The blue flames of the Sunless Reach did not flicker; they roared with a constant, predatory hunger. In the center of this azure hell, two figures moved so fast they blurred into smears of shadow and gold.
CRACK.
Innominatus flew backward, his small feet carving furrows into the scorched obsidian floor. He flipped mid-air, landing in a crouch. His white hair was matted with sweat, but his purple eyes remained eerily calm.
Khaos stood twenty paces away, his humanoid form radiating a faint, suffocating pressure. He hadn't even broken a sweat.
"Again," Khaos commanded, his voice echoing off the abyss walls. "And this time, stop trying to 'push' your Force. You aren't a common peasant cutting firewood."
Innominatus lunged forward, his fist blindingly fast.
"Listen well, boy," Khaos said, effortlessly tilting his head to let Innominatus's fist whistle past his ear. "The path of cultivation in Astra Noctis is a ladder of arrogance. Most begin at the Rudimentary Realm. It has nine levels, focused entirely on the fragile vessel you call a body."
Khaos caught Innominatus's wrist. The boy felt like his arm had been locked into a mountain.
Levels 1-3 (Flesh & Bone): Toughening the skin to resist blades and the muscles to exert ton-force.
Levels 4-6 (Marrow & Viscera): Strengthening the internal organs so they don't rupture under the pressure of higher Force.
Levels 7-9 (Meridian Opening): Preparing the 'pipes' of the body to flow with raw energy without exploding.
"Beyond the Rudimentary lies the Ascendant Realm, where Force is no longer a tool, but a part of your breath. And further still? The Sovereign Realms, where one's Will becomes the Law of the land."
Innominatus hit the spire, but instead of shattering, he seemed to absorb the impact. He pushed off the rock, his body spinning like a drill.
"But I can't feel the gray light," Innominatus shouted, his voice straining. "Every time I draw Force in, it... disappears."
"That," Khaos laughed, a dark, rich sound, "is because you are trying to fill a bottomless ocean with a cup of water."
Khaos vanished and reappeared directly in front of the boy, slamming a palm toward his chest. Innominatus didn't dodge. He instinctively crossed his arms, and for a split second, the air around him didn't just vibrate—it vanished.
The blue flames within a ten-foot radius were snuffed out instantly. A sphere of absolute darkness flickered into existence around the boy. When Khaos's palm struck that darkness, the sound wasn't a 'boom'—it was a hollow, terrifying slurp.
Khaos froze. He looked at his hand. The golden glow of his skin had been momentarily drained, leaving his palm gray and withered.
"There it is," Khaos whispered, his eyes wide with fanatical pride. "The Eternal Eclipse. Normal cultivators use their bodies as a reservoir for Force. They store it. They project it. But you? You are a singularity. You don't 'use' Force, Innominatus. You consume it. You devour the energy of the heavens and the earth to fuel a physique that shouldn't exist."
Innominatus fell to one knee, breathing hard. The sphere of darkness vanished, and the blue flames rushed back in to fill the void, more violent than before.
"I felt... hungry," the boy muttered, staring at his trembling hands. "Not for food. For the light."
"And you shall feast upon the world," Khaos promised, stepping toward him. "But we must hurry. Your little display just now... it wasn't quiet."
Suddenly, the ceiling of the Sunless Reach—miles and miles of solid rock and hidden layers—shuddered. A golden beam of light, thin as a needle but sharper than any blade, pierced through the darkness from far above. It was a Heavenly Scry, a high-level detection technique used only by the Great Sects of the surface.
The beam swept across the abyss, searching for the source of the disturbance that had momentarily silenced the Reach.
Khaos looked up, his face contorting into a mask of ancient fury. He shielded Innominatus with his shadow-cloak, but the golden needle of light lingered on the spot where the darkness had appeared.
Far above, on the surface of Astra Noctis, an alarm began to toll in a palace made of jade.
"They've noticed," Khaos hissed, his golden eyes burning. "The vultures of the High Heavens have felt the pulse of the Eclipse."
He looked at the boy, then at the distant, needle-thin hole in the sky.
"It's time, Innominatus. We can no longer wait for you to grow in the dark. The world has come looking for its end... and we are going to give it to them."