The night after Eshara's siege was not silent.
It was listening.
In the war-torn halls of Arkhor's great fortress, torches flickered uneasily.
The banners of victory hung heavy with smoke.
The air reeked of steel, blood… and something older.
Varkul Dravonn stood alone in the war chamber, armor still stained with battle ash.
Maps lay torn across the table.
He traced the frontlines with one gauntleted finger, muttering to himself:
> "The Empress stood where gods would fall… and still she trembles.
She believes mercy is strength.
I will show her what strength truly means."
But even as he spoke, the shadows along the stone walls moved.
---
I. THE VISITOR IN THE DARK
The candles dimmed.
The war banners trembled.
A whisper slithered through the room.
> "You call yourself the War-Lord of Mortals.
But mortals do not command shadows."
Varkul turned, spear half-raised.
"Show yourself."
The whisper laughed — soft, almost curious.
A figure emerged from the darkness:
a woman draped in torn celestial silk, her eyes like broken stars.
> "Once," she said, "I served the Throne you despised.
When it fell, I fell with it.
Now I serve nothing — only power."
Varkul narrowed his eyes.
"You're one of the Fallen."
She smiled, cruel and beautiful.
"Not anymore. I am Velistra, Voice of the Abyss."
---
II. THE OFFER
Velistra circled him like smoke.
"You wage war to claim this world. Admirable. But your reach is small. Mortal. Temporary."
Varkul snorted.
"Then I'll expand it."
"Not without help."
She waved a hand — and the shadows of the chamber came alive.
From them rose specters of the fallen: warriors, angels, beasts, all bound by black flame.
"Do you know what lingers beneath this realm?" she asked.
"The remains of the old Heaven — devoured by something far older than your gods."
Varkul's voice hardened.
"I do not bow to old powers."
Velistra's smile widened.
"Not bow. Use.
You seek to rule mortals.
But what if you could command the very essence of creation that once enslaved them?"
Her hand extended — a burning sigil forming in her palm.
"The Abyss offers you what the Star-God cannot: the power to reshape the world as you see fit."
---
III. THE TEST
Varkul stared at her for a long moment.
Then, without warning, he drove his spear through her heart.
The weapon hit nothing — only shadow.
Her voice echoed from behind him.
"Good," she purred.
"You do not trust easily."
The spear reformed in her hand — glowing with black fire.
"Keep it. It now bears the mark of the Abyss.
Your armies will march with shadows at their side."
Varkul clenched his jaw.
"I take your gift, not your command."
"Of course," Velistra whispered, eyes glinting.
"But remember — every gift from the Abyss leaves a door open."
And then she was gone, leaving only cold air and the faint hum of unseen power.
---
IV. THE SHADOW LEGION
By dawn, Arkhor's camps stirred.
Soldiers murmured about strange movements in the fog — voices whispering orders from unseen mouths.
Their weapons gleamed with faint, unnatural light.
When Varkul appeared before them, his armor was darker — his presence heavier.
"Brothers," he said, his voice echoing with more than mortal resonance,
"the gods had their chance.
Now, the world is ours.
And soon… even the heavens will kneel."
The army roared.
But among them, the shadows moved with them, imitating their every step.
---
V. THE STAR'S WARNING
Far above, in the endless dark, Arhaan felt it.
Something was stirring in the cracks of reality — a familiar corruption, older than even the Arbiter's silence.
His light flared sharply.
Kael looked up from Heaven's gates, alarmed.
"Brother? What do you see?"
Arhaan's light pulsed twice, sending a faint echo across the cosmos.
Selara closed her eyes.
"He's saying… the darkness isn't gone."
Kael's expression hardened.
"Then the next war won't be between gods and men."
He gripped his spear.
"It'll be between creation and what came before it."
---
VI. THE WARLORD'S DREAM
That night, as Varkul slept, he dreamed of the sky bleeding black.
Chains of light fell from above, wrapping the world, tightening, cracking — until everything shattered into dust.
From that dust rose a crown of darkness, whispering his name.
> "Varkul Dravonn.
The mortal who dares to rule the ashes of Heaven.
Come to us.
Become more than man."
He awoke breathless, eyes glowing faintly with Abyssal fire.
And somewhere in the void,
Velistra smiled.