"The Founder stands... but not unbroken."

The tremor beneath their feet was subtle at first—a faint quivering of roots deep in the soil beneath the Elm Street Oak. But as the broken talisman touched Elias Thornwood's silver ring, the ground pulsed like a living thing. The oak's branches twisted as if recoiling, and a sudden burst of wind swept through the clearing, scattering dead leaves into a whirlwind.

Riley grabbed Sarah's arm. "He's resisting!"

But Elias didn't flinch. His amber eyes were locked on Alex, burning not with hostility, but with a profound, terrible sorrow.

"I never wanted this," Elias said, voice distant as though echoing through centuries. "But duty binds us all. Even betrayal."

The talisman cracked again—only this time, the fissure didn't widen. It pulsed, glowing blood-red, then cooled to silver. The tremors stopped. The oak's branches stilled.

Alex stared at the object in his hand. "You didn't betray the Covenant."

Elias nodded solemnly. "No. But I... I let it fracture."

Sarah's brows furrowed. "Explain."

Elias sat slowly on a twisted root jutting from the earth. He seemed wearier now—less like a Guardian, more like a man carrying the unbearable weight of history.

1. The Hidden Truth

"I was the first to swear the Oath," Elias began. "Before the Entity had a name. Before Freddy carved his terror into the fabric of dreams."

He drew a line in the soil with a fingertip, revealing a rune—older than Elm Street itself.

"When the Covenant formed, we were meant to be stewards of balance—not warriors. We stood between realms, negotiating with what you call 'the Entity' now. But something changed when Fillmore..." He hesitated, voice catching.

"What did John Fillmore do?" Alex pressed.

Elias closed his eyes. "He opened the Veil."

A stunned silence followed.

"The Veil?" Sarah repeated, voice barely above a whisper.

Elias nodded. "A doorway between the waking world and the dreaming realm. He thought—naively—that he could use it to manipulate time, to erase Freddy before he gained strength. But in doing so... he shattered the natural boundary. He let the Entity in."

Riley's voice was low and tight. "So Fillmore's the true Oathbreaker."

"Yes," Elias said. "But it was I who covered for him. I helped bury the truth to preserve what remained of the Covenant."

Alex gripped the restored talisman tightly. "Why hide it?"

"Because I believed we could still contain the Entity—bind it again. But now..." Elias looked at the three of them, gaze hardening. "Now you must do what we could not. You must confront Fillmore... and if necessary, destroy him."

2. The Watcher's Domain

John Fillmore had vanished from public view years ago, long before the Covenant reawakened. But in the pages Cartwright delivered earlier that day, Alex found a single line referencing Fillmore's private sanctum: "The House Between Echoes."

It was more concept than place, existing where time bled and dreams decayed—said to be hidden behind the burned walls of 1122 Elm Street, the original Krueger residence.

"Of course," Sarah muttered as they stood in front of the charred remains of the house. "Where it all began."

The air was thick with ash and memory. Ivy crept along scorched walls. The house sagged inward, but something about it still breathed—like an animal playing dead.

"He's inside," Alex said. "I can feel him."

They stepped through the broken threshold, weapons at the ready—iron-forged daggers from Elias, dream-warded pendants from Margaret. Cartwright's sigil pulsed faintly in Sarah's palm, a guide through the Veil.

The house didn't look big from outside. But once inside, the laws of space warped—hallways stretched impossibly long, rooms looped into themselves, and the staircase spiraled upward into blackness.

"This is the Veil," Cartwright's voice echoed faintly from a communicator pinned to Sarah's jacket. "Time and space fold here. Follow the pulses—every seventh breath."

Seven steps. Seven breaths.

They ascended the stairs.

3. Echoes of the Past

The upper floor was filled with mirrors—dozens of them, each showing moments from their past.

In one, Sarah watched herself scream over her brother's corpse.

In another, Riley relived the night Freddy stalked his dreams and forced him to choose between his life and a stranger's.

Alex's mirror showed his father's suicide—the moment that birthed his nightmares.

"Don't look," Sarah warned. "It's a trap."

A voice echoed from the darkened ceiling.

"But truth is always a trap. And truth is all I offer now."

John Fillmore appeared behind the mirrors, stepping from reflection to reflection. He was ageless and ghost-pale, dressed in tattered robes of midnight. His eyes were deep wells of starlight and shadow.

"Children of the Covenant," he said. "You've come to unmask me."

Alex drew his blade. "You broke the Oath."

Fillmore smiled. "No. I fulfilled it. I brought balance. I let the Entity in—not as a tyrant—but as a judge. Freddy Krueger is the reckoning this world needed."

Sarah's hands shook. "You're insane."

"Am I?" Fillmore's image flashed through mirror after mirror. "He only kills those already drowning in guilt. In shame. He is the fire that purges weakness."

Riley stepped forward. "You made him stronger."

"No," Fillmore whispered from behind him. "I made him inevitable."

4. The Final Trial

The chamber darkened, mirrors fading. A ring of ancient runes flared beneath their feet. The House Between Echoes began to collapse—folding in on itself as Fillmore's form solidified in the center, his body wrapped in shifting shadow.

"If you seek to stop me," he said, "you must sever the bond I created."

"Then we will," Alex said. "By oath and by flame."

The battle was like nothing they'd faced before.

Fillmore didn't move like a man—he was everywhere at once, appearing behind Sarah, above Riley, within Alex's shadow.

Sarah channeled the Dreamseer's light—illuminating blind corners, revealing Fillmore's true form.

Riley hurled iron daggers etched with Freddy's dream-bane sigils.

Alex, heart hammering, recited the lines of unbinding:

"Guardian turned, your oath is broken—
By root and sky, by name unspoken.
In shadow's grasp your guilt revealed—
Let Covenant's blade be justice sealed."

The runes beneath them burned white.

Fillmore screamed—not in pain, but in fury. "You fools! Freddy is already loose! You think binding me will stop what comes?"

But Alex plunged his blade through the ring of runes, into the heart of the reflection that still held Fillmore's human form.

The chamber exploded in light.

When it faded, only silence remained.

5. The Cracked Sky

They awoke outside the ruins of 1122 Elm Street. It was dawn—clean and crisp. Birds chirped.

For a moment, they thought they had won.

But the sky...

The sky was cracked.

Thin, jagged fissures ran through the clouds, glowing faintly red—like the outline of Freddy's burned grin.

Sarah whispered, "He's still here."

Riley said nothing—just stared at the sky.

Alex gripped the final restored talisman, which now bled faint shadows from its edge.

Elias approached, flanked by Margaret and Cartwright. Lucille arrived moments later, pale but strong. The surviving Guardians stood united at last.

Elias bowed his head. "You fulfilled the Trial. Fillmore is gone. But he was right about one thing—Freddy's essence is loose. What you saw in the sky is the Dream Fracture."

"How do we stop it?" Alex asked.

Margaret's voice was cold and quiet. "You don't. You descend into it."

Sarah's heart sank. "Into Freddy's domain."

Elias nodded. "The final battle lies beyond the Veil. In the dream-realm's heart. Where Freddy rules."

Riley narrowed his eyes. "Then we take the fight to him."