The vessel screamed.A sound too vast and primal to belong to a single throat ripped through the night, shaking the ruins of Rythmar to their foundations. The girl — no, the thing that had once been a girl —hovered above the battlefield, her body swallowed by the Master’s shadow. Her eyes glowed like twin suns of crimson, and her wings stretched wide enough to blot out the moonlight.With every beat of those wings, more creatures clawed their way from the riverbed, their shrieks blending into a terrible chorus.Selene’s breath caught.“This… this isn’t just corruption,” she said, her voice barely audible over the cacophony. “It’s a full manifestation.”Kael’s face was grim beneath his dented helmet. “Then we kill it.”“No,” Selene snapped, gripping his arm. “If we destroy the vessel, the shockwave could—”Her warning came too late.The creature’s clawed hand slammed into the ground, and a pulse of pure shadow blasted outward, tossing everyone aside like rag dolls.Adrian hit the grou

The mist clung to Adrian like cold fingers, swallowing the world behind him.Each step forward felt heavier, as though unseen chains coiled around his limbs. The further he went, the more the air thickened, laced with the acrid scent of burned earth and something older… something foul.His ashstorm swirled faintly at his feet, whispering in tongues he didn’t want to understand. It wasn’t merely power anymore.He tightened his grip on his sword and kept walking.Selene, he thought, her name a fragile anchor in the darkness.If he focused on her — on her voice, her light — maybe he could silence the whispers clawing at his mind.But the further he went, the harder it became to remember her face.The mist gave way suddenly, and Adrian found himself standing at the edge of a vast chasm.Below lay a writhing abyss, shadows folding over themselves like living flesh. At its center, a dark citadel rose from the void, impossibly tall and jagged, its spires like teeth biting into the storm-chok

Adrian hung suspended in darkness.Shadows wrapped around his arms and legs like living chains, burning cold where they touched his skin. His sword lay somewhere far below, out of reach, swallowed by the void.The ashstorm that had always answered him was gone.Silent.He was utterly alone.“Not alone,” a voice purred, curling around his mind like smoke.“Never alone, Adrian.”The Master’s presence thickened, pressing against Adrian’s thoughts until he could barely breathe.The darkness around him shifted, forming shapes — walls, firelight, a doorway. Adrian gasped as he realized what he was seeing.“No…” he whispered.“Not tonight.”The Master’s laughter was low and cruel.“Ah, but it is always this night.”The vision solidified, and Adrian’s heart clenched.He was back in Rythmar, the night it burned.The screams were everywhere. Smoke choked the air, mingled with the metallic tang of blood. Buildings collapsed in showers of sparks as shadows rampaged through the streets.And there

The sky bled crimson above the battlefield.Selene rode hard at the head of her vanguard, her silver cloak whipping in the wind, her sword blazing with pale light. Behind her, Kael and the Shadow Guard fought to keep formation as waves of the Master’s creatures surged from the blackened forest.Each one was worse than the last — twisted, screaming forms that had once been human. Villagers, soldiers, even children, now little more than puppets of shadow and rage.Selene’s heart ached with every swing of her blade.Each life she took was a life she had failed to save.“Push forward!” she shouted, her voice ringing like a bell through the chaos. “Adrian is ahead! We cannot falter now!”The soldiers roared in answer, their voices raw but determined.They trusted her.They believed she could lead them to victory.Selene only wished she believed it herself.Kael rode up beside her, his armor smeared with ichor. His expression was grim, his breath ragged.“Your Majesty, we’re losing too many

The sunlight that broke through the clouds felt wrong.It bathed the ruined battlefield in pale gold, but instead of warmth, it brought only a haunting stillness. The cries of the wounded were distant echoes, muffled by a silence that seemed to hold its breath.Selene stood amidst the rubble, clutching Adrian’s hand as though it were the last real thing in the world.But when she looked at his face — so pale, so strained— her stomach twisted with fear.His eyes, one silver and one black, flickered like dying stars.“Adrian,” she whispered, brushing the ash from his cheek.“Tell me you’re still here.”His breath came shallow, uneven.“I’m here,” he rasped, then flinched as if something clawed inside his chest.“For now.”Selene’s grip tightened. “What do you mean ‘for now’? We destroyed the Master. We won.”Adrian shook his head slowly, his expression hollow.“No, Selene. The throne was only a shell. The Master’s true essence wasn’t destroyed… it fled.”Her heart dropped. “Fled where?”