The sky was an iron-grey canvas, stretching endlessly above the scarred ruins of what once was a thriving region. The van, sleek and heavily modified with experimental tech, hummed quietly as it sped down a fractured highway. Debris from collapsed buildings littered both sides of the road. The ghosts of trees—burnt, uprooted, twisted—cast their skeletal shadows across the road in the late dusk light.
Kazimir sat quietly in the back, facing Riah, his knees apart and arms resting on his thighs. Tyrone was beside him, tension radiating from his otherwise relaxed posture. Across from them, Riah leaned back in her seat with poise, the fading light catching the red of her eyes. The air was still.
The driver looked through the rearview mirror. "All systems are green. We're ready to depart. Destination: Central Capriha."
Riah gave a single, solemn nod. "Go ahead."
The engine revved gently, and the van lurched forward—toward a land Kazimir once promised never to return to.
Through the tinted window, Kazimir watched the devastation roll past. Shattered homes. Abandoned vehicles. Cities collapsed into their own skeletons. Nature burned away. All still reeling from his battle.
And yet he remained silent.
Kazimir's Inner Monologue:
Humanity feared me. I used to hate them for that. I thought it was cowardice—their blind willingness to follow Ingress's lies just to escape a shadow of a possibility… That one day, I might turn on them.
Now, I understand that fear.
But to try and erase me… to eliminate a future where I might betray them, instead of trusting me? That wasn't caution… it was madness.
Ingress wasn't wrong. I am a threat to this world. My power—this Imaginary Essence—it is both salvation and apocalypse. A blade without a handle.
Do I destroy in order to protect... or protect in order to destroy?
Whatever the answer is, I know this: my ties to humanity are gone.
The Astral Legion? I won't annihilate them... but I won't serve them either. Not anymore. Solaris is dead. The alliance with the angels died with him.
Only one angel still matters to me.
Riah.
The rest of the world… let it burn or rebuild. It's no longer my concern. I don't seek destruction—but I won't hesitate to crush anything that threatens peace.
Riah turned toward him, her eyes glinting with gentle concern. "Kaz," she said softly, her voice like a balm over fresh wounds. "Why are you so quiet?"
He finally looked at her. There was distance in his gaze, as if he were still seeing the ruins outside. "Just thinking," he murmured. "When I see all this… what I caused by losing control of my Imaginary Essence… I can't help but wonder how much horror they must have endured. The ones who didn't survive... all across the globe."
Tyrone's eyes flickered with discomfort. He stayed quiet.
Kazimir continued, his voice lower now. "Ingress... He was insane. But the cause he believed in? It was for humanity's future. Maybe even its survival. But that damn Imaginary Essence I carry—the same DNA he infused into himself—drove him into madness. Made him a monster."
Riah reached out and gently took his hand. "Don't say that. Yes, you both were in the wrong... but you tried to stop him. That's all you could do."
She looked down. "If anyone's to blame, it's me. I let you carry that burden alone. I should have been the one to stop Ingress—not you. If I had… maybe this world wouldn't be teetering on the edge of collapse."
Kazimir dropped his gaze. "Looking at Capriha now, I finally understand why they say I shouldn't exist. Maybe they're right."
Tyrone finally spoke. "I won't lie, Kaz. Seeing you unleash that... whatever it was—it was terrifying. It felt like someone else entirely. Like you were gone."
Riah hesitated, then asked: "Kaz… I've seen Maw of the End before, but what you unleashed back there wasn't the same. It was darker. Stronger. What was that?"
Kazimir took a slow breath, as though the very memory burned his lungs.
"I don't know," he admitted. "That state... it took something from me. I can't remember much. Just... a voice."
Riah blinked. "A voice?"
Tyrone leaned forward. "Whose voice?"
Kazimir met Riah's eyes, and the weight behind his next words seemed to fill the entire van with cold.
"Nebula's."
Riah stiffened. Her grip on his hand tightened.
"I never told you this," Kazimir continued, his voice just above a whisper, "but I've been battling her erosion for a while now. It's constant. She whispers. She tempts. She... waits."
Tyrone sat up straighter. "You're saying she's trying to take over?"
Kazimir nodded. "And that's why I pushed the Astral Legion and Prismic Gathering to grow stronger without me. I needed them to stop depending on me."
He looked at both of them now, voice heavy.
"Imaginary Essence... it's poison in the wrong hands. Look what it did to Ingress."
Then, with chilling finality:
"If the day comes... when I lose that battle with her. If Nebula takes over... I want you to kill me Riah."
Silence.
The road ahead was long. But the shadows in the van felt longer.
Riah looked away, tears burning in her eyes that refused to fall.
Tyrone clenched his fists.
Kazimir leaned back, closing his eyes for a moment—not to rest, but to brace himself for the war that hadn't yet begun.
The van drove on. Toward Capriha. Toward the unknown.
Toward the moment fate would call again.