Recap of Chapter 17:
Ka'roth claimed the Forge of Eternity, reshaping reality into his image. His abyssal-silver mist forged endless realms: blackened continents, chained skies, abyssal oceans teeming with beasts he designed. He bound the survivors of creation, even the surviving Makers, beneath his will. Now, sensing distant vibrations of unclaimed existence beyond even the Forge's reach, Ka'roth prepared to march into the unknown, declaring: "There will be no heights left but me. This is forever."
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The Silent Realms
Ka'roth stood upon his Throne, his wings stretched so far they shadowed entire starfields. His runes pulsed brighter than suns, abyssal-silver light weaving across him like living flame.
His horde prowled across endless lands—raptors hunting in jagged forests, winged leviathans circling skies split by glowing chains, tusked grazers tearing through evolving plains. All of it fed upward to Ka'roth, his power swelling with every roar of his creations.
But beyond this reborn reality, faint tremors stirred. Far echoes reverberated across voids untouched, whispers older than even the Makers.
Ka'roth's claws tightened against the Throne.
"Beyond."
The Forge of Eternity pulsed beneath him, as if answering. Black-silver fractures spread outward, splitting reality like brittle glass.
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The First Tear
Ka'roth rose. His jagged wings unfurled, abyssal flames trailing from their edges. His tail's triple spikes slammed down upon the Throne's surface.
With a roar, Ka'roth struck forward. His claws plunged into the air itself, ripping it open. Space split like torn fabric, revealing an endless void of shifting gray storms and shadows beyond even the Makers' reach.
The Abyss whispered in reverence:
"This is the Before. That which even we could not touch."
Ka'roth's fanged grin widened.
"Now I touch it."
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Into the Before
He stepped through.
The void beyond was unlike any realm before. It was raw unformed existence, a swirling chaos of storms, pale lights, and formless entities that writhed endlessly. These were not beasts. Not Makers. They were Primal Echoes—the first stirrings of will before creation itself, shapeless and infinite.
The moment Ka'roth entered, the echoes stirred. They turned toward him, their forms twisting into crude mimicries of his size, claws, and wings. For the first time in countless eons, they spoke—one voice, countless throats:
"Not-thing. You do not belong."
Ka'roth roared, his sound splitting the storm.
"Then I claim this too."
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The Clash With the Primal Echoes
The echoes lunged. They struck like storms, tendrils lashing and jaws snapping. Ka'roth's claws cleaved through their formless bodies, his abyssal mist scorching them into nothingness. His spiked tail whipped wide, tearing storms apart. His wings slammed downward, scattering pale light into sparks.
The echoes reformed instantly, converging tighter.
Ka'roth's runes pulsed, abyssal-silver energy flaring so bright it bent their stormlike bodies. He lunged forward, biting down on an echo's core, ripping it apart. Its energy poured into him, raw and ancient.
He absorbed it. His runes burned hotter.
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The Beasts Follow
From the rift behind him, his horde poured in. Abyss-born raptors leapt through storms, tearing at echoes. Winged titans dove, jaws clamping onto formless entities, dragging them apart. Tusked grazers crashed forward, ramming waves of chaos itself.
The Before convulsed. Ka'roth's roar bound even these alien forces beneath his dominance. Echoes twisted and split, some melting into abyssal mist and reforming as new hybrids—beasts born of pre-creation itself.
Ka'roth's aura grew heavier, warping the Before into something tangible.
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The World-Breaking Roar
As the echoes howled, Ka'roth reared back. His chest swelled, his jagged wings flared.
Then he roared.
The sound was not mere power—it was command. The swirling chaos stilled. The echoes froze. Storms split apart, their energy collapsing inward toward him.
Ka'roth dragged all of it in.
The Before bent, reshaping under his will. Chaos condensed into form: new realms forged in abyssal-silver fire, suspended like chained continents across this endless void.
Ka'roth's claws carved sigils mid-air, binding the chaotic essence of Before under his dominion.
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The Birth of Infinite Realms
From Ka'roth's roar came countless worlds:
Blackened fortresses suspended in chains of molten silver.
Abyssal seas deeper than time itself, where leviathans coiled endlessly.
Rift-skies filled with winged titans, circling jagged floating islands.
Obsidian citadels where abyss-born hybrids evolved eternally, climbing an endless spiral of strength.
Ka'roth stood above it all, wings unfurled wide, his glowing runes burning across him like molten rivers.
"It is mine," he growled.
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The Voice Beyond Even Before
Then, from deeper still, something stirred.
A vibration unlike anything before rumbled across all he had forged. It was slow, ancient, and vast beyond even the Makers or Abyss.
"Ka'roth."
The sound shook creation. The Forge quaked. Even the Abyss whispered in fear:
"He… hears you."
Ka'roth turned his gaze downward, his glowing white eyes piercing deeper.
"Show yourself."
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The Nameless One
From the deepest shadows emerged a shape.
It was limitless. Its form was a void upon void, yet its edges shimmered with faint silver lines, like a star swallowed whole. Its presence pressed heavier than all Ka'roth had fought. This was The Nameless One, the First Echo before even existence had been birthed.
"You take all," it rumbled, its voice vast and alien. "You climb without end. You break even what I left unshaped."
Ka'roth's claws flexed, his jagged wings cutting storms apart.
"Then I break you too."
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The Final Pre-Creation Battle
The Nameless One lunged.
Its formless mass crashed into Ka'roth, swallowing him whole. Darkness engulfed him. His runes flared violently, abyssal-silver energy blasting outward, tearing apart its shadow-flesh. He slashed, ripped, and bit deep into its core.
The Nameless One coiled tighter, storms reforming around Ka'roth, trying to crush him within infinite pressure.
Ka'roth roared, his abyssal flames exploding outward like suns. His jagged wings sliced apart the void, his tail's spiked ends tearing deep channels through its essence.
He bit down hard—into the very heart of the First Echo—and wrenched.
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The Devouring of the First Echo
Its scream shattered even the Before.
Ka'roth ripped the core free and devoured it whole. Abyssal and pre-existence energies fused within him. His runes erupted, now pure blinding white edged in shifting void-black, flickering like fractured stars.
The Before stilled.
Ka'roth rose from the ruins of the Nameless One, wings blazing so wide they wrapped all of creation.
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The Apex Without End
Ka'roth roared, and every realm, beast, echo, and star trembled.
He no longer ruled the Abyss. No longer ruled Sky. No longer ruled Creation.
Ka'roth now ruled everything—existence, pre-existence, and what came even before.
"I am Ka'roth," his voice rumbled, tearing across all realms. "And there is nothing higher."
The Abyss whispered no longer. It bowed.
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