The explosion split the heavens.
Anna and Kael's strike had torn through the Entity's chest, carving light and shadow into its infinite form. For a heartbeat, silence reigned—the battlefield frozen in awe, the monster's hollow core exposed.
Then the scream came.
It was not a sound but a quake in existence, like the first moment of creation being ripped apart. The Entity reeled, its vast body unraveling into countless shards of voidfire and starlight. The fragments scattered across the battlefield like meteors, each one embedding into earth, flesh, or sky.
Where they struck, reality warped.
Soldiers—both human and beast—collapsed, clutching themselves as veins of black radiance tore through their bodies. Some erupted into shrieking abominations, twisted limbs writhing, eyes glowing with alien fire. Others dissolved into dust, their screams cut short, leaving nothing but ash blowing in the storm.
The battlefield became a nightmare.
Anna staggered, wings sputtering with flame. She held Kael upright, his body still bleeding cursed fire. Elena collapsed fully at her side, her broken staff slipping from her fingers. The last glow of her light guttered out, leaving her pale as snow.
"Elena!" Anna cried, dropping beside her. She pressed her hand against Elena's chest. A weak pulse. Too weak.
"She's alive," Kael rasped, his voice shredded, "but… she gave everything."
Anna's throat tightened. She could still feel the faint thread of Elena's light—but it was fading, unraveling by the second.
Around them, the world screamed. The Entity's scattered essence infected everything it touched, and the air itself warped, bending in jagged waves of unreality.
Do you see now, Vessel? The voice coiled in Anna's skull, deeper than before, intimate as a whisper at her ear. You cannot kill me. You cannot protect them. Not with this brittle flesh. Not with borrowed fire.
Anna's breath hitched, her eyes burning. "Get out of my head!"
The Entity chuckled, though its body was broken and scattered. I am already within you. You carry both light and shadow, my perfect vessel. Why resist the inevitable? Accept me, and I will make you more than human. More than mortal. A god.
Her wings flared, trembling. For the briefest instant, the thought tempted her. If she yielded—if she gave in—she could end this war, save Kael, save Elena. No more weakness. No more fear.
But then she looked at Kael.
His hand clutched hers, knuckles white despite his shaking. His crimson eyes, half-clouded by shadow, still burned with stubborn fire. Don't you dare, they seemed to say. Don't you ever leave me behind.
Her resolve hardened.
"No," she spat. "I'll burn as I am before I ever bow to you."
The Entity's laugh shook the battlefield, its scattered fragments burning brighter. Then burn you shal
The ground erupted.
Where fragments had struck, fissures tore open, spewing black flame. Whole legions were swallowed, screams echoing as soldiers and beasts were dragged into the abyss below. The battlefield fractured like shattered glass, chunks of earth floating weightlessly before collapsing into nothing.
Anna spread her wings, shielding Kael and Elena as the ground split beneath them. Her muscles tore with the effort, but she refused to let them fall. She forced her twilight fire into the fissure, sealing it for only a heartbeat—but enough to leap away.
The world bent.
The sky inverted, constellations flickering like dying embers. Every breath was pain, every heartbeat dragging Anna closer to collapse. But she pressed forward, her jaw set, eyes blazing.
Around her, allies twisted into horrors. Soldiers she had fought beside only moments ago now screamed with alien voices, their bodies mutating into grotesque shapes that lunged at anything alive. She cut them down with trembling hands, each strike breaking a piece of her heart.
Kael tried to rise, his sword trembling in his grip. His cursed flames burned erratically, threatening to consume him. Still, he stood, shielding Anna's back with every ounce of strength left in him.
"Elena can't hold much longer," he growled through clenched teeth. "We need… we need to get her out—"
The Entity's voice thundered from everywhere and nowhere. There is no out. Only down.
The battlefield convulsed.
A massive fissure split across its center, glowing with endless void. The pull was irresistible, dragging soldiers, beasts, and twisted horrors into its maw. Even the sky bent toward it, stars themselves sliding down like sand into a drain.
Anna's wings beat furiously, her arms clutching Elena while Kael clung to her side. But the pull grew stronger, tearing at their bodies, their souls.
"Hold on!" she shouted, voice breaking.
Kael's hand slipped. She seized his wrist, her wings straining as the abyss pulled harder.
Then, with a final, bone-shaking roar, the ground beneath them shattered completely.
The three of them—Anna, Kael, and Elena—were swallowed whole into the abyss.
They fell.
Not through earth, nor sky, but through something older—through a Veil ruptured beyond repair. Shadows screamed past them, whispers clawing at their ears, their hearts, their minds.
Anna clutched them tighter, wings thrashing, but there was no ground, no sky, no end. Only the descent into ruin.
And above, the Entity's laughter echoed, vast and eternal.
Welcome home, Vessel.
Anna clutched Elena against her chest, Kael's wrist locked in her other hand, her wings straining though there was no air to catch, no sky to beat against. Shadows rushed past them like waves of liquid night, carrying whispers sharp as knives.
You are weak.
You cannot save them.
Let go.
Each voice stabbed deeper, echoing her own fears.
Anna bit her lip until it bled, refusing to loosen her grip. Kael's hand was ice-cold, trembling in hers. Elena's body was limp, her faint light flickering as though about to extinguish.
Not yet. I won't lose them. Not here.
Suddenly—impact.
They struck ground, or something like it. The surface rippled like water but held their weight. Anna staggered, wings folding against her back as she set Elena down carefully. Kael dropped to one knee, his breath ragged, cursed flames licking across his arms uncontrolled.
The world around them was wrong.
They stood on an endless plain of broken mirrors, each shard reflecting not their faces but twisted visions—Anna crowned in black fire, Kael consumed by shadow, Elena turned to ash. Above, the sky was a torn veil bleeding light into the abyss, stars falling like dying embers.
And in the distance, it loomed.
The Entity.
Not as fractured shards now, but gathering, coalescing. Its body was vast, its form both humanoid and inhuman, a silhouette stitched together from countless fragments of worlds. Its eyes burned like twin abysses, swallowing light.
This is the Ruined Veil, its voice thundered through their bones. My true domain. Here, I am eternal. Here, you are nothing.
Anna forced herself upright, summoning twilight flames to her hands. "I've heard enough."
The Entity's laughter reverberated. And yet, you will hear more.
The mirrors at her feet flared. Images rose from them like smoke—visions of what could be.
Anna saw herself standing upon a throne of fire, whole armies bowing before her. She saw Kael free of his curse, smiling without pain, his shadows gone. She saw Elena alive and radiant, light flowing endlessly from her hands.
It was perfect. Too perfect.
Her heart wavered. Her fists trembled.
All of this can be yours, the Entity purred. Take my hand. Accept me fully, and your world will be remade. No more loss. No more weakness. Just eternity.
Anna's knees buckled. She wanted it. Gods, she wanted it.
"Anna…" Kael's voice was hoarse, yet sharp as steel.
She turned—and froze.
Kael was on his knees, his cursed flames consuming half his body, shadows crawling up his neck. His eyes glowed crimson, but his gaze was locked on hers. Fierce. Desperate. Human.
"Don't," he growled. "Don't listen."
The flames surged, cracking his skin like molten glass. He howled, clutching his chest.
Anna's breath caught. "Kael!"
He staggered toward her, every step tearing him apart. "If you take its hand… I lose you. We lose you."
Her chest ached. Tears burned her eyes.
Behind her, the vision of perfection shimmered brighter. Kael whole, Elena radiant, herself untouchable.
Before her, the reality bled and broke—Kael crumbling under his curse, Elena fading fast, the world collapsing around them.
Choose, the Entity whispered.
Anna clenched her fists. Her twilight fire roared, shadows intertwining with light.
"I have chosen," she hissed. "I'll fight with what I am—not what you want me to be."
Her flames burst outward, shattering the mirror illusions. The visions cracked, crumbled, and burned to ash. The Entity roared, its form destabilizing for a heartbeat before solidifying again.
Foolish child.
The ground shook. From the abyssal plain, monstrosities clawed their way out—creatures stitched from shadow and broken stars, their maws gaping wide. They surged toward Anna and Kael, hundreds, thousands.
Kael staggered to his feet, his cursed flames blazing. His body was breaking, but his sword burned with shadowfire as he raised it high.
Anna spread her wings, her twilight flames flaring brighter than ever.
At her side, Elena stirred faintly, a flicker of light sparking across her hand.
Hope.
Anna tightened her grip on her sword, her eyes blazing. "Come then. We'll break you in your own domain."
The monsters charged. The Entity's laughter shook the abyss.
And Anna, Kael, and the faintly glowing Elena stood against the tide, defiant.