The world disintegrated.Stone shattered, air split, and gravity twisted as the altar collapsed beneath Jace’s feet. The abyss didn’t just open, it swallowed.One moment, he was standing on jagged stone, chains blazing in his fists; the next, the ground had turned into an ocean of shadow, dragging him into a void with no bottom. He fell.The roar of the abyss drowned out everything else. A storm of whispers clawed at his mind, tearing at his will, each one promising release if he would just surrender. Faces surfaced in the dark, mocking, accusing, familiar. His double’s voice laughed through them all, sharper, clearer than the rest.“You can’t run from me, Jace. Even if you tear me apart a thousand times, I’ll still be here. Because I am you.”Jace’s throat burned as he screamed against the crushing weight of shadow. His chains lashed wildly, striking at the dark around him, but the blows met no resistance.The abyss wasn’t matter. It was will. It was hunger. And right now, it was hun

The city split apart, its ruins sinking into rivers of molten shadow. From the fissures, two giants rose, abominations stitched together from chains, faces, and claws.Their bodies twisted and writhed like nightmares given flesh, each step cracking the shattered ground beneath them.The first giant leaned forward, its jawless maw opening in a soundless roar. Dozens of faces pushed through its skin, screaming in unison, their voices layered with agony. The second raised an arm the size of a tower, the chains embedded in its flesh snapping taut like whips.Jace stood at the center of the collapsing world, blood dripping from his side, his legs trembling. But his chains pulsed with light, alive, fierce.His chest heaved. They want me to break. They want me to surrender. He spat blood, tightening his grip“Come and try!”The first giant swung a fist the size of a house. Jace sprinted forward, chains dragging across the broken earth, sparks hissing as they scraped stone. At the last instan

The abyss screamed. The ground cracked wide open, vomiting shadows into the sky. They twisted, coiled, and reshaped into monstrous figures, some human-like with hollow eyes, others crawling like beasts with too many limbs. Each one was born from the writhing darkness, their bodies stitched from ash and agony.Jace stood in the ruins, his chest heaving, blood dripping from his mouth. His chains, once blazing like stars, now dimmed, flickering like dying embers. The swarm surged forward.Claws scraped stone. Screams shredded the air, Jace roared and threw himself at them, Chains lashed out, slicing through the first wave. Shadowy bodies split apart, but no sooner had one fallen than three more rose in its place.He spun, dragging the chains in wide arcs, cutting down dozens. But the swarm did not break. The horde pressed closer, their shrieks drilling into his skull.A beast lunged at him from behind. He twisted, smashing its face with his elbow, but another clamped its claws around his

The void roared with silence. Jace dangled in the black, suspended by chains that dug into his skin, binding him tighter with each breath.His ribs creaked under the pressure. His lungs burned. Every heartbeat was a hammer pounding molten iron through his veins.Above him loomed the colossal being, its body an endless tangle of chains, each link pulsing like a heartbeat. Its furnace-like eyes glared down, scorching his soul more than his flesh.“You fight the fire,” the voice rumbled, shaking the abyss. “But fire is not fought. It is fed. It is obeyed.”Jace spat blood, forcing out a broken snarl. “I’m not… your vessel.”The creature laughed, and the void itself trembled with it. Chains shot forward, wrapping around his throat, his wrists, his chest. They dragged him closer, until he could feel the ancient heat radiating from its body.“You are already mine,” it hissed. “Every scream you release feeds me. Every drop of blood spilled binds you tighter. And soon, there will be no Jace.

The claw tore upward, rending the earth like paper.Each finger was the size of a tower, dripping molten stone, radiating a heat that warped the air. The wasteland shook violently as the chasm widened, and the ground around it began to collapse into the abyss.Maya screamed as she stumbled backward. Dust blinded her, her lungs seared with heat, and all she could see was Jace standing at the edge, flames still coiling around him like living things.The claw tightened, digging into the surface. Another limb burst through, then another, until a massive, jagged form began hauling itself up.The beast was ancient, primal, shaped from magma and chains fused together. Its skull-like face rose above the fissure, hollow eyes burning with fire, its body dripping with molten rock as if the earth itself bled.The others scrambled to flee, but the creature’s roar froze them in place.The sound wasn’t just noise, it was pressure. It crushed the air, rattled bones, made hearts seize. Even hardened f