The air grew heavier as Astrael ventured deeper into the corrupted lands. The trees around him had long since withered, their bark split and peeling, leaving behind darkened husks that groaned and swayed in the wind. Every step he took seemed to resonate with the corruption beneath his feet, a faint tremor, like the heartbeat of the chaos that lay ahead. The sky, once a clear dome of stars, was now a churning mass of bruised clouds, swollen with chaotic energy that bled sickly greens and reds across the horizon.
The deeper Astrael went, the more tangible the decay became. The ground beneath his boots was no longer solid but instead felt like he was walking on the skin of something diseased. Thin cracks spidered out from every step he took, revealing a blackened, rotting core beneath. Every now and then, the earth would shudder, releasing a burst of acrid gas into the air, and Astrael would have to cover his mouth against the stench of rot and sulfur.
A few miles in, the landscape began to shift. Massive chasms, wide enough to swallow entire cities, marred the ground. They were jagged, irregular openings, as if the very fabric of the planet had been torn apart. Faint, red-tinted light glowed from the depths, flickering like dying embers. Astrael could hear the low, ominous groan of the earth from within those rifts, like the breath of some monstrous thing stirring deep below.
He moved cautiously around them, but each chasm pulsed with the unmistakable energy of Vaalgorth. It was not just a void; it was alive, writhing with chaos. Astrael could feel the pull of it, the way it clawed at his mind, trying to draw him In, to make him a part of it. But he resisted. He had trained for this. His hand briefly brushed the hilt of his father's sword, and the familiar touch grounded him.
As Astrael pressed on, he saw the remnants of a village ahead—small, broken structures, their walls collapsed or blackened with scorch marks. The homes that once stood there had been twisted into grotesque shapes, the wood warped and stretched, as if the very essence of the buildings had been tainted. The village streets were eerily silent, save for the occasional crackling of corrupted energy, but Astrael soon realized he was not alone.
Moving among the ruins were the villagers—or what remained of them. Their bodies were twisted and hunched, their skin a sickly gray-green, marred by deep cracks that oozed with dark energy. Their eyes, hollow and lifeless, glowed faintly with the red hue of chaos. Some shuffled aimlessly, while others twitched in sudden, jerking movements, as if their bodies were no longer fully their own. They were remnants of the people they once were, consumed by Vaalgorth's corruption, bound to this decaying world in their tortured forms.
Astrael felt a pang of sorrow as he watched them, knowing these were not the enemies he had come to fight but innocent souls who had fallen victim to the spreading chaos. He had to act, but he was unsure how. He wasn't yet strong enough to cleanse an entire village, but perhaps he could help one of them. Maybe his power could still bring some light to this dying place.
Moving cautiously through the alleyways, Astrael tried to avoid drawing the attention of the corrupted villagers, their movements unsettling in their mindless desperation. As he slipped through a narrow street between two crumbling buildings, he spotted a young woman at the edge of the alley. Her eyes, though filled with the same chaotic glow, still flickered with something—perhaps a glimmer of awareness.
Without thinking, Astrael darted forward and grabbed her arm, pulling her into the shadows of the alleyway. She struggled at first, her movements unnatural and erratic, but as Astrael gently placed his hand on her forehead, she froze. His hand began to glow faintly with the cosmic energy of healing, though it flickered weakly, a sign of how little control he truly had over the power.
"Please," Astrael whispered, his voice thick with urgency, "I can help you. Just hold on."
He channeled the energy into her, trying to force the corruption back, but it was like trying to stop a flood with a single drop of water. The energy he poured into her was barely enough to scratch the surface. Still, the faintest trace of life returned to her eyes. Her breathing steadied, and for a brief moment, she was able to speak.
"They came… out of nowhere," she whispered, her voice hoarse, as if the corruption had worn it down over time. "The sky… it broke. The ground… it opened. The world… everything… was swallowed by it."
Her eyes widened as she remembered, a flicker of panic passing through her. "We couldn't stop it. It was like… like the world itself… was being eaten. I felt it inside me. It burned. Everything… burned."
Astrael gritted his teeth, pouring more energy into her, but the corruption fought back harder. His cosmic power was not enough. He was only able to heal a small fraction of the damage—barely enough for her to talk, and even that was fading. He could feel her slipping again, the chaos gnawing at the small window of life he had managed to open.
"No, no," Astrael muttered, his voice shaking. "Stay with me. I can do more, I just need—"
But it was too late. The brief moment of healing he had given her had only awakened the corruption further. Her body convulsed violently, and she let out a scream that tore at Astrael's heart. He could feel the panic rising in her, the chaos consuming her from within as the corruption accelerated, undoing the small progress he had made. Her skin darkened, the cracks in her flesh widened, and dark energy began to pour from her, like smoke rising from a dying fire.
"Astrael…" she whimpered, her eyes wide with terror as her body twisted and contorted unnaturally. The corruption overtook her fully, and within moments, she collapsed into his arms, her body lifeless.
Astrael could feel her final moments, the raw fear and helplessness she had felt as the chaos took her. He could feel her panic, her desperation, and then… nothing. She was gone.
He knelt there for what felt like an eternity, her lifeless form in his arms, the weight of his failure crushing him. Tears welled in his eyes and streamed down his face, dripping onto the broken ground. He had tried, but it hadn't been enough. His power, his training—it wasn't enough to save her, to save any of them.
"I'm sorry," Astrael whispered, his voice breaking. "I'm so sorry."
The sorrow that gripped him soon gave way to something else. Determination. He clenched his fists tightly, the tears still flowing freely, but there was now a fire in his heart that hadn't been there before. He had felt her death, her fear, and It would stay with him, haunting him until he could do what needed to be done.
"I'll get stronger," he vowed, his voice trembling with emotion. "I swear I'll get stronger. I'll master my powers… and I'll save this world. I won't let this happen again."
With a heavy heart and the weight of his promise, Astrael stood. He laid the young woman's body gently on the ground and whispered a final prayer before stepping back out into the ruined streets. He would not forget her, nor the pain of her final moments. That memory would drive him forward, pushing him to become the champion he needed to be.
As he walked away, his steps heavy with grief, the corruption still loomed around him, dark and oppressive. But now, deep within him, there was a growing light, a resolve that would not be extinguished. No matter how long it took, no matter how much he had to endure—he would become strong enough to face Vaalgorth. He had to.
And as the sky darkened overhead, swirling with the chaos of a broken world, Astrael's silent vow echoed into the cosmos.
Astrael's steps grew slower as he moved away from the ruined alley, his heart weighed down by the fresh memory of the young woman's death. The world around him felt even more oppressive now, the corruption swirling in the air like a suffocating cloud. Every breath he took felt heavy, like the weight of the chaos was trying to seep into his very soul.
But as he walked, one thought kept resurfacing in his mind, gnawing at the edges of his consciousness. "Astrael…" That had been her last word. Her voice had trembled with fear, but in those final moments, she had spoken his name.
"How did she know?" he whispered to himself, his brow furrowed. He had never told her who he was. In fact, he hadn't spoken his name to anyone in this village. He had barely said more than a few words to her, and yet, in her final moments, she had looked up at him with those hollow, terrified eyes and spoken his name with a certainty that chilled him.
The weight of that realization hit him like a tidal wave. How had she known? Was it something to do with the corruption? Had Vaalgorth's chaotic influence somehow revealed his identity to her? Or was there something more… something deeper at play?
Astrael paused in his tracks, his mind racing. The cosmic energy that coursed through him, the power granted to him by Xal'Anar, was vast and mysterious. He had only begun to scratch the surface of what he was capable of. Could it be that, somehow, his presence was felt in ways he didn't yet understand? Could the people—what was left of them—feel his connection to the cosmos, to the balance of creation and destruction?
The young woman's face flashed in his mind again, her pained expression, the fear in her eyes as the corruption overtook her. He could still feel the weight of her death, the way her life had slipped through his fingers despite his best efforts. But now, something else stirred inside him—unsettling questions that gnawed at him even more than his failure to save her.
Astrael shook his head, trying to push the thoughts away. There were too many unknowns, too many variables in play. Perhaps it was simply the chaos warping her mind, feeding her knowledge that she shouldn't have had. Or perhaps, in her final moments, she had glimpsed something beyond this broken reality—something Astrael himself could not yet see.
But no matter the reason, the fact remained: she had called him by name, and that simple act left a lingering unease in his chest. He couldn't shake the feeling that it meant something, something he wasn't yet ready to understand.
With a deep breath, Astrael continued walking, the village ruins stretching out around him like the bones of a long-dead creature. His mind kept replaying those last moments—her voice, her panic, the way her body had contorted and twisted as the corruption overtook her. He could still feel her terror, as if a piece of her had been left behind in his heart, a fragment of her fear clinging to him like a shadow.
"I'll find answers," he muttered, his resolve hardening. "I have to."
The road ahead was long and filled with uncertainty, but Astrael knew that if he was to master his powers—if he was to face Vaalgorth and undo the chaos that had consumed this world—he couldn't allow this mystery to go unsolved. There was something more at play, something far beyond the surface of this corrupted land. And he needed to understand it.
But for now, all he could do was move forward. The shadows of the past clung to him, but he refused to let them weigh him down. His heart was heavy with sorrow, but his spirit burned with renewed determination. He would become stronger—strong enough to save those who still had a chance. Strong enough to stand against Vaalgorth. Strong enough to make sure no one else had to suffer the way that young woman had.
As the wind howled through the twisted trees and the ground shuddered beneath him, Astrael whispered a silent promise to the stars above.
"I will find the truth. I will save them."
And with that, he pressed on, leaving the broken village behind him, the weight of his vow pushing him forward through the darkness.