The moment the core shattered, the rift trembled violently, as if the very foundation of reality itself was crumbling. The light that erupted from the core engulfed everything, blinding the trio and leaving them weightless in the vast expanse of the collapsing dimension.
Arin, Kaelen, and Seraph were thrown into the void, their bodies spiraling through the fractured remnants of the rift. Time and space twisted around them in a chaotic dance, the laws of existence splintering as they fought to regain their bearings.
Arin felt the burning sensation of his body pulled in every direction, his sword no longer in his grasp. He forced his mind to focus, willing himself to calm the rising panic. As the light began to fade, he found himself suspended in a sea of endless black. His heart pounded in his chest, but he couldn't sense his companions.
"Kaelen? Seraph?" he called out, his voice lost in the void. There was no reply.
His mind raced. The core had been destroyed, but what had that truly done? Had they broken the Architect's hold on the rift, or had they merely triggered something far worse?
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his chest as the reality around him seemed to tear open. The rift—what was left of it—began to close, its edges snapping shut with brutal force. Arin gritted his teeth and summoned his remaining strength, propelling himself toward the closing rift. He had to find his comrades.
The world around him warped, contorting in on itself as the remnants of the rift battled to maintain some semblance of structure. The very fabric of time was being torn apart by the shockwaves of their confrontation.
Just as the rift seemed to close entirely, a flicker of golden light caught his eye. Seraph. He reached out with every ounce of his power and seized the golden light, pulling himself forward.
The world around him snapped back into focus, and Arin found himself back in the world of reality—or what was left of it. He landed roughly on the ground, his body crashing into the hard stone beneath him.
Seraph was there, kneeling with his hands on the ground, his golden eyes filled with exhaustion. The flames around him flickered weakly, as though they were struggling to stay alive.
"Arin," Seraph said, his voice strained but relieved. "You made it."
"Where's Kaelen?" Arin asked urgently, scanning the area. They had appeared in some sort of desolate wasteland, the sky above them cracked and dark, a sickly red hue illuminating the barren landscape.
"I don't know," Seraph muttered, his voice laced with concern. "He was right behind us."
A sharp, cold wind whipped across the desolate landscape, carrying with it a sense of something far darker. Arin's instincts flared. Something was wrong. The air was charged with an unfamiliar energy, thick with the scent of decay and ruin.
"Do you feel that?" Arin asked, his voice tight.
Seraph nodded slowly, his golden eyes narrowing. "It's… wrong. This place—it's not like any other dimension we've been to. It's... dying."
Just then, a familiar sound echoed through the silence—Kaelen's voice, faint but still carrying through the wind.
"Arin! Seraph!"
The two immediately turned toward the sound. Kaelen's figure emerged from the distance, stumbling forward, his watch flickering erratically. His usually confident demeanor was replaced with visible fatigue, and his clothes were torn and singed. But his eyes—there was something in his eyes that made Arin's blood run cold.
Kaelen collapsed to his knees before them, panting for breath. "This place… it's collapsing. Everything... the timeline, the fabric of existence—it's all unraveling."
Arin rushed to his side, kneeling next to him. "What happened?" he asked urgently.
Kaelen shook his head, struggling to catch his breath. "I… I don't know. The rift—it didn't just collapse. It didn't just break. It… it's bleeding out. The Architect was never just a being. It was a part of the rift itself, and when we destroyed the core, we didn't just destroy its physical form. We destroyed the very foundation of reality it was built on."
Arin's heart sank. The Architect's hold was far deeper than they had anticipated. The destruction of the core had set in motion a chain of events that was now unraveling time itself.
"You mean to tell me…" Seraph's voice was low, filled with disbelief, "That we didn't just fight the Architect? We've been fighting the foundation of existence itself?"
Kaelen nodded grimly. "Yes. And now that it's gone, everything is collapsing."
A deep rumble echoed beneath them, followed by the sound of cracking earth. The very ground they stood on began to fracture, fissures splitting open the stone beneath their feet.
"We need to move," Kaelen said quickly, pushing himself to his feet. "We can't stay here. If we do, we'll be lost in the collapse of this dimension."
Seraph didn't need to be told twice. He stood and turned his gaze to the horizon. "Where do we go?"
Kaelen's watch flickered again, its hands spinning wildly before it stilled. He looked to the distant sky, his expression hardening. "There's a place," he said, "a place outside this dimension, outside time. If we can get there, maybe we can figure out how to fix all this. But we'll have to move fast."
Arin nodded, his resolve solidifying. "Lead the way, Kaelen. We're with you."
Together, the trio set off across the fractured landscape, the ground shaking beneath their feet, the dying world around them a testament to the price they had paid in their battle. With every step, Arin could feel the weight of what they had done pressing down on him. They had thought they were saving everything. But now, they were running from the collapse they had caused.
The sound of distant thunder echoed, signaling the end of one world and the beginning of another.