The rift loomed in the sky like a jagged wound, bleeding violet light into the battlefield. Its pulse was erratic, as if something monstrous was forcing its way through. The ground beneath their feet trembled, cracking apart as streams of dark energy seeped upward like smoke from the underworld.
Aegis stood at the edge of the broken cliff, his sword dripping with black ichor from the last Voidspawn he had felled. His armor shimmered faintly, warding off the corruption in the air, but even he could feel its pull gnawing at his mind.
Behind him, Mira fired a volley of blazing arrows into the swarm of shadow-creatures scaling the cliff. "We can't hold them forever!" she shouted, loosing another arrow that exploded into a ring of flame. "Russ—what's the plan?"
Russ didn't answer immediately. His gaze was fixed on the rift, eyes narrowing. Through the swirling light, he could see a silhouette—tall, humanoid, crowned with writhing tendrils. The Heir was coming.
"We end it here," Russ said at last, his voice carrying a cold finality. "Aegis, keep the spawn off us. Mira, aim for the rift's stabilizers—those black crystal spires. If we break them, the portal collapses."
Mira smirked despite the chaos. "Easy enough." She leapt onto a jagged outcrop, her bow glowing as she drew back an arrow infused with pure sunlight. The shot streaked across the battlefield, piercing one of the spires. It shattered with a deafening crack, sending ripples through the rift.
The shadow-creatures screamed, their forms twisting in pain. But the Heir's silhouette only grew clearer.
Russ surged forward, his blade wreathed in azure flame. He hacked through a wall of shrieking Voidspawn, each slash releasing bursts of light that tore their forms apart. The air was thick with the stench of burning shadow.
Aegis slammed his shield into the ground, conjuring a dome of radiant energy that slowed the advancing horde. "Move, Russ!" he barked. "I can't hold this wall forever!"
Russ sprinted toward the central spire, dodging tendrils of darkness that whipped from the rift. One grazed his side, searing through armor and flesh, but he didn't slow. With a roar, he drove his sword into the base of the spire. A shockwave of light erupted, blasting nearby enemies into ash. The spire cracked, then collapsed, its fragments dissolving into nothing.
The rift howled. The Heir's form lurched forward, one clawed hand breaching the tear in reality.
"Last one!" Mira shouted. She fired a triple shot, each arrow finding its mark on the final stabilizer. It shattered, sending another violent shudder through the portal.
But instead of closing, the rift flared brighter—unstable, raging. The Heir forced its way halfway through, its void-crown scraping the edges of the tear. Its voice was a guttural chorus: "CHILDREN OF LIGHT… KNEEL."
Russ didn't kneel. He charged. "Back to the abyss!" he roared, leaping high and bringing his blade down on the Heir's reaching arm. Azure fire exploded, severing it at the elbow. The creature screamed, the sound ripping through their skulls.
Aegis hurled his shield like a blazing comet, slamming it into the Heir's chest. The force drove the monster backward into the rift.
Mira's final arrow, burning with pure sunlight, struck the rift's core. Light engulfed everything.
When the brilliance faded, the rift was gone. Only drifting motes of light remained.
Russ exhaled, lowering his sword. "It's over," he said, though his tone carried doubt.
Because somewhere deep in the shadows, the Heir's voice still whispered.