The gunfire had stopped. Screams had turned into echoes, and those echoes were now swallowed by the endless black.
Ashfall could barely see his own hands as he stumbled backward, kicking through rubble, smoke, and blood. The underground smelled like burning metal and rotting air. Somewhere in the dark, someone was still screaming. But that voice quickly twisted into a gargled, wet sound before fading out completely.
Then a white and blinding flash. Light poured through the tunnel like a flood. Ashfall turned his face away, eyes burning as if knives had been driven into them.
"What the...?" he gasped, his voice drowned out by the rising hum that followed.
The light didn't just shine, it also consumed.
The air grew so hot that his skin stung, and the floor beneath him cracked and warped like melting wax. Every surface it touched hissed and bubbled. It wasn't light anymore. It was a miniature sun, roaring to life in the middle of hell.
He saw silhouettes within it: shadowy figures writhing, screaming, burning before they even touched the ground. The Mythbornes, those black tentacled things, didn't even have the chance to retreat. The instant they drew near, they evaporated into steam.
Ashfall's instincts screamed at him to run. He turned and sprinted along what remained of the tracks, lungs aching from the heat. The glow followed behind him, stretching longer, brighter, until the metal rails beneath his boots turned red-hot.
He stumbled, dropped to his knees, and crawled forward, gasping for breath. Too hot… it's too damn hot.
He couldn't tell if anyone was still alive.
Lyara dead. The old man probably dead.
The others... probably dead too.Kael? That bastard was too stubborn to die, wasn't he?
Ashfall clenched his teeth. Doesn't matter. I'm not dying here. Not in this place. Not for them.
He kept crawling until something cold and wet stopped him. At first, he thought it was a wall until it pulsed and laughed.
"What the hell…?" he whispered.
The barrier stretched from floor to ceiling, a pulsating black mass that throbbed like a living organ. It smelled of decay and burnt oil. When he touched it with the knife, it didn't bleed; it absorbed. The blade sank halfway in before the flesh clamped shut, trapping it.
"Fuck," Ashfall muttered. "This wall blocks my escape... what should I do now"
He yanked the knife free and slashed again, harder this time. No effect. The surface healed faster than he could cut.
From somewhere deeper inside the tunnels came another sound: the monster's scream. It was raw and hateful, no longer even remotely human. The entire tunnel shook as tentacles whipped and tore through stone, smashing everything left standing.
Then, over the sound of her fury, came another louder and sharper noise. The sunlight was moving closer again.
Ashfall stumbled back from the fleshy wall, his body trembling from exhaustion. He could barely think through the dizziness, but even through the pain, one realization cut through his mind like a blade: Kael. That's him. That light... it's him.
He turned his head toward the glow. Through the haze of smoke and steam, he could see two figures. One of them stood tall and unmoving, shining with a brilliance that made the surrounding darkness look like ink. The twisted, monstrous figure lay sprawled across the half-melted platform barely holding shape: the woman with the baby.
Her tentacles hung limp over the rails, twitching weakly. The human half of her was half-burned, the skin charred and cracked like porcelain. And in her arms… the wrapped bundle still twitched. Still ticked.
Ashfall kept his distance, ducking behind a pile of debris. The air shimmered with heat. Kael stood before her, glowing like a man carved from light.
He looked down at her with a smile that made Ashfall's stomach turn.
"I told you," Kael said, his voice echoing through the molten air, calm and dripping with pride. "No one defies me. Not monsters, not gods. I am the one who decides who dies and who breathes."
His words bled arrogance, no fear, no empathy. Just self-worship.
The woman's remaining eye lifted toward him, glassy and hollow. She tried to speak, but all that came out was a dry and broken rasp.
Kael tilted his head, mock concern in his tone. "What's that? Can't hear you, sweetheart. Speak up."
He stepped closer, and the light around him pulsed with every movement, making his outline blur. The once-blinding radiance was dimming now, shrinking to a glow that flickered across his skin like the dying fire of a star.
Ashfall stayed hidden, barely daring to breathe. He wanted to hate Kael but a part of him couldn't look away. There was something mesmerizing about the bastard's insanity, the way he truly believed he was untouchable.
Kael crouched beside a corpse, one of their fallen men. He reached down and pulled the silenced pistol from the body's limp hand, turning it in his grip like a child admiring a toy.
The light continued to fade. The air cooled. The false sun was dying out, leaving Kael no more radiant than the faint glow of a candle.
"Look at me," Kael said softly, walking back to the creature. "You should feel honored, really. You're about to die at the hands of a god."
Ashfall's jaw tightened. A god, huh? What a statement...
The Mythborne's head twitched. She tried to raise a hand, but the limb collapsed, flesh dissolving into black ash. Her mouth opened whether to scream or to pray, Ashfall couldn't tell.
Kael stopped a few steps away, raising the pistol. His light was almost gone now. Shadows began to reclaim his face, and for the first time, Ashfall could see the truth behind the shine: his eyes, bloodshot and trembling, filled not with divinity but greed.
He wanted control. Power. Worship.
And he would kill anything that didn't give it to him.
"Any last words?" Kael asked softly.
The creature's ticking slowed.
Tick.
Tick..
Tick…
Then silence.
The only sound that followed was the metallic click of Kael's gun as he cocked it.
Ashfall closed his eyes. The heat still clung to his skin, but his mind felt cold, empty.
He could almost hear his own thoughts whispering back at him.
This is what power looks like in this world. Mad, hollow, burning itself from the inside out.
Kael chuckled quietly.
"Well then," he said, aiming straight at the creature's head, "allow me to end your lullaby."
The Mythborne didn't move.
Her baby—whatever it was—made one last, faint ticking sound.
Then came the final click of metal.