The Hollow King's presence was suffocating. As he took another step forward, the earth beneath Kaelen's feet cracked, the air thickening with every breath. The land itself seemed to shriek in agony, twisting and warping as if the very fabric of reality was being unraveled by the weight of the King's malevolent power. A dark wind howled through the chasm, carrying with it the scent of death and decay.
Kaelen's chest tightened, and he could feel the Ember burning brighter within him. The pulse of heat was becoming unbearable, but there was no retreating from it. The moment had arrived. The Hollow King, towering and formidable, radiated darkness like a dying star, a force that devoured light rather than creating it. He was the void. He was the storm.
And Kaelen—he was the fire.
"You think you can stop me?" The Hollow King's voice boomed, its resonance causing the ground to shake with each word. "You, who are bound by the flame? You, who carry its weight in your veins? You, who are nothing more than a puppet on the strings of fate?"
Kaelen's heart hammered in his chest. The Hollow King's words echoed within him, stirring ancient fears. He had never asked for this burden. He had never wanted to be the heir of fire, the keeper of the Ember. But standing here, in this moment, with the Hollow King's darkness bearing down on him, Kaelen understood. He wasn't just carrying the Ember. He was the only one who could contain it.
He stepped forward, sword raised, his grip firm. "I won't let you take it," he said, his voice steady despite the fear gnawing at his insides. "Not the world. Not the flame. Not this."
The Hollow King's laughter was a sound that chilled Kaelen's very soul, like the scraping of bones against stone. "You have no choice, little heir. The flame calls to you. It yearns for you. You cannot defy it. You cannot defy me."
The King's hand rose slowly, its fingers curled like talons, and Kaelen felt the weight of its power pressing down on him. The air crackled with dark energy, the very ground beneath him groaning under the force of it. He felt something shift within him—a coldness creeping in, a part of him that had always been there but had never been fully awakened. It was the part that understood the Ember's true nature, the part that could feel its dark power coursing through his veins.
A flare of heat erupted from his chest. The Ember was responding. Kaelen could feel it, its energy calling out, surging with a primal intensity. The Hollow King's power was strong, but it was not infinite. The King could twist the world, but Kaelen knew, deep down, that he was not powerless.
"You may have shaped the world with your fire," the Hollow King sneered, "but it will all burn in the end. I am the end."
With a growl of defiance, Kaelen lunged forward, his blade slashing through the air with a speed and precision he had never known. The Ember's light blazed in his chest, and the sword seemed to hum with energy as it cut through the dark miasma surrounding the King.
The Hollow King raised a hand to block, but Kaelen's sword cleaved through the air with a force that could not be denied. The King's arm flared with dark energy, and for a brief moment, Kaelen saw what lay beneath the robes of shadow—a being of pure void, a soul twisted by years of torment and hunger, its very essence fractured by the lust for power.
The King's eyes—eyes like burning coals—locked with Kaelen's. There was no pity there, no mercy. Only the promise of annihilation.
"You are nothing but a spark, Kaelen of Thornmere," the King hissed, his voice an eerie whisper in the wind. "A fleeting flame in the vast darkness. You cannot burn me."
Kaelen felt a sudden surge of heat, and for a moment, he feared that the Ember would overwhelm him, consume him entirely. But then, in a flash of clarity, he realized what he had to do. This wasn't a fight he could win through brute strength alone. The Ember was not a weapon to wield against the King—it was a force to be balanced, to be controlled.
His hands shook, but his resolve hardened. He would not be a puppet.
The Ember pulsed again, but this time, it did not burn. It resonated, vibrating deep within his chest, responding to something ancient within the world, something that could not be ignored. The flame was alive—not just within him, but in the very land around him.
With a fierce cry, Kaelen thrust the sword forward, but instead of striking the Hollow King, he brought the blade down into the earth, embedding it in the soil.
The ground beneath them shuddered.
The Hollow King stepped back, his eyes narrowing in confusion, sensing the shift in the air. The world around them seemed to hold its breath as the monolith began to respond. The dark energy swirling around the Hollow King faltered, as though something was pushing back. The Ember's glow brightened, casting a harsh light across the battlefield.
Kaelen's heart raced as he focused all of his energy on the blade and the monolith beneath it. The sword, the Ember, the land—they were all connected. He had always felt it, but now, standing at the heart of this ancient force, he understood the truth. The monolith was not just a relic. It was a barrier—a lock, keeping something far older and far more dangerous sealed away.
The Hollow King growled in frustration, his shadowed form flickering and distorting as if struggling against the force Kaelen had just unleashed. "You think you can stop me with a relic?" he spat. "I am the end of all things. I will burn your world."
But Kaelen was no longer listening. The pulse of the Ember was steady, rhythmic, like the beating of his own heart, and as he focused on it, a surge of power flowed from the monolith through the blade and into his very soul.
The world around him exploded in light.
The Hollow King screamed, a sound that reverberated through the very fabric of the world itself. Kaelen could feel the power building within him, feel the overwhelming heat of the flame as it surged through his veins, connecting him to the ancient forces that had shaped the world long before humanity had even known it.
He understood now. He wasn't just fighting the Hollow King. He was fighting an ancient curse, a force that had sought to consume everything in its path. The King was not just a king—he was the embodiment of destruction, a remnant of an age that had long since passed. And Kaelen was the flame that could either cleanse or consume it.
He raised his sword high, its tip glowing with the fury of the Ember, and with a final, decisive roar, he thrust the blade forward. The light from the sword collided with the Hollow King's darkness, an explosion of power so intense that it shook the very earth beneath their feet. The ground split open, and the sky seemed to tear itself apart as the two forces collided.
For a moment, time seemed to stop.
Then, the Hollow King's form shattered, disintegrating into the very darkness that had once been his power. His scream echoed, fading into the void as the light of the Ember consumed everything around it.
Kaelen collapsed to his knees, his sword still embedded in the earth. His chest heaved as the energy from the Ember coursed through him, burning hotter than ever. But the Hollow King was gone.
The battle was over.
For now.
But Kaelen knew that the world would never be the same again.