The Abyss held its breath.
Even the ocean of black ink grew still, as if creation itself were waiting for Kael to break.
But he didn't.
Kael stepped forward, toward the colossal chain that held Arhaan's soul captive.
The Remainder loomed behind him, its impossible mass shifting like a broken sky.
> "Then speak the vow,"
the ancient thing whispered.
Kael's throat tightened.
> "What vow?"
The void trembled.
A thousand mouths answered:
> "The vow every prison-keeper must speak."
"A vow older than angels. Older than sin."
The chain pulsed again.
Arhaan screamed — a raw, jagged sound that tore Kael's heart open.
He clenched the spear in his fist.
> "Tell me."
The Remainder's faces folded inward, forming a single line of ancient script.
Words Kael somehow understood.
Words meant to bind him forever.
---
I. THE VOW OF OBLIVION
Kael felt his heartbeat slow.
The vow wasn't magic.
It was finality.
A declaration that reshaped the universe around it.
The Remainder recited it:
> "I give my name to the dark."
"I give my soul to the chain."
"I take the weight of the void into myself."
"And I ask for nothing in return."
Kael swallowed hard.
These words were death.
Not the death of body —
the death of being.
If he spoke them, he would stop being Kael.
He would become the cage.
Arhaan's scream echoed again.
That made the choice for him.
Kael lifted his chin and spoke, voice shaking but unbroken:
> "I give my name to the dark."
"I give my soul to the chain."
"I take the weight of the void into myself."
"And I ask for nothing in return."
The Abyss reacted like he had stabbed it.
The ocean writhed.
The dead stars flickered.
The shelves of memories shook violently.
And the chain — the first chain ever forged —
glowed.
---
II. THE UNMAKING BEGINS
The Remainder stretched its limbs upward, touching the chain.
Reality cracked.
Lines of blinding white tore the sky open, revealing fragments of the true void beyond existence.
Kael staggered as the temperature dropped.
A spear of cold pierced his ribs.
No — not cold.
Nothingness.
The Remainder began chanting in the language of the pre-creation darkness:
A cruel, broken,
static-filled tongue.
With each word:
Arhaan's scream grew louder.
The chain pulsed harder.
Kael felt pieces of himself tearing loose.
---
III. THE STAR BREAKS
Through the blinding white cracks, Kael saw him.
Arhaan.
Floating in the void above the chain, bound by light that had turned sour and sick.
His eyes were open.
And he was crying tears of fire.
He whispered Kael's name —
> "K… a… e… l…"
Kael reached toward him—
And the Remainder grabbed his arm, holding him back.
> "Not yet."
> "He's hurting! Let me—"
> "If you touch him now, you both die."
The Remainder dragged Kael forward, placing his hand against the chain.
Kael screamed.
It was like touching the spine of the universe.
Power ripped through him.
Memories tore.
His heartbeat stuttered.
Pieces of Kael — memories, fears, dreams, laughter —
peeled away like burning paper.
He felt himself dissolving.
The Remainder pressed harder.
> "Accept the void."
> "I… I can't—!"
> "ACCEPT IT!"
Kael gasped—
And stopped resisting.
He opened himself to the dark.
The nothingness rushed in.
For a moment, he was infinite.
For a moment, he was nothing.
He felt Arhaan's chain loosening—
One link cracking—
And then—
---
IV. THE PRICE
Kael collapsed.
He didn't fall onto the ground — he fell into himself.
The Remainder's voice echoed like thunder:
> "The transfer begins."
The chain glowed a deep, starless blue.
Arhaan's scream faded into soft breathing.
His form grew brighter —
lighter —
free.
Kael smiled weakly.
But then he saw his own arm.
It was turning black.
Ink-black.
Abyss-black.
The corruption spread across his skin.
Consuming him.
The Remainder whispered gently:
> "Do not fear."
"This is not death."
"This is becoming."
Kael's vision blurred.
His voice was barely a whisper:
> "Arhaan…
I'm giving you your life back."
The last thing he saw before darkness swallowed him—
Arhaan reaching toward him, finally free—
And the chain snapping.