The air had grown thick with dread. A perpetual twilight descended upon the shattered world, as though the sun itself had withdrawn in fear of what lay ahead. Reazeal, still kneeling on the blood-soaked earth, felt the last remnants of his strength ebb away, leaving him exposed and vulnerable. The cursed energy he had unleashed to obliterate the Beast had left him with a jagged hole where his soul used to be. His body was battered, his will fraying like a thread pulled too tight.
Commander Lysara knelt beside him, her hand resting lightly on his shoulder, her face a portrait of concern. She had seen many warriors fall in her lifetime, but there was something in Reazeal's eyes—something that told her this battle was far from over, and he was already too deep in it to turn back.
"Reazeal..." she began, her voice softer than before, filled with the kind of empathy that only those who had seen countless lives torn apart could offer. "You're not alone in this. But you need to stop."
Reazeal's gaze met hers, eyes flickering with a mixture of exhaustion and determination. His breath came in shallow gasps as he stood, unwilling to let the darkness swallow him any longer.
"I can't stop," he rasped, his voice carrying the weight of the burden he carried. "Not until it's finished."
---
The Return of the Prophecy
Above them, the sky continued to twist and churn, the broken clouds swirling around the fractured Seals. Beneath them, the earth itself seemed to tremble with anticipation, as if some ancient and terrible force had awoken from its slumber. Reazeal had felt it before—the call of the abyss, the magnetic pull of something that had been locked away for far too long. And now, he knew it was coming for him.
"We need to regroup," Lysara urged, rising to her feet. "There's no way we'll survive another wave without reinforcements."
But Reazeal only shook his head, his eyes fixed on the dark chasm in the distance, the ominous glow of its cursed energies bleeding into the atmosphere.
"No," he said firmly, his voice cold with finality. "We don't have time for reinforcements. The last Seal is breaking. The darkness is already here."
Before Lysara could respond, a burst of pure, radiant light split the sky, crashing to the ground like a bolt of divine retribution. Reazeal's heart skipped a beat as the figure who emerged from the light stepped forward.
Jackeal.
The figure of the fallen prophet, draped in robes of celestial white, stood in stark contrast to the chaos surrounding them. His gaze, as piercing as ever, locked onto Reazeal's with a mixture of sorrow and resolution.
"You've come too far to turn back now," Jackeal said, his voice carrying the weight of countless worlds. "But there is still a path forward, if you are willing to walk it."
Reazeal's chest tightened. "What do you mean?"
Jackeal stepped closer, his presence radiating a calm, almost otherworldly peace. "The Seals were never meant to last forever. They were only a temporary measure—tools created by those who sought to contain what cannot be contained. You are the final key to what was sealed away."
A shiver ran down Reazeal's spine. "I don't understand."
"You will." Jackeal's gaze softened, filled with a strange sadness. "You've already made your choice. The Beast inside you... it's not just a curse, Reazeal. It is part of the power that once held the darkness at bay. And now, you must wield that power, not as a weapon, but as the key to its undoing."
Lysara watched them both carefully, but she said nothing, knowing that this was not her fight.
---
The True Power of the Beast
Reazeal's heart hammered in his chest. He had always known there was more to the Beast's presence inside him than he could comprehend. But to think it could be the key to undoing the very thing that had ravaged the world... It didn't make sense.
"But how?" Reazeal asked, his voice shaking with both anger and fear. "How am I supposed to control it? It's already devouring me."
Jackeal's expression remained calm. "That is the greatest challenge, isn't it? You see, the Beast is not something that controls you. It is a reflection of your own power—the raw, untapped force that has been buried beneath the surface for so long. You are not a vessel for it. You are its master."
Reazeal's eyes narrowed. "You want me to embrace it?"
Jackeal's eyes locked onto his, burning with ancient wisdom. "Embrace your true self. The darkness is not your enemy. It is part of you, and it is only by understanding and accepting it that you will be able to unlock the power within you to stop what's coming."
Reazeal was silent for a long moment. The weight of his choices crushed down on him. He had always believed that the Beast inside him was a curse, a blight he could never escape. But Jackeal's words planted a seed of doubt—maybe the Beast was not his downfall. Perhaps it was the very weapon he needed to survive.
"Where do I begin?" Reazeal asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
---
The Final Seal Shatters
Before Jackeal could answer, a piercing roar echoed across the plains, shaking the earth once again. The ground beneath them trembled, and the air thickened with an oppressive pressure.
"It's too late," Jackeal said, his voice filled with solemn understanding. "The final Seal is breaking."
The chasm before them exploded with a blast of dark energy, the very fabric of reality distorting as a massive shadow rose from the depths. The Beast—no, the true form of the darkness itself—had awakened.
It was a being of unimaginable size and power, its form constantly shifting between shadow and light, its eyes glowing with an unnatural, malevolent hunger.
Lysara drew her sword, ready to fight once again, but Jackeal raised his hand, stopping her. "This is no mere Beast," he said softly. "This is the true enemy—the one who has been manipulating the darkness for eons. The one who seeks to unmake the world."
Reazeal stepped forward, his hand gripping the hilt of Duskcarve. His body ached, his mind clouded, but in that moment, something inside him clicked. The Beast within stirred once more, but this time, there was no fear. Only a growing power, an understanding of his place in the grand scheme of things.
"Reazeal," Jackeal said, his voice a whisper in the wind. "This is your moment. You must choose: Will you become the savior, or will you fall to the darkness?"
Reazeal closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. When he opened them again, they burned with a newfound purpose.
"I will not fall," he declared, his voice unwavering. "I will end this."
---
End of Chapter 14.