Elryas and Kylan stood in the grand hall, where only the remnants of the energy that had torn the place apart moments before remained. The silence was heavy, surrounding them as if it were a living creature watching them. Kylan kept staring at the empty space where the shield had disappeared, his hand still extended forward, as if hoping it would return to him somehow.
As for Elryas, he remained calm, but his eyes were filled with countless unspoken questions. He turned to his father, who stood silently, his gaze fixed on the spot where the dark entity had vanished. Finally, Elryas broke the silence, his voice steady but charged with suspicion:
"Father... who was that man?"
Alineos didn't answer immediately. He ran his hand over his face, sighed slowly, then said in a low voice:
"Follow me."
He moved across the hall, and his sons followed in silence, as he led them through the ancient corridors of the castle. Their footsteps were quiet, yet filled with tension. Kylan couldn't hold himself back any longer and dashed alongside his father, his voice overflowing with suppressed anger:
"Why did he take the shield? It was our inheritance, wasn't it?!"
Alineos stopped in front of a massive stone door, turned to his son, and his eyes gleamed with determination:
"No, it wasn't our inheritance. It was always his."
Then he raised his hand and touched a carved stone on the door, which began to glow with a blue light before the door slowly opened, revealing an ancient chamber filled with carvings and statues of strange creatures. In the center of the room was a massive wall, etched with the image of a creature cloaked in shadows, glowing eyes staring into the void, and bodies fleeing from around it.
Alineos stood before the wall, his voice low but heavy with knowledge:
"That man... was not just a warrior. He wasn't even human as we understand it. He was something else, something that should not exist."
Elryas narrowed his eyes, stared at the image, then turned to his father:
"What was he, then?"
Alineos didn't answer immediately. He gazed at the wall as though recalling an old memory, then said slowly:
"He was known by many names, some of which have been forgotten with time. But the most powerful title he was known by was 'The First Catastrophe.' Not because he destroyed armies, but because he wasn't just a man; he was the darkness itself. His power surpassed any concept of strength we know. He didn't just control shadows, he could shape them, recreate them, make them come to life."
Kylan stared at his father in shock, but Elryas wasn't entirely convinced, so he asked coldly:
"If he was that powerful, why didn't he conquer everything?"
Alineos chuckled softly, but it was a bitter laugh.
"He tried. But he wasn't invincible, no matter what he thought. The higher beings, those said to be above time itself, couldn't kill him... but they did something else. They took half of his power, trapped it in a strange mask, then shattered it into thirty pieces, scattering each piece inside a powerful weapon across different worlds. One of those pieces... was the shield you were carrying, Kylan."
Kylan clenched his fists tightly, anger rising in his chest:
"So, it wasn't really mine... It wasn't an inheritance of our family?"
Alineos said nothing, but his silence was enough.
Elryas, who had been listening quietly, finally asked:
"What was he looking for? Why did he destroy worlds? Was there a purpose to all this?"
Alineos looked at the wall once more, as if seeing the past before him.
"No one knows. Some say he didn't belong to this existence, that he was something strange to the system of worlds. Others claim he was once human, but he changed... or turned into something else."
Kylan and Elryas exchanged worried glances. This story was beyond anything they had imagined. But Alineos wasn't finished yet. He looked at them both directly and said firmly:
"What matters now... is that we must stop him from regaining his full power. Because if he does... nothing will be able to stop him."
Elryas paused for a moment, then said quietly:
"Can we do that?"
Alineos didn't answer immediately. He knew the real answer wasn't encouraging. But he spoke in a low voice:
"I don't know."
Amidst the crowds, I was just another shadow, my features obscured by the noise of the place, and my steps made no echo. No one paid attention to me, no one saw what they didn't want to see.
I felt the energy flowing within me, that lost fracture I had finally reclaimed. The shield no longer mattered, it was just a vessel for something greater, something that had been torn from it and returned to where it belonged. I saw it in Kylan's hands, now empty, just lifeless metal with no soul. He knew that, I saw the slow realization in his eyes of what had happened. But it didn't matter now.
I moved through the soldiers, through faces filled with a mix of questions and astonishment, but no one dared to raise their eyes to me. Good. I didn't need any more obstacles now.
The crystal before me pulsed, resisting me for a moment, as if it recognized my true nature. But it had no choice. Nothing had a choice in front of me.
I extended my hand and felt the barriers collapse. Eilthar. My next destination. Another world, another part, one step closer to completion.
No one spoke. No one dared. And in the moment I tore the curtain between worlds, there was nothing but silence.