra's shoulders dropped as she exhaled, unaware she'd been holding her breath. Her gloved fingers flexed at her sides before she looked toward Sentinel, her tone controlled but edged with unease. "Sir... what is this?" Her gaze shifted briefly to Eddy's trembling hand, then to the silent Heart. "That symbol, it didn't disappear. What does it mean?"

Lyric's expression tightened, her lips pressing together. The faint light from the Heart reflected in her eyes, and when she finally spoke, her voice carried a quiet gravity. "It wasn't just light. I saw symbols... like ours, all of them."

Alice stepped closer, her movements deliberate but tense. Her chin lifted slightly, defiance and worry mingling in her gaze. "I saw the sigil of witches among them. That wasn't ordinary magic. Nothing we've ever encountered."

Thorne's golden eyes flickered toward her, the faintest curl of smoke escaping his lips as he crossed his arms. His tone held an edge, but his eyes betrayed curiosity more than threat. "The dragon mark flared stronger than the others. Are you saying it... recognized him?"

Aiden raked a hand through his hair, his movements restless. His jaw was set, but his brows knit together in thought. "I felt it too," he said quietly. "Like the Heart... acknowledged him. It's not supposed to do that."

Elias, silent until now, lifted his gaze from the Heart. His voice, when it came, was low and steady. "And yet it did. Whatever that mark means, it's tied to him, and not just a trace. The Heart... it knows him."

Cassandra's eyes returned to Sentinel. Her stance was firm again, the uncertainty gone from her tone though not her face. "You've been with the Heart far longer than any of us. Don't tell me you've never seen something like this before, surely you know what that mark is."

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