Chapter 6: The Ruins of Valthor
The Plains were silent, except for the wind dragging ash across the broken earth.
Kael groaned, forcing his eyes open. Every breath sent knives through his ribs. His body screamed, and yet somehow, impossibly, he was still alive. The corpse of the warbeast sprawled beside him, split open by the voidfire that had consumed it.
The smell of burnt stone and blood clogged his throat.
The System's cold voice hummed in his mind:
[Status Update: Critical condition. Vitality reduced to 22%.]
[Warning: Excessive strain detected.]
Kael coughed blood and managed a bitter grin. "Could've told me that before I nearly got flattened."
He dragged himself upright, leaning on the corpse for balance. His blade was a jagged wreck, but it would have to do.
"System. Show me my stats."
The panel flickered into existence.
⸻
[Eclipse Sovereign System]
• Name: Kael (Void-touched)
• Corruption: 18% (Whispers audible. Caution advised.)
• Vitality: Severely weakened (Fractured ribs, mana strain, blood loss)
• Abilities:
• Ember Void Strike — Tier I
• Galevoid Slash — Tier I
• Voidscale Armor — Tier I (Cracked)
• Voidstone Resilience — Tier I
• Voidstone Ember (Fusion) — Unstable, high backlash
• [Locked Feature: Sovereign Domain]
Requirement: Corruption <30% for stability. Premature use risks collapse.
⸻
Kael's gut clenched at the pulsing red marker beside Corruption.
"Eighteen percent," he muttered. He remembered the whispers clawing into his skull during the fusion strike, the way the Void had urged him to burn more, take more, kill more. If that was only eighteen percent… what happened at fifty? Or ninety?
The screen blinked and faded. Kael clenched his jaw. Power—yes. But power that was already eating him alive.
The horizon shimmered. Through the haze, broken spires jutted upward like blackened teeth. The ruins loomed, half-buried in ash.
The Ruins of Valthor.
The System pulsed again:
[New Quest Generated: Enter the Ruins of Valthor.]
[Objective: Claim the Relic or perish in trial.]
Kael sighed. "Of course. No rest for the damned."
The temperature dropped the moment he crossed the threshold. Shadows clung unnaturally to the walls. The air pressed heavy, thick with whispers that slithered beneath his skin.
—chosen… heir of nothing… devour…
Kael clenched his teeth. "Not now."
The halls twisted as he walked, floor groaning beneath his boots. When light-arrows screamed from the walls, he threw up Voidstone Resilience instinctively. Blackened scales shimmered over his chest, deflecting the barrage—but the impact slammed him into the wall, pain flaring white-hot through his ribs.
Then came the whisper. Yes. Break more. Feed more.
[Corruption +1% → Current: 19%]
Kael shuddered. For half a breath, the world tilted red. The torchlight bled into shapes—Lysa's face, sneering, begging to be cut down—
He blinked. She wasn't there. Just empty halls.
"Great. Losing my mind already," he rasped.
Footsteps echoed from deeper inside. A figure emerged: a woman in obsidian armor traced with crimson runes, spear in hand. Her cropped hair framed eyes sharp as blades. She leveled her weapon without hesitation.
"You reek of the Void."
Kael straightened, though his body screamed. "And you don't smell like roses either."
Her spear hummed with lightning. "Name yourself."
"Kael. Former nobody. Current… mess."
She tilted her head. "I am Lysa, chosen of the Dawnflame God. If you are Void-touched, then you are my enemy."
Her spear darted, fast as a serpent. Kael barely parried, pain jolting down his ribs. Another strike sent him crashing against the wall. He lashed out with Ember Void Strike, but she swept it aside with a flare of crimson light.
She smirked. "Not bad. For a heretic."
Kael spat blood. "You've got a lot of talk for someone hiding in ruins."
"Not hiding," Lysa said coldly. "Hunting. And if you wander here broken, you'll die before you reach the guardian."
"Guardian?
"The relic is not unguarded. The ruins test all who enter. Alone, you'll perish."
Kael hated it. But she was right.
"…Temporary truce?" he asked.
"Until the guardian falls," she agreed, lips curling. "Then we see who walks out alive."
Together they descended, navigating shifting corridors and pulsing runes. The deeper they went, the louder the whispers grew. At one point Kael stumbled, clutching his chest. The System pulsed.
[Warning: Instability detected.]
[Locked Feature Unveiled: Sovereign Domain.]
[Sovereign Domain: A throne requires stability. Creates a territory where Sovereign's abilities amplify. Requirement: Corruption <30%. Premature use risks collapse.]
A throne. His chest tightened.
The whispers purred: Take it. Rule. Never kneel again.
Kael clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked. "Not yet."
Lysa glanced back, frowning. "What are you muttering about?"
"Nothing," he lied.
⸻
The ruins opened into a vast chamber. Runes spiraled across the floor, pulsing like a heartbeat. At the center hovered a relic—an obsidian crystal streaked with silver veins.
From the shadows rose a towering knight, its form fractured between shadow and light, dragging a jagged crystal blade. Its hollow voice echoed:
"Only the worthy may claim the Relic. Step forward, or perish."
Kael's chest pulsed with the Eclipse fragment. Corruption spiked.
[Corruption +2% → Current: 21%]
Lysa's eyes narrowed. "Your aura… it's unstable. Touch that relic, and it will devour you."
Kael smirked through bloodied teeth. "Then I guess we'll see which one of us gets eaten first."
The guardian's blade rose. Kael stepped forward, whispers crawling down his spine.
The battle for the Void Relic had begun.