The first Abject didn’t even get close.
Finn decapitated it mid-air, the sword slicing clean, and was already spinning toward the next before the body hit the ground. No waste. No hesitation. Just fluid motion turned into efficient death.
But there were *so many*.
Dozens of them charging from every direction—from the platforms above, from the side tunnels, emerging from shadows like nightmares made solid. Their double mouths drooled, the trapped human eyes inside watching in horror at what their bodies were doing.
Dagon advanced on the right, his sword tracing precise arcs. An Abject leapt from above. He sidestepped minimally, letting the creature pass, then severed its legs in mid-air. It landed; he spun and pierced its heart before it touched the ground.
“Fog!” he shouted. “Barrier!”
The mage was already moving.
He slammed both hands onto the ground.
**Earth Wall!**
The floor exploded between them and the horde coming from the left. An irregular wall of compacted stone and earth rose with a deep groan, temporarily blocking half the enemies.
But only temporarily.
They could already hear claws scraping on the other side, carving through the barrier.
Jelim floated above it all, arms outstretched, controlling the battlefield like a conductor leading an orchestra of death.
Three Abjects charged toward Keara.
Jelim didn’t even look directly at them.
She simply curled her fingers.
The three froze instantly, as if they had slammed into an invisible wall. Their bodies shuddered. Their heads twisted violently.
Then they turned and attacked each other.
Claws tore throats. Teeth ripped chunks of flesh. In seconds, the three lay dead on the ground, destroyed by themselves.
Steve watched it all while retreating, the sword trembling in his hands.
*They’re so strong.*
*So coordinated.*
*And I…*
An Abject emerged from the shadow to his right.
Steve spun too late.
The creature was inches away, double mouth open, ready to—
A spear of light pierced its skull.
The Abject dropped dead before touching Steve.
Keara lowered her glowing hand, eyes hard.
“Pay attention!” she shouted, no gentleness now.
Steve nodded quickly, heart pounding.
*Useless. I’m still useless here.*
That was when the ground shook.
---
It wasn’t a small tremor.
It was *impact*.
As if something colossal had fallen from the ceiling.
Everyone looked up instinctively.
The platforms where the crowd had been seated began to crack.
Ancient stone, supported for centuries, finally giving way under the weight and the constant vibration of battle.
“SHIT!” Fog yelled. “They’re going to—”
The first platform collapsed.
Dozens of people—women who had been chanting in trance moments earlier—fell screaming. Some tried to grab the edges. Others simply plummeted, bodies hitting the ground with wet, horrible sounds.
Then the second platform.
Men falling. Screaming. Some breaking upon impact. Others dropping straight into the fire pit, screams cutting off abruptly as flames swallowed them.
The third platform—the children’s—began to crack.
“NO!” Keara screamed, running toward them.
But she was too far.
Jelim reacted first.
She raised both hands with visible effort, sweat streaming beneath her mask.
The platform *stopped* falling.
Suspended in mid-air by sheer willpower, trembling violently, but held.
The children cried, clinging to each other, finally waking from the trance.
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“Go!” Jelím shouted, voice strained with effort. “Get them out of there! I can’t hold it long!”
Dagon and Finn moved immediately, rushing to the edges of the floating platform, helping the children down.
That was when Kairo acted.
---
He snapped his fingers.
The sound echoed through the chamber unnaturally—not just an echo, but *multiplication*. As if ten Kairos had snapped at once.
The floor beneath Finn exploded.
Not literally—but *conceptually*.
Symbols carved into the stone began to glow with sickly red light. Lines connected one to another, forming patterns that hurt the eyes to look at.
Translucent walls of energy rose from nowhere.
Not physical, but solid enough.
In seconds, the battlefield had been *divided*.
Finn was isolated near the prisoners, surrounded by five Abjects with no way back.
Dagon was on the other side of the barrier, punching it uselessly.
“FINN!”
Fog and Keara were trapped together in a smaller section, defending against three Abjects circling them.
Jelim still floated, but now had to focus as much on holding the children’s platform as on defending against two Abjects climbing the walls toward her.
And Steve…
Steve was isolated.
Completely alone.
In a small section near the prisoners, but separated from everyone else by glowing walls of energy.
And three Abjects were already turning toward him.
---
Fear crashed over him like a suffocating wave.
Steve backed up until he hit the energy wall behind him. He tried to push through—felt solid resistance, vibrating unpleasantly against his skin.
The three Abjects advanced slowly now.
Not running. Not hurried.
*Savoring*.
Steve gripped the sword with both hands, fingers slipping on the sweat-slick hilt.
*Not like this.*
*Please, not like this.*
The HUD flashed before his eyes:
> ERROR
> User: Unidentified
> Level: 0
> Recommendation: FLEE
“Thanks for the help,” Steve muttered sarcastically, retreating further.
The Abjects spread out, encircling him in a semicircle. Strategy. Working together.
*Think. Think!*
He looked around desperately.
The energy wall behind him.
A cracked column to the left.
The fire pit in the distance.
And directly to the right…
The prisoners.
Bound. Helpless.
And among them, the girl with black-and-gray hair.
Nessira.
Her green eyes met his across the distance.
And something *clicked*.
---
It wasn’t gradual.
It was instantaneous.
As if a switch had been flipped inside Steve’s brain—something that had always been there, just waiting for the right moment.
The HUD exploded.
Not with error messages.
With *light*.
White. Pure. Blinding.
> **SYNCHRONIZATION DETECTED**
> **COMPATIBLE ENTITY LOCATED**
> **EMERGENCY PROTOCOL: ACTIVE**
> **RELEASING [FRAGMENT_001]**
> **WARNING: PROCESS IRREVERSIBLE**
Pain exploded behind Steve’s eyes.
It wasn’t like the other times—not a sharp stab.
It was *invasion*.
As if something were being forced into him—memories, knowledge, *existence* that weren’t his.
He dropped to his knees, screaming, the sword slipping from his hands.
He saw flashes:
*Forest in flames. Trees collapsing. Red sky.*
*A woman with completely white hair, screaming words in a language he didn’t know but UNDERSTOOD.*
*A seal breaking. Light exploding. Something being released.*
*And those green eyes. Always those green eyes. Watching across ages.*
*"Find me."*
*"When time breaks."*
*"Find me."*
The vision cut off as abruptly as it began.
Steve gasped, returning to reality.
The three Abjects were *on the ground*.
Dead.
Not just dead—*shattered*.
As if something had exploded from the inside out. Blood coated the surrounding walls in a radial pattern, radiating from the bodies.
Steve looked at his own hands.
They were covered in blood up to the elbows.
*Did… did I do that?*
He didn’t remember.
He didn’t remember moving. Attacking. *Killing*.
There was only… blankness.
A white space in memory where something terrible had happened.
The HUD flashed again, calmer now:
> **FRAGMENT INTEGRATED**
> **LEVEL: ???**
> **WARNING: INSTABILITY DETECTED**
> **NEXT SYNCHRONIZATION: 34% CHANCE OF COMPLETE FRAGMENTATION**
Steve felt bile rise.
*What the hell is happening to me?*
That was when he heard the voice.
---
“Impressive.”
Kairo stood on the other side of the chamber, watching him with genuine interest.
The deformed smile widened.
“You’re not an ordinary player, are you?” he continued, tilting his head. “There’s something *wrong* with you. Something… **out of place**.”
Steve didn’t answer. He couldn’t.
On the other side of the energy barriers, he saw Finn fighting desperately against the five Abjects surrounding him. Perfect technique beginning to fail. Strikes growing wilder. Less precise.
Because he could see Diana.
Bound. Crying. So close yet impossible to reach.
“DIANA!” Finn shouted, voice breaking.
An Abject seized the distraction.
Claws tore Finn’s arm. Blood sprayed. He staggered, nearly falling.
“FINN!” Dagon pounded the barrier on the other side, helpless.
That was when Finn lost complete control.
The sword fell from his hands.
He charged bare-handed.
He grabbed the nearest Abject by the throat and began to *squeeze*. Not with technique. Just brute force and absolute rage.
The Abject thrashed, claws raking Finn’s chest, but he didn’t let go.
He felt no pain.
He felt nothing but fury.
The Abject’s throat gave with a wet crack.
Finn threw it aside and advanced on the next, roaring—not a battle cry, but *pain*.
“SON OF A BITCH!” he bellowed. “I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU!”
Dagon watched, horrified.
*He’s going to die like this.*
Kairo only laughed.
“Beautiful!” he shouted, clapping. “Pain makes everything more *authentic*!”
Then his expression changed.
Became serious. Almost… reverent.
He turned toward the figure on the red throne.
“We’ve waited long enough,” he said, low but clear. “Every prison needs a key. And every key…”
He drew a dagger from his waist.
The blade was black. It didn’t reflect light. It seemed to absorb everything around it.
“…needs the guardian’s blood.”
And he plunged it into his own chest.
---
Silence fell instantly.
Even the Abjects stopped moving, like puppets with cut strings.
Kairo remained standing for a long moment, the dagger buried to the hilt.
Then he smiled.
“Finally…” blood dripped from his deformed mouth “…free.”
He dropped to his knees.
The blood flowing from him wasn’t ordinary red.
It was *black*. Thick. Alive.
It touched the floor.
And the symbols carved into the stone began to *glow*.
Not soft light.
*Pulsing* light. Like a heartbeat. Like something waking after an impossible sleep.
The energy walls dividing the battlefield vanished instantly.
But no one moved.
Because everyone felt it.
Something was *changing*.
The figure on the throne—motionless the entire time, silent, only oppressive presence—began to move.
First just a finger.
Curving slowly.
The entire floor trembled with that minimal motion.
Then the head.
Tilting to the side, like someone waking from deep sleep and trying to remember where they are.
Steve felt the system *scream* inside his head:
> **CRITICAL ALERT**
> **PRIMORDIAL ENTITY DETECTED**
> **CLASSIFICATION: EXISTENTIAL THREAT**
> **RECOMMENDATION: EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY**
And then the figure spoke.
It wasn’t a voice.
It was *presence*.
Words not spoken but *imposed* directly into everyone’s mind in the chamber.
**“How… long?”**
Kairo, still kneeling, bleeding, smiled.
“Centuries, my lady. But now… now you are free.”
The figure rose from the throne.
The red cloak fell, revealing what lay beneath.
Steve wished he hadn’t looked.
---
It wasn’t a woman.
It wasn’t human.
It was the *idea* of a woman made flesh in the wrong way.
The skin was too white—not a color, but *absence* of color. Like empty space where skin should be.
The eyes…
There were no eyes.
Only deep holes where eyes should have been. And inside those holes… *something else*. Another place. Another time.
When she breathed, the air around her visibly distorted.
“Run…” Dagon murmured, voice trembling for the first time. “Run NOW!”
But no one could move.
That was when Nessira reacted.
---
She had been motionless throughout the entire battle.
Just watching with those impossible green eyes.
Waiting.
When Kairo’s blood touched the floor and the symbols began to glow, she slowly closed her eyes.
And when she opened them…
They were no longer green.
They were *white*. Completely white. Glowing with their own light that didn’t hurt the eyes but *burned* the soul.
The ropes binding her began to smoke.
Not with fire.
With pure light.
In seconds, they turned to ash that floated in the air before vanishing.
Nessira stood.
Her hair—once black-and-gray—now undulated as if underwater, moving on its own.
Her voice echoed.
It wasn’t a voice.
It was *choir*.
A thousand voices singing in impossible unison.
**“Finally…”**
She took a step forward.
The floor beneath her feet glowed briefly, symbols appearing and disappearing under her soles.
**“…free.”**
The eyeless figure turned toward her instantly.
And for the first time, something that could be called *emotion* crossed that presence.
**“You.”**
Nessira smiled.
It wasn’t a gentle smile.
**“Hello, sister.”**
The world seemed to stop breathing.
Steve felt the system enter complete collapse:
> **ERROR ERROR ERROR**
> **TWO PRIMORDIAL ENTITIES DETECTED**
> **UNKNOWN PROTOCOL**
> **SYSTEM ENTERING EMERGENCY MODE**
> **RECOMMENDATION: [DATA CORRUPTED]**
Dagon grabbed Steve’s arm with brutal force.
“GET OUT!” he shouted. “EVERYONE! NOW!”
He began dragging Steve toward the stairs.
Finn finally reacted, running to Diana, frantically cutting her ropes.
Fog carved a path through the debris, Keara beside him healing the wounded who could walk.
Jelim finally released the children’s platform—it fell, but Fog created an earth cushion at the last second.
But Steve couldn’t tear his eyes away.
From the two figures facing each other in the center of the chamber.
The eyeless one, radiating a presence that made the air hurt.
And Nessira, glowing with light that seemed to come from another world.
**“You shouldn’t be here,”** said the eyeless figure.
**“And you shouldn’t be free,”** Nessira replied.
The smile widened.
**“Yet here we are.”**
The entire chamber began to shake.
Stones fell from the ceiling. Cracks spread across the walls.
Dagon pulled Steve harder.
“IF YOU DON’T WANT TO DIE, RUN!”
And then everyone ran.
Up the stairs. Through the corridor. Fleeing as if hell itself pursued them.
Because, in a way, it did.
Behind them, they heard when the two entities collided.
The sound wasn’t an explosion.
It was *silence*.
As if a piece of reality had been torn away.
And then everything collapsed.
