The ground trembled beneath Evans and Amara as the clash of light and fire tore through the expanse. The flaming figure towered before them, its molten body radiating an oppressive heat that scorched the air. Its eyes burned like twin suns, locked on Evans with an intensity that made his blood run cold.“Stay close!” Evans shouted, tightening his grip on his sword. The shard in his hand pulsed violently, as if responding to the figure’s overwhelming power.Amara nodded, her daggers glinting in the strange light of the vortexed sky. “Whatever this thing is, we’re taking it down together.”The flaming figure raised a hand, and a torrent of fire erupted from its palm, surging toward them like a tidal wave. Evans reacted instinctively, slamming the shard into the ground. A dome of light sprang up around them, shielding them from the inferno. The flames licked at the barrier, but the shard held firm, its glow intensifying as it pushed back the attack.

The sensation of falling seemed endless, the void around Evans and Amara stretching into infinity. Time lost meaning as they plunged deeper, the faint light ahead growing steadily brighter. Evans held tightly to Amara’s hand, the only anchor in a world unraveling at the seams.“Are we… dying?” Amara asked, her voice barely a whisper.“No,” Evans said, though the uncertainty in his tone betrayed him. “We can’t be. Not after everything we’ve done.”The light intensified, swallowing the darkness whole. It wasn’t blinding—it was warm, soothing, like sunlight breaking through the clouds after a storm. The chaotic energy of the Veil was gone, replaced by an overwhelming sense of peace. But the serenity felt wrong, unnatural, as though it masked something far more sinister.Their descent slowed, and then they were standing—not on solid ground, but on what felt like the surface of a calm lake. The light beneath them rippled gently, and Evans realized with