PROLOGUE: The Day the World Began to End
The sky was breaking.
Not with thunder.
Not with fire.
But with something far worse.
Cracks.
Massive fractures of black and silver spread across the heavens, as if reality itself could no longer hold together.
From those cracks…
Something moved.
Watching.
Waiting.
Below—
The world had already fallen.
Cities reduced to ash.
Mountains torn apart.
The oceans… unnaturally still.
And at the center of the ruin—
A battlefield.
Silent.
Endless.
Covered in bodies.
The strongest warriors of Aetherra…
All gone.
All except two.
Kael stood alone.
Blood dripped slowly from his fingertips.
His body was covered in glowing, fractured marks that pulsed like something alive beneath his skin.
Unstable.
Terrifying.
The air around him warped, bending as if the world itself was afraid of him.
His expression remained calm.
Cold.
Unshaken.
But his eyes…
Were tired.
A few steps ahead—
Lyra knelt on the broken ground.
Her breathing shallow.
Her white hair stained red.
The radiant mark on her chest flickered weakly, as if struggling to stay alive.
Their bond—
Once powerful enough to shake the world—
Was fading.
Kael walked toward her.
Slow.
Each step cracking the ground beneath him.
"Don't move," he said quietly.
His voice carried no panic.
No fear.
Only control.
Lyra let out a faint, fragile laugh.
"You're still… like this…"
Kael stopped in front of her.
Then slowly knelt.
"…You shouldn't have come," he said.
Lyra looked up at him.
Her cold eyes had softened long ago.
Now they held only one thing—
Him.
"I told you…" she whispered,
"…where you go… I go…"
Above them—
The sky screamed.
The cracks widened.
And something enormous began to press against the broken heavens.
A presence so vast… the world trembled.
From within the darkness—
A pair of eyes opened.
Ancient.
Endless.
A dragon.
The air collapsed under its pressure.
Even Kael's unstable power trembled in response.
Lyra's grip on his hand tightened weakly.
"Kael…" she whispered.
"You know what happens… if you use that power…"
Silence.
Heavy.
Unavoidable.
He knew.
If he called it—
If he answered that presence—
There would be no turning back.
Their Soul Marks flickered.
Faint.
Fragile.
Connected to the very end.
Lyra forced a small smile.
"If there's another life…"
Her voice trembled.
"…find me again."
For the first time—
Kael's expression shifted.
Just slightly.
A crack in the cold.
"…I will," he said.
The sky shattered.
The dragon began to descend.
Reality twisted.
The world itself started collapsing under its existence.
Kael slowly stood.
Still holding her hand.
Still feeling her fading warmth.
Then—
He let go.
Darkness erupted.
Light fractured.
Power beyond reason tore through the battlefield.
And as everything began to disappear—
A single voice echoed through the end of the world.
Calm.
Cold.
Absolute.