The battlefield was silent, the once-chaotic Abyss now tamed. The swirling darkness that had threatened to consume everything had submitted to Kael's will, no longer a force of destruction but an extension of his being.
Yet, as the void sealed itself, a question lingered in his mind what had he truly become?
Lyra stood beside him, studying him carefully. "You're… different."
Kael flexed his fingers, feeling the abyssal energy humming beneath his skin. It no longer lashed out wildly; it obeyed. He could command it as easily as he breathed. But deep inside, he knew this power came with a price.
"I'm still me," he said, though the words felt half-true.
Lyra narrowed her eyes, then sighed. "Well, I hope so. Because we still have a war to fight."
A distant rumble in the sky made them both turn. The once-broken realm around them was shifting, reality trying to piece itself back together. But something was wrong.
From the farthest edge of the horizon, Kael saw it—a tear in reality. Unlike the Abyss, this rift was burning red, pulsing with an entirely different kind of power.
And from within it… figures began to emerge.
Not shadows. Not abyssal entities.
But warriors. Real ones.
Armored figures, their weapons gleaming with fire and runes, stepping through the rift like specters from another world.
Lyra's face paled. "That… that's not from the Abyss."
Kael's jaw tightened. No, it wasn't.
This was something else entirely. Something new.
And as the first of the warriors locked eyes with him, a voice echoed from the rift—one that sent a chill down Kael's spine.
"We found him."
Kael clenched his fists. The Abyss had bowed to him.
But now?
Now, a new enemy had arrived.