Run.
The word echoed through the ruins.
Kael didn't move.
He stared into the abyss beneath the broken world.
The voice had spoken his name.
Not as a warning.
Not as a threat.
As recognition.
As though something had been waiting countless ages just to say it again.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"Who are you?"
Nothing answered.
Then—
BOOM.
The entire world shook.
The frozen gods cracked simultaneously.
A thousand fractures spread across their stone bodies.
Kael looked around.
Elyra remained completely still.
"You knew this would happen."
"I knew something would happen."
"You brought me here."
"No."
Elyra looked directly into his eyes.
"You were brought here long before you were born."
Kael's expression darkened.
"What does that mean?"
Elyra didn't answer.
The darkness beneath them suddenly expanded.
A massive black circle formed beneath Kael's feet.
The Mark of Devouring burned.
The second symbol beside it began glowing.
Kael looked down.
"What is this?"
Elyra whispered:
"A memory."
Kael felt the ground disappear.
He fell.
Not downward.
Everywhere.
For an instant, he saw nothing.
Then—
Light.
A vast white expanse appeared.
There were no stars.
No planets.
No gods.
Only an endless white horizon.
And standing in the center was a child.
Kael.
His eyes widened.
The child couldn't have been more than six years old.
He stood barefoot in the emptiness.
But he wasn't alone.
Something stood behind him.
A figure covered completely in black.
Its face couldn't be seen.
Its hand rested gently upon the child's shoulder.
Kael stared.
"That's..."
His own voice echoed around him.
"Me."
The child turned.
And looked directly at Kael.
Not through him.
Not past him.
At him.
The child smiled.
"You finally came back."
Kael froze.
"You know me?"
The child nodded.
"I've been waiting."
"For how long?"
The child looked toward the endless horizon.
"I don't know."
He paused.
"There was no time here."
Kael stepped forward.
"What is this place?"
"The beginning."
Kael's expression hardened.
"The beginning of what?"
The child pointed behind him.
The black figure moved.
For the first time, Kael saw its face.
His blood ran cold.
It had no eyes.
No nose.
No mouth.
Yet Kael somehow knew exactly what it was.
The Shadow Sovereign.
But this wasn't the Sovereign he knew.
This was something older.
Something incomplete.
Something that looked almost...
afraid.
Kael whispered:
"That's impossible."
The child smiled.
"You're still asking the wrong questions."
Kael looked at him.
"Then what's the right one?"
The child raised his hand.
Pointed directly at Kael.
"Why did you erase yourself?"
Silence.
Kael's mind went blank.
"Erase... myself?"
The child nodded.
"You were stronger than everything that exists."
Kael's eyes widened.
"Stronger than the gods?"
The child laughed.
"Gods?"
The word sounded almost ridiculous.
"They came later."
Kael stared at him.
"Then what happened?"
The child's smile disappeared.
"You became afraid."
Kael felt something inside his chest tighten.
"Of what?"
The child looked behind Kael.
His expression became terrified.
"Of yourself."
A sound echoed through the white world.
CRACK.
The horizon split.
A gigantic black eye appeared beyond it.
The child immediately stepped backward.
"No."
Kael turned.
The eye opened wider.
The entire white world began collapsing toward it.
The child screamed:
"YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP!"
Kael reached toward him.
"WAIT!"
But the child was already disappearing.
"WHO ARE YOU?!"
The child's final words echoed through the collapsing void.
"I'm the part of you that survived."
Everything vanished.
---
Kael's eyes snapped open.
He was back in the ruins.
His breathing was heavy.
Elyra stood several meters away.
The frozen gods were gone.
Every single statue had disappeared.
Kael slowly stood.
His shadow remained completely still.
For once, it wasn't moving.
Kael looked at Elyra.
"You knew."
Elyra said nothing.
"You knew what I was."
Silence.
"You knew what happened to me."
Still nothing.
Kael's voice became colder.
"And you knew that thing was coming."
Elyra finally looked toward the sky.
"I knew it would eventually find you."
Kael followed her gaze.
The shattered sky was beginning to close.
But something remained.
A single black line.
Like a scar across reality.
Elyra whispered:
"It has found you now."
Kael clenched his fist.
"Then let it come."
Elyra looked at him.
"You still don't understand."
Kael turned.
"What?"
She pointed at his shadow.
"That thing isn't coming for you."
Kael looked down.
His shadow had changed.
There was now another silhouette inside it.
A small one.
A child.
Standing perfectly still.
Kael's blood ran cold.
The child slowly raised its head.
And smiled.
Elyra whispered:
"It's already inside you."
TO BE CONTINUED.