The shadows whispered his name.
Kael stood atop the fractured earth, abyssal energy coiling around him like a living cloak. The defeated entity had been absorbed it's essence now part of him. The air around him crackled, not with chaos, but with order forged from the void.
The Abyss had accepted him.
No crowned him.
Behind him, the rift once a ravenous wound had stabilized into something else entirely: a gateway. A throne of jagged obsidian now emerged from its center, forged by the will of the Abyss and shaped in Kael's image.
A symbol.
A challenge.
A warning.
Lyra approached slowly, her face a blend of awe and uncertainty. "Kael… what are you now?"
He turned to her, eyes glowing with streaks of silver and black, his voice deeper, more resonant. "Still me. Just… more."
Valen, ever the strategist, stepped beside her. "That entity… it ruled the Abyss since the dawn of this realm. If you've taken its place, then that means—"
"I'm responsible for what comes next," Kael finished.
From the edges of the battlefield, survivors of the clash with the corrupted forces began to gather, watching him with caution and reverence. The wild Abyssal beasts, once feral, now knelt in silence, bound to Kael's will.
The war against corruption wasn't over. It was merely changing form.
"I can feel them," Kael murmured. "Worlds beyond this one. Bound by fractures. Pulled by the same force. This... this is bigger than just our world."
Valen's brows furrowed. "You're saying the Abyss connects all realms?"
Kael nodded. "And something… or someone… is trying to control them from beyond."
Lyra glanced at the gateway. "So what do we do?"
Kael ascended the stairs to the black throne, resting his hand on its arm. The moment he touched it, visions rushed into him other worlds, other kings, other wars.
He sat. The throne responded, glowing with the pulse of a thousand realities.
"What we've always done," Kael said, eyes burning. "We fight. But now… we choose the battlefield."
The throne blazed, and the gate began to open.
To another world.
To another war.
And Kael King of the Abyss was ready.