The fire in the basin roared upward, the flames stretching half a dozen feet into the air. Even from where he stood, Lewis felt the intense heat that forced Edmund and George to take a step back themselves. Just as he had seen in the vision, the crown began to melt, black smoke pouring from the gemstone until it drained of colour.

From within the smoke, there was a low groan, like someone waking from a long sleep. It began to swirl, thickening on the opposite side of the basin and coalescing into a humanoid form. 'At last,' a deep voice croaked. 'So long I've waited.' The smoke began to spread, dissipating from the form as a man stepped from within, his pale, gaunt features a stark contrast to the jet-black hair, tipped in places with shocking white. He cracked his neck as his eyes, like burning coals, settled on Lewis. 'I thought for a moment you were him, no better than me in the end. Now I see you are not.'

Tristan considered him closely, his eyes intent on Lewis. After what he had felt with Emperor El-Farha and Russell, Lewis avoided his gaze. 'Look at me,' he breathed. Against his will, Lewis felt his head turn slightly, his eyes locking with Tristan's.

Pain shot through his mind like someone driving a hot spike into his skull. He screamed, clutching his temple as he dropped to his knees. Against his watering eyes, he saw flashes of memories: Fir Forest, the castle, the collapse of The Dawn Tower, and the volcano. The last image settled on one of Emily, lying in the infirmary bed unconscious. Tristan's thin lips twitched into a smile as the pain receded.

'Welcome back, Your Grace,' George said, stepping forward with a bow of his head. If not for the age difference and the white tips in Tristan's hair, they could have been twins.

Tristan spared him a fleeting glance, his eyes looking him up and down quickly. He turned to Edmund without saying a word to George. 'You hesitated, why?'

'I was just savouring the occasion and thinking of my family. You promised to reunite me with them,' Edmund said. Lewis could still see the hesitancy in his eyes. Tristan considered him silently, almost as intently as he had with Lewis.

'I did,' he said quietly. 'You lie, though. However, I would not want anyone here to think I am not a man of my word. It has been a long time and I have hungered for many years.'

'We have supplies back at the camp,' George said quickly, shifting so that he was back in Tristan's view once more.

Tristan lifted a hand in front of his face, examining the slender fingers for a moment. 'That will not be necessary.' He reached out in front of him, and the black mist seemed to reform around his arm, extending out as it formed into a hand before it lunged at Edmund, grabbing him by the throat. 'I do not tolerate liars.'

Lewis watched in stunned silence as Edmund dropped to his knees, desperately trying to pull the smoky hand away from his throat as he gasped for air, with Tristan standing over him all the while, his face devoid of any emotion. The hand grew darker and darker by the second, until it was pitch black. Only when Edmund slumped to the floor, no longer struggling against it, did it release, retracting back to Tristan. He looked skyward, his eyes rolling back as the smoke seeped into his skin.

'Weak. But it will do for now,' Tristan breathed, turning his gaze to Lewis and the others behind him. 'Take the knee before me now and join me.'

In an instant, George was on both knees in front of him. Lewis and George's paths had only crossed fleetingly, but he had never been the subservient type until now. Lewis, still on his knees from when Tristan had pierced his mind, slowly got to his feet, one eye catching the glint of Convergence that sat unnoticed on the floor behind Tristan. 'You had your time, and it has passed,' Lewis said. With all the focus he could muster, he willed the sword into his hand.

The sword shot towards him. Just as it passed Tristan, he reached out a hand, catching it by the hilt and stopping it in its path towards Lewis. Just as emotionless as he had been while he had taken Edmund's life, he looked down at the blade, turning it as he examined it. 'I see.' His eyes flicked in Lewis' direction for a second before returning to the sword. The blade darkened, and with a deafening boom that echoed across the desert, it exploded into a billion tiny fragments of blackened steel. 'We will keep this one for now. Kill the rest.'

Chaos was unleashed like nothing Lewis had seen before. George swung out his hands, sending two silver daggers spinning through the air. As they flew, they turned to smoke, missing Lewis as he heard Louise scream behind him. Captain Caldwell dived forward, tackling him to the ground and wrestling to pin him down. The handful of fire Edward had been holding soared over Lewis' head, exploding before it could reach Tristan.

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Lewis scrambled away as the embers cascaded down around him, looking for anything he might be able to use as a weapon now that he no longer had Convergence. Just as he grabbed a piece of stone, Captain Caldwell collided with the pillar next to him, being thrown off of George by a shockwave as he got to his feet.

Tristan weaved his hands together, a heavy black chain forming in the air around David and constricting as it began to crush the life out of him. Seeing him gasp for breath, just as Edmund had done, Lewis launched himself forward, tackling Tristan to the ground. Before he could bring the stone down on his head, it disintegrated, the dust covering Tristan's face. He breathed, and the dust swirled, engulfing Lewis and blinding him as though he had walked directly into a sandstorm.

Pulling back, Lewis tried to clear his eyes. He saw Captain Caldwell dive towards Tristan in an attempt to take his place before a stalagmite erupted from the ground beneath the pair of them, piercing his abdomen. Captain Caldwell desperately tried to reach for Tristan against the stone as blood poured from his wound. Lewis could see the colour draining from his face as Edward raced forward, only to be hurled back again by a swirl of blood-soaked sand, disappearing out of sight over the side of the plateau.

Lewis looked around desperately. Louise lay face down on the sand, blood pouring from her neck, only a couple of feet from where David lay motionless, still being constricted by the chains. Captain Caldwell desperately tried to free himself from the stalagmite, tumbling back, blood pouring from his gaping wound as his face drained of all its colour. Edward was nowhere to be seen, and then, standing at the top of the steps, was Russell.

Desperate, Lewis willed the pillar behind Tristan to collapse and fall on top of him. With a bang, the bottom burst outward, sending stone in every direction as it toppled forward, its shadow falling over Tristan. Lewis saw his eyes widen in surprise. Just as it was about to land on him, it stopped, held in midair by an invisible barrier. George staggered forward with a confused look on his face.

Slowly, Tristan looked up, watching the pillar move aside and then set itself down gently. 'Well, hello, old friend,' he said, his eyes falling on Russell, who stood with his hands out.

'Russell, what are you doing?' Lewis shouted, scrambling backward defensively as Tristan got to his feet.

'I'm sorry,' he whispered as the features Lewis recognised shifted, returning to those of the man who had sat behind the desk in Oria.

With a wave of his hand, the sand around Lewis rose up, the smell of burning filling his nostrils as it turned black. Before Lewis could demand an explanation, it had enveloped him, encasing his entire body, with a small slit at eye level allowing him to see beyond his sarcophagus.

He willed it to break, to shatter, and to set him free, but no matter how hard he pushed, the sand just pushed back against him twice as hard. Through the tiny gap, he saw Tristan dust himself off and George and Russell step to his side, all of them looking directly at him. 'An Iron Core Sarcophagus is quite ingenious, Kannan. I see your years of service restraining the precursors at the prison served you well.'

'I would like to think I learned a thing or two over the last couple of centuries,' Russell, whom Tristan had addressed as Kannan, said. 'He's powerful; he's not sure how to control it properly yet, but better safe than sorry.'

'How powerful?' Tristan asked.

'A True Precursor. At least that was what they said at the tower, although I'm inclined to believe them,' he said.

'He will suffice for making a new Crux. The reincarnation was one thing but I can already feel the power drained from Edmund beginning to recede,' Tristan said.

'We should do it now, then. What if there are more of them coming?' George said.

'There's no one else here,' Russell said. 'I intercepted them in Oria and travelled here with them under the pretence of helping.'

'How is Oria these days?' Tristan asked.

'Much the same as ever, still holding some of the great secrets of our time. The emperor is easily swayed by the offer of a little power to satisfy his ego; they'll bow before you when you enter the city, I'm sure of it,' Russell said. ‘I believe some of our other friends are already there as well.

'Very good; I have some items that I need to reclaim from them before we start our journey to reclaiming our old home,' Tristan said. 'We shouldn't arrive unannounced, though; that would be impolite.'

Reaching down, Tristan took a handful of the black sand that had settled around the sarcophagus. Lewis watched helplessly as he turned to the basin, tossing it into the flame, which had returned to the pale blue it had been.

A boom echoed across the desert, black smoke bursting out in every direction, passing over them in an instant. As it cleared, he saw Tristan standing beside the basin, the fire no longer burning. 'It is time we make our presence known to the world; a new age is upon us. Our followers will rise from the shadows and any who oppose us will join the ranks of the Anguished Skull.'

As he spoke, Lewis felt something pressing in the back of his mind. The briefest fleck of blue crossed his eye as if someone had put a lens in front of it for a moment to see something. He felt anxiety and worry inside him, anger, and desperation. Then there was calm and reassurance, like someone taking his hand gently. He twitched his finger slightly, hoping that it might do something, but there was nothing. Then, just as suddenly as it had started, it ended, and he was left to watch George raise the sarcophagus from the ground so that it floated along behind Tristan and Russell.