Kael stared at his abyssal reflection, his own face twisted in shadow, eyes glowing with the same unearthly power that now pulsed in his veins. It was him but it wasn't. This was the Abyss, manifesting his deepest fears, his darkest urges, his hunger for power.
Lyra stood frozen behind him, gripping her blade with white-knuckled intensity. "Kael," she called out, her voice trembling, "that thing... it is you."
The doppelgänger smiled a cruel, knowing smirk. "I am what you could be. What you will become, if you keep walking this path."
Kael clenched his fists. "Then I'll walk it my way."
The mirror Kael lunged.
Kael barely dodged as a wave of abyssal energy exploded from his double's outstretched palm, tearing through the ground. Shadows lashed out, curling like living tendrils, aiming for his throat. He twisted midair, landing in a crouch, channeling his own abyssal power to counter.
Their energies collided, splitting the battlefield into lightless chaos.
The doppelgänger struck again, fast, merciless, unrelenting. Kael blocked and countered, but his mirror image was always one step ahead as if it anticipated every move.
Because it did.
It knows me. It is me.
Lyra's voice cut through the battle. "Kael, you're fighting it wrong!"
He ducked a strike, barely avoiding a blade of pure shadow. "You think I don't know that?!"
"No, listen!" Lyra's eyes shone with realization. "It fights like you. But it's not you! You're more than just power! It only knows the darkness but you have more than that!"
More than darkness?
Kael's mind raced, and then—he understood.
The Abyss was endless, a vast sea of nothingness. But Kael was not just Abyss. He had fought for everything—his people, his friends, his humanity.
His will.
His light.
He exhaled slowly, letting his power flow through him not as a weapon, but as an extension of his spirit.
The doppelgänger hesitated.
Kael smirked. "You're strong. But you're missing something."
His abyssal counterpart lunged too late. Kael sidestepped, twisting into a counterstrike, not with power, but with control.
The shadows shattered as Kael's fist connected, his will overpowering the chaos.
The doppelgänger screamed its form cracking, dissolving into wisps of darkness.
Kael stood over the fading specter, his breath steady.
"I am not just Abyss." He narrowed his gaze. "I am Kael."
The shadow dissipated, and for the first time, the Abyss itself seemed to acknowledge him.
The ground stopped trembling. The darkness around him stilled.
And from the rift, a voice whispered: "You are ready."