"When one falls through the Void, one does not descend. One returns."
— Scripture of the Abyssal Path, Verse IX
🌌 The Fall Without End
Jin did not fall through air or shadow, but through memory.
Each moment stretched infinitely—his senses unraveling, his mind splintering into shards of past and present.
Images bled together: the sky burning crimson, dragons bowing beneath a black sun, the Hollow Flame standing upon the corpse of an empire.
He saw himself, centuries ago—his face cold, eyes filled with divine fury.
He was not Jin then.
He was Kael of the Hollow Flame, Lord of the Accord, the man who had sealed the dragons beyond the Veil.
And now, that same seal called him home.
⚙ The Abyssal Basin
His body struck solid ground—but the ground breathed.
He landed upon a surface like molten glass, pulsing with veins of blue and gold light. The air shimmered with energy thick enough to drown in.
Before him stretched the Abyssal Basin, a landscape of endless depth where gravity obeyed no law. Floating islands rotated around a core of blinding luminescence—the Heart of the Scar.
The Leviathan Blade glowed faintly.
"You stand in the wound of the world," it whispered. "Here, the dragons bled their divinity to seal what cannot be named."
Jin looked around. Fragments of temples, ships, and skeletons floated in the abyss—remnants of civilizations erased.
Somewhere deep below, he could hear breathing.
🐉 The Keeper of Chains
A tremor shook the abyss.
Chains thicker than mountains rose from the depths, coiling around the Heart. Each one etched with divine seals, glowing faintly.
From the shadows emerged a colossal figure—half-dragon, half-human, bound from neck to toe in blackened chains. Its wings were tattered, its scales fractured, but its presence warped space around it.
Its voice thundered:
"The Reclaimer returns… bound to his oath once more."
Jin took a step forward, his hand on the Leviathan Blade.
"You're—"
"I am Valrath, Keeper of Chains. Bound by your hand, Oathbreaker of the Flame."
The abyss trembled with each word.
The creature's eyes burned gold.
"Do you seek redemption… or release?"
⚔ The Trial of the Keeper
Without warning, the chains snapped outward like serpents.
Jin barely dodged the first strike, but the second wrapped around his leg, searing through flesh and qi alike. He countered with a burst of Storm Seal power, lightning crackling across the abyss.
Valrath roared, pulling him closer.
"You sealed us to protect your world—and condemned us to endless silence!"
The Leviathan Blade met the chain with a ringing clash, sparks raining through the void. Jin's qi surged through his veins, mixing flame and tide until the air shimmered.
"Then speak, Keeper!" Jin shouted. "Tell me what I forgot!"
Valrath's jaws opened, and for the first time, Jin saw what lay within—
not teeth, but runes, rotating endlessly, ancient symbols of creation and destruction.
"You sealed the First Dragon, Jin. Your other half. And its heart still beats within the Hollow Realms."
🌑 The Memory of the First War
Visions engulfed him again:
A younger Kael standing before seven dragons, his sword glowing with divine flame. The heavens burning. The Realms tearing apart.
"You betrayed us," Valrath's voice thundered. "You took the heart of the First Dragon to forge your blade—and with it, you sealed our world."
Jin staggered.
The Leviathan Blade trembled in his grip. For a moment, he felt the pulse within it—a heartbeat.
"Then the Leviathan Blade…"
"Yes," Valrath rumbled. "It is the heart of what you once loved—and what will now destroy you."
🕯 The Choice of the Reclaimer
The chains drew tighter, dragging Jin toward the Heart.
Light exploded around him, voices screaming within his skull.
"Return the heart… and the Realms shall mend."
"Keep it… and war will never end."
Jin's body burned. His seven Seals blazed brighter than ever, each one tearing through his flesh like molten iron.
He could feel the truth—the choice that had shattered the world once before.
"I broke the heavens to save them," he whispered. "And I'll do it again if I must."
The Leviathan Blade ignited, flame and tide merging into blinding light. He severed the chains binding his leg, then slashed upward, cutting through Valrath's bindings one by one.
"You think freeing me will save you?" the Keeper roared.
"No," Jin said, voice hard. "But it'll remind the heavens who I am."
💥 The Awakening
The last chain broke.
The abyss erupted.
Valrath spread his wings, light exploding from every scale.
The Heart of the Scar pulsed once—and then opened, revealing a gate of pure white flame.
"Go, Reclaimer," Valrath's voice rumbled. "The path to your truth lies within the Flame Beyond."
The Leviathan Blade hummed. The air trembled.
And Jin stepped into the light.
🌕 Above, the Realms Tremble
Far above the abyss, the world shuddered.
Sect cities cracked. Oceans split.
The Broken Sky Rift flared once more, and a voice echoed through every cultivator's mind—
"The Reclaimer descends. The Heart awakens. The War begins."