The battlefield lay in eerie stillness. The skies, once torn apart, were whole again, but the silence was not peace—it was anticipation.
Kael sat slumped, his breath ragged, his aura flickering like a dying flame. The golden light around him had dimmed, and though he looked calm on the outside, something darker churned beneath the surface.
Lyra knelt before him, her hands glowing faintly as she tried to heal the fractures running across his skin—fractures not of flesh, but of soul. The light mended what it could, but every time her warmth touched his core, she felt it: a restless pulse, like a caged beast prowling.
Her voice trembled. "Kael… what did you do?"
He opened his eyes slowly, and for a heartbeat, she thought she saw the Abyss glaring back at her from within his irises. But it was gone in an instant, replaced with weary resolve.
"I caged it," he said, voice low. "The Abyss. It lives inside me now."
Nyra, leaning against a shattered pillar to steady herself, spat blood and gave a bitter laugh. "So you've gone and swallowed the serpent whole. Tell me, godling—do you really think a monster like that will remain your prisoner?"
Kael's jaw tightened. "It has no choice. I won't let it control me."
But the way his hand trembled as he clenched his chest betrayed the truth. The Abyss wasn't broken. It wasn't gone. It was whispering, clawing, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
Lyra reached forward, taking his hand despite the faint sting of shadow that clung to him. "You don't have to carry it alone."
Her words were simple, yet they struck deeper than any blade. Kael's eyes softened, but he didn't answer. Part of him wanted to believe her. Another part—one born from the Abyss now coiled inside—warned him that love was weakness, that to lean on others was to invite betrayal.
Nyra pushed off the pillar, limping toward them. "We need to move. The Abyss may be sealed, but its energy still leaks into the world. Others will feel it. Gods, demons, things far worse than us—they'll come sniffing, looking for what's bound inside you."
Kael slowly rose to his feet, his aura stabilizing as if in agreement. But within, he could feel the Abyss stirring like molten tar, testing his resolve with whispers:
"She'll betray you. They both will. You are alone. Take my power, and you will never need anyone."
He exhaled, steadying himself. "Then let them come."
But as they walked, Lyra felt his hand twitch in hers, as though he was fighting some unseen battle even now. And Nyra, sharp-eyed as ever, noticed the faint black veins that crept along his neck before vanishing beneath his skin.
The war outside had ended.
But the war inside Kael had only just begun.