Kael and Lyra sprinted across the ruins as golden fire consumed everything behind them. Sylas's presence was overwhelming a force of creation and destruction given form.
They couldn't face him. Not yet.
Lyra grabbed Kael's arm, her silver eyes burning with urgency. "You can't be serious about this."
Kael didn't stop moving. "Do you have a better idea?"
"You want to awaken something even older than Sylas? Something we don't understand?" Her voice was sharp. "Kael, we barely survived destroying the gods. What you're suggesting could be worse."
Kael skidded to a halt at the edge of a deep fissure in the earth one that hadn't been there before. The power unleashed by Sylas's ascension had torn the land apart, exposing something beneath the ruins.
Something ancient. Something waiting.
He turned to Lyra, his expression grim. "Sylas is no longer just a man. He's not even a god he's something new. And right now, he's unstoppable."
Lyra crossed her arms. "So your plan is to find something even more dangerous and hope it's on our side?"
Kael hesitated. It wasn't a plan. It was a gamble.
But it was their only chance.
Taking a deep breath, he stepped toward the fissure. The air shifted, thick with an energy that made his skin crawl. This place was untouched by time. A remnant of something forgotten.
A whisper brushed against his mind.
"You seek power… but are you willing to pay the price?"
Kael's blood turned to ice.
Lyra's eyes widened. "Kael… what was that?"
Before he could answer, the ground beneath them collapsed.
Darkness swallowed them whole.
And the whisper became a voice.
"Come forth, child of ruin… and face the first abyss."