Time slipped away like sand in an hourglass, each grain falling with unbearable weight. Kaldros, fueled by the Rift's power, unleashed his demonic armies upon the kingdom. Under the red sky, silent and tortured, dark clouds gathered above like a shroud of terror covering all. El'rian and Adria watched in horror as the first villages fell, torn asunder by demons that left nothing in their wake. There were no lands or hope left, only a suffocating hatred that deepened with every breath.
"We won't last much longer. Not like this," Adria whispered, her voice trembling slightly, but beneath that tremor, there was a fierce resolve in her gaze.
The eyes of El'rian, which had been tormented by the power of the Rift since it had begun to pulse through his veins upon acceptance of his father's gift, flickered with a glimmer of desperation. With every use of that power, the line separating his humanity from the dark force consuming him drew a little thinner, until he almost heard the Rift whispering in his ear to give in to destruction.
"It's too late," he muttered, cold and distant. "The Rift's eating everything in its path. I can feel it. spreading like a poison."
Her eyes never wavered from the battlefield, where her knights clashed with the relentless tide of demons. The cries of war resounded across the fields as the last defense of the kingdom fought bravely, but even the strongest warriors could not hold against such a monstrous onslaught. She clenched her fist, knowing she was leading them to certain death.
"What happened to you, Elrian?" she asked, her tone sharp, but it was a question that tore at her heart. "You were once the light. Now, you've become something else."
Elrian's face hardened, a twisted smile playing on his lips. "The light? What good was it? It blinded me. It left me powerless, while others embraced what they truly were—beasts, monsters, the true rulers of this world. Power is all that matters now."
Adria's heart twisted. "You're not the man I once knew."
"You never understood," Elrian whispered, stepping closer to her. His eyes were dark, empty, like the void itself. "You think I've become a monster, but it's not about that. It's about survival. The world is broken, and only those who embrace the darkness can shape the future."
Adria shook her head, her eyes filled with pain. "This is madness. The Rift will destroy everything, including you."
"Everything is already destroyed," he replied coldly. "I've lost myself. But I can still save you, Adria. We could both control the Rift together. We can make a new world."
The silence between them afterward was thick and oppressive. The battle raged around them, yet for this one moment, it felt like the world had stopped.
Adria stepped back, her breath catching, as her heart hung in a balance between the man she had once loved and the evil now well-ingrained within him. She stared into his eyes, desperately hoping to catch glimpses of an Elrian that once was, but there was just a hollow within. He had crossed a line beyond which nothing would be able to set things right again.
"I won't join you," she said, her voice firm, though tears threatened to spill. "I won't be a part of your destruction."
Elrian's smile faltered but only for a moment. He reached out a hand, fingers trembling, as if he were fighting some kind of internal war. "You're a fool, Adria. You always were. The darkness is inevitable. Don't make me your enemy."
"Then you already are," she answered turning from him and the bursting heart a-jump in every step, away.
As Adria called to rally her knights, Elrian stood still, the power of the Rift whirling around him like a storm. He knew he could not turn back. The kingdom was about to fall, and with it, the last remnants of his humanity. The path of the Legendary Knight was no longer a path of light, but of darkness, despair, and inevitable destruction. The end had already begun.
The wind howled across the battlefield as ringing steel clashed against demon flesh, the air torn apart. The cries of fallen warriors joined with the guttural growls of the demonic horde as the echoes rebounded across the shattered landscape. The red sky bled onto the horizon as if the very heavens themselves had been torn asunder by the rage of the Rift. The air was thick with smoke, and the once vibrant fields were now nothing but a graveyard of broken bodies and smoldering ruins.
Adria stood at the heart of chaos, her eyes scanning the field, her breath shallow but determined. Upon her weighed the weight of command-the lives of her soldiers in her hands. Every movement was a desperate attempt to hold the line; she knew, deep down, however, it was futile. The demons were relentless, and inch by inch, the kingdom's resistance was slipping away.
She turned around to see the place where Elrian was standing, no more than a dark silhouette against the crimson-lit sky. The transformation had already begun, and the Rift was warping his mind and body in ways unrecognizable. Even the proud armor he had once worn was pulsating now with dark energy, as though it had somehow melded itself into the very power coursing through his veins.
Her heart bled at his sight. Gone was the man she knew, gone was the man she had loved; in his place was a beast, wholly consumed by that endless, unsatiabeable hunger for power, a beast which cared little what it would take to attain it. She had almost hoped that just maybe somehow he could be saved, turned again to face the light. But the darkness had already claimed him, and there was no going back.
"Adria," a voice broke through her thoughts. She turned to see one of her knights, bloodied and battered, struggling to stand before her. "The western gate is falling. We need reinforcements."
She nodded, her expression cold and resolute. "Hold the line for as long as you can. I'll be there soon."
The knight bowed, but the light of hope in his eyes had surely never existed. He knew as well as she did that reinforcements were not coming, that the kingdom had already been consumed by the Rift, and its fall was sure. She felt that truth pressing down on her chest, suffocating her.
As she turned to head toward the western gate, her eyes flickered once more to Elrian. He was no longer the man who had stood by her side. He had become something else, something dark, something dangerous. She could feel the Rift's influence even from where she stood, a palpable force that twisted the very fabric of reality around him.
And then, as if feeling her gaze upon him, Elrian turned toward her, his eyes alight with an evil glow. Another step, and with every step, the earth beneath him crackled and buckled. The power of the Rift stormed around him in dark energy, emanating from him, corrupting everything it touched.
"Adria." His voice was no louder than the wind, yet it carried in its wake the weight of a thousand storms. "You can still join me. Together we can remake this shattered world. The old kingdoms are dying. They were weak, blind to the truth. But we, we can create something better."
A chill ran down Adria's spine as she took a step backward. She had heard those words before, heard them from Kaldros, from others who fell to the darkness. They all spoke the same lies, the same promises of power and dominion, but it was always the same: the price too high, the cost everything.
"I will never join you," she said, her voice steady, though her heart was breaking. "You're not him. You're just a puppet, a slave to the Rift."
Elrian's expression twisted into something far darker than anything she had ever seen. His lips curled into a cruel smile, and his eyes flashed with fury.
"You think you understand?" His voice rose, crackling with dark power. "You think you know what it is to embrace the Rift? You don't even have an inkling of what that thing can do, what I am capable of doing with it. You think you could stop me? You think you can save this kingdom? It is far too late. Nothing is left but ashes.
Her heart raced in her chest as her knuckles wrapped more firmly around the hilt of her sword. This fight was already lost, she knew that. Still, Adria would not fall to anyone's knees, would not die before it managed to consume a little piece of her soul. Not yet.
"I will not let you have it all," she breathed under her breath, and spoke mostly to herself.
With a sudden, violent motion, she charged forward, her sword raised high. The knights at her side followed, rallying behind her in a final desperate push. But as they reached the heart of the battlefield, the earth itself seemed to shift, the ground cracking open as dark tendrils of energy rose from the Rift, reaching out like monstrous hands to pull them under.
El'rian watched, his eyes glowing with cold satisfaction. "Foolish," he muttered to himself. "They're all fools."
The Rift churned about him, and in that instant, the entire battlefield seemed to freeze-the whole world holding its breath. One by one, Adria's knights went down, their bodies twisting with the agony of it as the darkness consumed them. There were screams, but it was like nobody could hear them. Nobody was left to help.
Adria's heart broke, but she fought on. She had to. She was beyond the point of return.