The wasteland did not end Instead it deepened Each step dragged the four wanderers further into a land that no longer remembered life The ground was black glass cracked by unseen heat the air shimmered with faint waves of distortion and the sky overhead had become a broken wound its rift widening with every heartbeat leaking streams of lightless fire that twisted the clouds into impossible shapes
Koda felt it pressing against his chest the Nexus burning brighter each day the mark upon him no longer silent but whispering louder hungrier urging him to wield more than his hands could contain His companions saw the strain in him though none spoke it aloud not yet Instead they walked at his side battered weary but unbroken
Ryn walked ahead as always fists clenched bleeding but defiant his grin fixed despite the cracks in his body His every step was heavy yet his spirit burned like wildfire refusing to yield He muttered curses and laughter in equal measure as though daring the land itself to stop him
Lyra followed silent her eyes scanning every cliff every shadow her silver hair pale against the dark world Her shadows rippled at her heels alive restless and always ready Her face carried no softness her voice sharp whenever she spoke but her silence was filled with thought with calculation with the weight of things she did not share
Aria at the rear her hands faint with healing light moved between them steadying Ryn when his legs faltered tending Koda when the Nexus burned too bright She was weary but uncomplaining her resolve deeper than wounds could touch
The air grew colder as they entered a gorge walls of black stone rising so high the sky itself vanished above Shadows clung to the cliffs faint whispers echoing not from voices but from the stone itself
Lyra halted her eyes narrowing
Lyra : This place is wrong It is not natural
Ryn cracked his fists spitting blood with a grin
Ryn : Then it suits us fine wrong places for wrong people
Koda felt the Nexus pulse inside him brighter harsher He touched his chest his voice low
Koda : No it is more than wrong The rift is bleeding into this place
As if answering him the walls trembled A sound unlike any beast unlike any storm tore through the gorge a howl that seemed to bend the air The shadows upon the cliffs moved and from them emerged creatures not Abyssborn not men something between Both their bodies writhed with bone and shadow their faces stretched into masks of agony claws dripping with black fire
Aria gasped her hand rising with light
Aria : They are touched by the rift not born of this world nor wholly of the Abyss
Lyra's shadows whipped around her forming blades sharp and ready
Lyra : Then they are abominations and we cut them down
Ryn roared charging forward his fists crashing against the first of the creatures bone and shadow shattering under his strength yet more poured from the cliffs leaping from the stone itself as though the gorge had birthed them
Koda drew his blade the fractured stars within it igniting arcs of starlight slicing the darkness each swing erasing the creatures not killing but unmaking them Yet the more he erased the brighter the Nexus burned the louder the whispers within his chest calling him to release more
Voice : Erase them all devour them all open the path open the sky
Koda staggered but pressed on his blade carving the gorge into light and shadow Lyra fought beside him her veil spearing through the abominations weaving a dance of death each strike precise perfect her face unchanging Ryn fought wild reckless each punch a storm that broke bodies but shredded his own flesh Aria moved between them her hands glowing mending wounds shielding them from claws that slipped past their guard her light steady even as her breath grew ragged
The gorge became a battlefield endless the creatures pouring faster than they could be slain Koda felt his strength faltering his blade growing heavy his chest searing His vision blurred whispers filling his mind
Voice : Break free let it consume you you are not the bearer you are the end
He fell to one knee his blade dim the mark upon his chest burning like a star about to explode Aria rushed to him her voice sharp with fear
Aria : Koda hold on do not give in
But the fire surged too bright his body trembling shadows of stars flickering across his skin He screamed raising his blade high and in that moment the gorge itself broke light and shadow tearing through stone entire cliffs collapsing creatures erased by waves of fractured starlight
When the storm ended silence fell dust choking the air the gorge shattered into ruin The abominations were gone nothing left but broken stone and the echoes of their screams
Koda fell forward gasping his body shaking the blade clattering to the ground dim once more His hands trembled his eyes wild He could feel it the edge closer than ever one more step and he would no longer be Koda but something else something endless
Aria knelt beside him pressing her hands to his chest her light pouring into him her voice desperate yet steady
Aria : You must endure You are more than the fire more than the Nexus Do not let it take you
Koda clenched his fists his breath ragged his voice hoarse
Koda : If I am only the fire then I am nothing But I will not be nothing I will endure
Ryn staggered to his side blood dripping his grin weak but unbroken
Ryn : Damn right You break we break with you no other way to walk this cursed road
Lyra stood above them her shadows fading her eyes cold sharp yet softer than before her voice low
Lyra : Then do not break because if you fall I will not let the rest of us follow
Koda met her gaze and for the first time he saw something beyond steel beyond suspicion a glimmer of belief not spoken but carried in silence He rose slowly his blade heavy but steady his chest still burning but controlled His voice low but firm
Koda : Then together we endure
The gorge lay in ruins yet as they stepped from its shattered path the rift above pulsed wider darker laughing as though mocking their fragile unity
Far away the Crownless King stood upon his throne of shattered gold his hollow eyes burning brighter His armies had risen banners of broken kingdoms marching across plains drums of war shaking the earth At his side walked generals scarred by centuries of conquest their eyes hollow their bodies bound by chains of power devoured from fallen bearers
The King raised his hand his voice carrying across his halls
Crownless King : The Nexus burns brighter than ever His fire will consume him or I will devour it myself March break the world if you must but bring him to me
The armies roared chains rattled banners cracked the sound of war spreading across the land
Back in the wasteland Koda and his companions pressed forward unaware of the storm gathering behind them but the fire within him burned brighter with every step the whispers louder the path ahead darker And yet his voice whispered steady against the silence
Koda : We endure together until the end
The world did not answer but the rift above widened its hunger endless