The sky had never looked so alive.
A brilliant light erupted from above, so blinding that it pierced through the darkest corners of the earth. The Oceans glimmered. even the slums beyond the wall shimmered as if the heavens themselves had descended.
Kaal shielded his eyes, but it was no use.
The light carved its way into his skull.
Everything turned white.
Than-
BOOOOOM!
A deafening sound shattered the silence.
The ground beneath him shook violently.
His home-nothing more than a patchwork of mud, metal, and cloth-began collapsing. Cracks split through the walls. Dust choked air.
Kaal barely had time to react.
He threw himself over his mother, wrapping his body around here as debris rained down. stones, splinters, and broken support beams pounded his back.
Then-silence
The trembling stopped. Only the sound of distant screams and flickering flame remained.
Kaal groaned and pushed the rubble off his back. Dust stung his throat. His muscles screamed to sit up. He blinked the dust from his eyes-blurry and stinging from the earlier light-and tried to focus.
Dozens-no, hundreds-of monstrous figures now roamed the streets. Hulking beasts with grotesque limbs, twisted jaws, and burning eyes. then tore through the slums like paper, ripping homes apart and slaughtering the helpless.
Kaal's vision swam. But before he could move, a cold hand gripped his shoulder.
He spun around-but the light had damaged his sight. He couldn't see the man's face. Only a silhouette-tall, powerful, cloaked darkness.
The, without warning-
THWACK
A brutal kick to kaal's stomach send him flying backward.
He crashed into a wall and crumpled to the ground, breath knocked from his lungs.
through the pain, he heard a voice.
Smooth. Cold. Familiar in some distant, terrifying way.
"A hundred years... I've searched for you. And all this time, you were hiding right here. So close. Hidden from my sight."
Kaal's heart pounded. The man walked toward his mother-who was lying motionless.
"No!" Kaal shouter. " Get away from her!"
But his mother raised a hand weakly.
"Be calm, Kaal...Everything is alright."
Kaal froze. Her voice was calm... too calm.
suddenly, her eyes snapped open-glowing with divine golden light.
The same light from the sky... was now in her.
The world lit up again.
An explosion of radiance erupted from her body, as if the very core of the stars had been reborn through her. Kaal shielded his face again, blinded. The light pulsed... and then faded.
When it cleared, his mother stood on her feet.
Her form was cloaked in a long, black robe that concealed her body entirely, but her glowing eyes pierced through the darkness. The man, now fully visible, wore strange black armor with runes carved into it-runes that pulsed with red light.
Than-they clashed.
A battle unlike anything Kaal had ever imagined unfolded before him. He couldn't see it clearly, but felt it-each shockwave rattled the ground. Each movement bent the air around them. Superhuman. Unnatural. Divine.
Kaal writhed in pian on the ground, unable to help. his eyes were still healing. His body refused to move.
Until, finally-his vision retuned.
What he saw made him scream.
The man had his mother by the throat.
She was barely conscious-blood dripping from her mouth, one eye swollen shut, her fingers twisted and broken.
"You were supposed to protect it," the man sneered. "But it seems... I'll take it myself."
Kaal shouted, "leave her alone!"
But his mother turned her head toward him, her eyes full of pain... and purpose.
"I didn't want to give this to you yet," she whispered, coughing blood. "But there's on time. no choice."
She looked into kaal's eyes-and began chanting a mantra.
Words ancient and powerful rolled from her broken lips. as soon as she finished light erupted from within kaal's chest. A searing, blue-golden aura flared around him. He screamed-not in pain, but in overwhelming energy that surged through every in his body.
The man stumbled back. "NO... not now. Shumti."
His mother's body began to crack.
literally.
Glowing fissures formed across her skin, light leaking from every cut, every pore. Than-she exploded in a blinding burst of divine light.
The man shielded himself.
when he looked again-Kaal was gone.
Vanished in the light.
---
A Few Moments Later...
The man stood alone in the ruins.
his armor was cracked, his breathing heavy.
But he smiled.
A screen appeared in the air before him- black with red runes.
[ 500,000 Sacrifices Required-
Progress: 400,000]
He turned to the burning slums-where people screamed, cried, crawled for safety.
And he laughed.
" Let the hunt continue."