The giant ice cannons on the high stone wall aimed directly at Adam’s back. General Vane smiled. The General's eyes burned with the bright, beautiful blue magic of the True Master. The golden god had possessed the commander, hijacking the weapons Catherine had just turned on. "Checkmate, Sovereign," the True Master whispered through the General’s lips. The massive ice cannons fired. Giant beams of freezing, deadly blue light shot down from the fortress walls, rushing straight toward Adam. Adam spun around. He did not have time to dodge. He raised his pitch-black, obsidian hands. He opened the Gate of Hunger just a tiny bit. The pitch-black Void sucked the freezing blue beams into his palms. The dark magic ate the ice, but the massive surge of energy burned his arms. Adam gasped. Bright violet plasma leaked from his cracked skin. "Attack!" the True Master roared to the Vahn Empire army. "Crush the demon while he is weak!" The spell of paralysis broke. The fifty thousand iron-cla

Subject Zero-Prime laughed a terrible, scraping laugh. He dragged Catherine across the frozen stone courtyard by her hair. His heavy, pitch-black sword dripped with dark mud. Adam Cook leaned against the cold wall. His human body was completely exhausted. He held his stolen wooden spear with shaking, bleeding hands. The toxic gray Null-Metal dust choked his lungs. He had absolutely no magic. He was just a fragile boy in a ruined suit."Look at you," Zero-Prime mocked. The older brother smiled his starving, evil smile. "You are just weak meat. I will chop you into tiny pieces."Zero-Prime swung his massive sword. Adam tried to dodge, but his bruised legs were too slow. The flat side of the heavy sword hit Adam hard in the ribs. Adam flew across the courtyard. He crashed into a broken stone pillar and fell into the gray snow. He coughed up a large puddle of bright red blood. He tried to push himself up, but his arms failed. His human strength was finally gone. "Adam!" Catherine screa

The woman on the silver warship smiled a warm, beautiful smile. She had Catherine’s face, but her eyes were pitch-black voids filled with burning golden stars. "Give me your bodies," the Mother whispered softly. Before Adam Cook could answer the terrifying woman, a massive, deafening roar echoed from the snowy valley outside the broken courtyard. The Vahn Empire was attacking. When the True Master left General Vane’s body to stand in the courtyard, the Imperial General had regained his own human mind. General Vane shook his head. He looked up and saw the glowing gods, the giant silver ship, and Adam. The General was confused, but his greed and anger were stronger than his fear. "I do not care about these glowing magical freaks!" General Vane screamed to his fifty thousand iron-clad soldiers. "This mountain belongs to the Vahn Empire! Load every single Null-Cannon! Destroy the courtyard! Crush the fortress and everyone inside it!" Adam heard the heavy iron gears of the massive c

Outside the massive, swirling dome of pitch-black shadows, the snowy valley was freezing and tense. General Vane of the Vahn Empire sat on top of his giant, armored beast. He glared at the dark magic blocking his army. He hated magic. He hated the arrogant mages who thought they were gods. He was a man of cold, hard iron and pure science. But his science was failing. General Vane watched his frontline soldiers. The vanguard scouts had charged into the black smoke. Now, they were completely trapped. They were stuck in a terrifying temporal loop. They ran forward, then violently jerked backward. They repeated the exact same second of time over and over. They could not escape. The heavy gray Null-Cannons were useless. The anti-magic dust just froze in the air. "General, we cannot break through!" a commander yelled over the howling wind. "The wall is not physical! It is made of broken time!"General Vane hit his heavy iron fist against his saddle. He was furious. He looked at the dar

The giant hand of thick, black mud rushed down. The Father, the oldest and darkest piece of the True Realm, opened its faceless, muddy head to swallow Adam Cook whole. "Your cup is empty!" the Father’s crushing voice roared inside Adam’s mind. "You belong to me!"Adam stood perfectly still on the broken stone floor. He had no magic left. His human body was ruined. The heavy, toxic gray dust of the Vahn Empire had choked his power. The gods thought he was completely helpless. But as the giant shadow of the mud monster fell over him, Adam realized a beautiful, terrifying truth. “They think an empty cup is weak,”Adam’s quiet mind whispered. “But the Void is not magic. The Void is emptiness. If I am completely empty, I am infinite.”Adam stopped trying to find his magic. He stopped trying to hold onto his human shape. He stopped fighting the cold, silent cathedral inside his soul. Adam completely let go. He fully discarded his human body. The giant mud hand slammed down onto Adam. Bu