The world seemed to hold its breath.
Kael's body trembled violently, torn between the Abyss gnawing at his essence and the fragile yet unyielding threads of love and loyalty binding him. Lyra's light arrow still burned in his chest, pulsing with warmth, while Nyra's shadow-chains coiled around him like serpents of night, their grip steady but fraying.
The Abyss screamed through him—its voice not a sound but a gnawing hunger that chewed at his mind.
> "Power. Eternity. The throne of gods. Devour it all. Be what you were meant to be."
Its whispers filled his veins, promising relief, promising triumph, promising an end to the ache in his soul. All he had to do was surrender.
But then—Lyra's voice pierced through the storm.
"Kael, you once told me that no god was ever meant to be alone. That power without love is emptiness. Don't let the Abyss lie to you. Don't let it take away who you are."
Her eyes, brimming with tears and blazing with faith, locked onto his. She had no crown, no throne, no endless threads like him—but she carried something greater: belief.
And Nyra, kneeling with shadows spilling from her lips as she bled to keep her chains in place, whispered hoarsely:
"Don't make me regret standing with you… Kael… don't make me chain you as an enemy."
The Abyss snarled. The chains cracked. The arrow wavered.
Kael's hands tore free. His aura surged, splitting sky from earth. The world shuddered as galaxies spun wild, as though creation itself awaited his verdict.
His golden eyes, streaked with black, lifted to the heavens. And in that moment—he remembered.
He remembered the nights training beneath the warrior clans' stars, the laughter that once felt impossible. He remembered Nyra's sharp defiance that concealed her loyalty. He remembered Lyra—her hand reaching for him when all others had turned away, her voice steady when his own faltered.
And most of all—he remembered who he wanted to be.
"No…" His voice rumbled like a storm breaking. His hand pressed against the arrow in his chest—not to pull it out, but to push it deeper. Light burst outward, burning the veins of shadow that had threaded across his flesh. "I am not yours, Abyss. I am mine."
The Abyss wailed, a sound that cracked the stars. Its tendrils writhed, desperate to claw into him again, but Kael's aura ignited in divine brilliance—threads of creation not pale and golden, nor tainted black, but burning in a radiant fusion of both light and shadow.
"I choose…" His voice roared through the cosmos, steady and unbreakable. "…them."
The chains of shadow did not shatter. They transformed—becoming obsidian ribbons woven into Kael's aura. The arrow of light did not fade. It spread, embedding itself across his heart as a radiant core. Lyra gasped as she felt her essence resonate with his, as though their souls had aligned.
The Abyss shrieked again, retreating, its colossal form collapsing into itself, shrinking into a writhing orb of pure darkness. Kael, no longer trembling, reached out. With one hand of shadow and one of light, he grasped it.
The Abyss fought, twisting, hissing, screaming its fury into his bones.
But Kael's voice cut through it:
"You are not my master. You are my prisoner."
With a final surge of will, Kael sealed the Abyss inside his core, locking it beneath the chains of Nyra's shadow and the anchor of Lyra's light. The ground calmed. The heavens steadied. The endless scream of hunger… fell silent.
Kael collapsed to his knees, steam rising from his body, his aura dim but steady. His chest heaved, sweat and blood mixing with divine light.
Lyra rushed to him, cradling his face in trembling hands. "Kael…?"
His golden eyes, now untainted, fluttered open. A weary smile curved his lips.
"I chose you."
Lyra broke into sobs, pressing her forehead against his. Nyra, still kneeling, exhaled a ragged breath and smirked faintly despite the blood trailing from her lips. "About time, godling."
But as the dust settled, a new silence stretched. The air was heavy, not with chaos—but with dread.
For while the Abyss had been sealed, Kael had bound it within himself. Its whispers were no longer gone. They were now part of him.
And deep within his chest, the Abyss stirred, silent and waiting.