The winds over the Fallen Ridge howled like the voices of the damned.
Kael stood atop the jagged cliffside, the crimson sun dipping beneath the horizon behind him. His cloak snapped in the wind, and his gaze pierced the obsidian chasm below—a gaping maw known as the Abyss of Riven Hollow. It was said that no one had ever returned from its depths, yet the protocol's next stage required precisely that.
Behind him, Arin, Nyra, and Thorne stood silently. The gravity of the moment pressed against them all, heavy and cold.
"So this is it," Arin murmured. "This is where the path splits again."
Kael didn't answer immediately. His mind was reeling—not from fear, but from the sheer weight of what was to come.
The voice of the Ascension Protocol spoke in his mind like a low, echoing hum:
"Gate of the Hollow Depths: Trial of Soul Reflection.Requirements: Confront your fragmented selves.Entry cost: 25,000 Protocol Energy.Reward: Fragment Core – Catalyst for Limit-Break Evolution."
Kael clenched his fists. The cost was steep, but the gain could elevate him beyond mortal limits—beyond the very system's original blueprint.
Nyra stepped forward, her crimson eyes shimmering faintly. "Kael… the Abyss isn't just a place. It's a mind trap. The moment you descend, your soul will be unanchored. The things you'll face down there… they'll be you. Every failure. Every regret. Every suppressed instinct."
"I know," Kael said softly. "But I have to."
Thorne exhaled through his nose. "I've fought creatures from the Depths. Things that wear your face and whisper your thoughts. If you get lost even once in their illusions, you'll never crawl back."
Kael turned to his team, his expression calm. "That's why I'm going alone."
Arin's hand tightened on the hilt of his blade. "Damn it, Kael. This again?"
But the look Kael gave him silenced any protest. Not stubborn. Not suicidal. Just inevitable.
He approached the edge of the Abyss. The darkness below wasn't just void—it pulsed with a rhythm, like a breathing entity.
Kael activated the Ascension Protocol interface.
[Confirm Entry: Abyss of Riven Hollow?][Y/N]
He selected Y.
The moment he did, the air distorted. A ripple of ancient magic bled into the atmosphere. Blue glyphs formed beneath his feet—twelve concentric rings, each representing a "fragment" of Kael's psyche.
As Kael jumped, gravity inverted. For a terrifying moment, there was no up or down—only the overwhelming sense of falling into himself.
Within the Abyss...
Kael awoke not on the cold stone floor, but inside a memory.
He stood in the middle of a burning village.
His village.
The scent of smoke and blood rushed into his lungs. Screams echoed in the distance. The sky was torn with streaks of fire. He turned—and there, standing among the flames, was himself.
But not the Kael of now. This was Kael at fifteen—weak, paralyzed by fear, unable to save anyone.
"You remember this, don't you?" the young Kael whispered.
Kael narrowed his eyes. "I do. I carry it every day."
"You let them die. You ran. You weren't strong enough to stop it. And now… you think you can save the world?" the younger version hissed, eyes blazing with shame and accusation.
Kael said nothing. Instead, he stepped forward and embraced the broken, terrified version of himself.
"I was afraid then," he whispered. "But that fear became my foundation."
The fragment shrieked, trying to claw at his chest—but then burst into white light.
[Fragment 1 Cleared – "The Coward"]
Immediately, he was transported to a new scene.
This time, he stood over the corpse of a woman.
Elira.
Her lifeless eyes stared up at him, the blood pooling beneath her. This was a version of her death that never happened—but could have. The regret, the pain, the love unspoken—it was all here.
From the shadows, another Kael stepped out. This one older, bitter, and alone.
"You abandoned love for power," it growled. "You made her just another casualty in your crusade."
"No," Kael said, voice steady. "I chose to become strong enough that no one else would have to fall. Elira isn't a memory I run from—she's a reason I keep moving forward."
The bitter version of himself crumbled to ash.
[Fragment 2 Cleared – "The One Who Loved and Lost"]
Fragment after fragment. Trial after trial.
Each one tested a different part of Kael: his guilt, his rage, his arrogance, his doubt.
At Fragment 9, he fought a version of himself that had succumbed to the Protocol—who had become nothing more than an automated killing machine.
At Fragment 11, he faced the Kael who gave up. The one who surrendered. Who let the world fall and drowned in numbness.
Every version, every confrontation, tore pieces of Kael open—but each time, he refused to falter.
Until he reached the twelfth and final trial.
Fragment 12: The God-King
A throne sat atop a black mountain of corpses.
Upon it sat Kael, draped in gold and obsidian armor, surrounded by kneeling worshipers with hollow eyes. His aura crushed the world around him.
"You came all this way to become me," the God-King said. "Don't lie. This was always your true goal."
Kael stepped forward.
"No," he replied. "I came to destroy you."
"You sure?" The God-King smirked. "You crave control. Domination. You say you want freedom—but you're building an empire of power. One system, one protocol, one Kael… above all."
Kael didn't answer immediately. He closed his eyes.
Then—he drew his blade.
"You're right," he admitted. "But power without restraint becomes tyranny. And I won't let that be my end."
The battle that followed shattered the void itself. Light versus shadow. Purpose versus temptation.
And when Kael finally stood, panting, over the shattered remains of the God-King fragment—
The Protocol spoke.
[All Fragments Reconciled. Initiating Limit-Break Evolution.]
[You have acquired: Fragment Core – Origin of Self][New Path Unlocked: Primordial Ascendant][Abilities evolving… recalibrating foundation stats… unlocking true soul anchor.]
Kael collapsed to his knees as streams of radiant energy coursed through him. His veins glowed. His spirit—reforged.
[Limit Break Achieved.]
Back at the Abyss's edge…
Hours passed.
Nyra, Arin, and Thorne waited in silence.
Then, without warning, the earth trembled.
A column of light erupted from the Abyss, and Kael emerged—cloaked not in shadows, but in transcendent brilliance. His presence was no longer that of a warrior…
…but of something greater.
"Kael?" Arin asked, wide-eyed.
Kael's eyes opened slowly.
"I remember who I was," he said.
"And now… I choose who I will become."