The five kings walked in silence. Their white cloaks dragged across the dead earth, gathering dust and ash as they crossed the final stretch of mortal land. Ahead of them, the world ended—not in a cliff, not in a drop, but in a violent tear in reality itself.
The Abyssal Frontier. The Land Beyond Mortality.
It was a realm where demons, void creatures, and forgotten kings lingered in a place untouched by mercy or time. The sky was a constant, bruising red, blocked by dark clouds that churned like boiling smoke and erupted with violent crimson lightning. Floating landmasses drifted overhead like broken continents suspended in a dying firmament.
The five kings entered this place for one purpose: to find Jarfa, the Great Demon. The one whose awakening could tear the world apart.
King Daryon stepped forward first, his boots sinking into the blackened soil. His breath left his lips in a pale mist. "We enter on foot," he said quietly. "Jarfa will sense anything larger."
King Nipolla adjusted the white blade at his hip. "Good. The fewer disturbances, the better."
"The Abyssal Frontier looks worse than the last time I saw it," King Zanders noted, his cloak fluttering in the unnatural wind.
King Tcil didn't turn his head. "It grows darker every century. The sealed beings stir more often."
King Vareon swallowed hard, his eyes fixed on the shifting sky. "And we are walking straight toward the strongest one."
They crossed the threshold, and the world changed instantly. The ground trembled, recognizing rulers who did not belong there. The air thickened, pressing against their lungs. Red lightning cracked closer now, illuminating jagged silhouettes of colossal bones half-buried in the earth. A low hum vibrated through the ground—ancient, hungry, and very much alive.
"Stay alert," Daryon warned. "The seal is not far."
The path twisted between shattered pillars of obsidian marked with symbols that pulsed like dying heartbeats. A distant roar echoed across the Frontier—deep, ancient, and powerful enough to shake dust from the stone walls.
Vareon stiffened. "That was him, wasn't it?"
Tcil nodded. "Jarfa."
The terrain shifted, sloping downward into a vast canyon carved by ancient battles. Claw marks the size of houses scarred the walls. At the bottom, carved into the stone like a wound in the world, was the seal. It was a massive circular glyph glowing with fading white and gold light. Cracks spiderwebbed across its surface, leaking tendrils of black mist.
Beneath the seal, something moved. A shadow. A presence so immense it made the air tremble.
"That… that is not sleeping," Vareon whispered, stepping back.
"No," Tcil replied, his voice a low rasp. "Jarfa is waking."
A deep rumble shook the canyon. The seal flickered. The ground pulsed—harder this time. Then, the seal exploded.
It was a violent burst of white and black light that sent shards of ancient stone flying. The shockwave forced the kings to brace themselves, their cloaks whipping behind them in a storm of ash. As the dust began to settle, a silhouette appeared—massive, unmoving, and terrifyingly alive.
Jarfa stood before them.
He was a towering figure, as large as a house, his presence bending the air. His skin was as dark as ash, and four massive arms hung at his sides. He wore a heavy suit of black armor forged from metal older than kingdoms, carved with runes that pulsed with a deep crimson glow. At his waist hung four enormous, impossibly thick blades.
Then, Jarfa opened his eyes.
Four red eyes glowed on his face like molten embers. And then more eyes—countless eyes—opened across his body. Along his arms, his chest, and circling his head like a ring of watching stars. Every single one focused on the five kings.
The ground shook beneath his first breath. The air warped. Jarfa's voice rumbled like the cracking of mountains, shaking the canyon walls.
"Heh… it has been quite some time, Great Sages," he growled, the sound vibrating in their very marrow. "Come to challenge me again?"
The kings did not move. They did not breathe. Only the red lightning above dared to answer, cracking across the sky in a violent, jagged arc.