There was only a moment's silence on the battlefield. Thick in the air hung the crackling tension, the lull before a storm. Then a roar of otherworldly power heralded Kaldros' emergence from the Rift as he towered above the scattered soldiers of the kingdom. An aura like a suffocating wave of darkness rolled from him, like a storm. Those soldiers who had once stood firm faltered beneath the oppressive weight of his presence; the shadows seemed to coil around him, the very air turning against them, his dark energy seeping into the earth beneath their feet.
Kaldros stood in the middle of the battlefield, an unnatural power exuding from his form. He lifted a hand, and the shadows swirled in response; his voice was deep and thunderous, echoing across the land. "The time has come," he said, his tone placid with an eerie chill of pronouncing upon some inevitable verdict. "This world, your world, has come to its terminus. The Rift will bond with your reality, and in those ashes, the birth of new shall occur. These old ways of clinging, the sense of having it under your control-" His burning eyes came to rest as if twin Etnas on the face of the lean El'rin. "They don't mean squat."
The words cut through the air like cold steel. Elrian's heart went a beat behind. For a moment, he stood there, his mind in a swirl of unbelief. His fists had clenched and his blood ran cold. "No," he thought, but the word felt powerless in his mind.
Kaldros continued, his voice holding a reverberation that somehow felt as though it emanated from Elrian's very soul. "Chaos and order are two sides of the same coin. You cannot exist without one, and you cannot escape the other. Accept this truth, Elrian. Let go of your false ideals. Together, we can create a perfect world."
Perfect. The word burrowed itself into his brain like a poisoned dart. He felt the pull of Kaldros' words, the temptation to succumb to darkness, to let go of everything that had ever held meaning. But he knew. He knew what Kaldros wanted. He wanted to corrupt him. To bend him and break him and twist him into something unrecognizable.
His fist closed more tightly around the hilt of his sword. "No."
Adria was beside him now, her voice a fierce whisper in his ear. "Don't listen to him, Elrian. We can stop him. We have to."
But the doubt had chewed at her, too. The smoldering intensity that oozed from every pore of Kaldros was so real, their forces-though strong-being just a trifle as compared with the brute force of the Rift. Yet, they charged.
Without another word, they launched into the battle, their combined strength a tempest against the towering darkness of Kaldros. The clashing of their armors against his shadow was deafening, yet the sound was not of triumph but of futility. For with every blow they struck, the shadows grew stronger still. The demons, called from the Rift, rose like monsters from the earth, terrible incarnations of terror, and overwhelmed their forces.
El'rian's sword vibrated in his hand, the Rift's energy trying to twist it, to turn it against him. He gritted his teeth, refusing to let it happen. He could not be swayed. He would not be broken.
But despite their best efforts, Kaldros was untouchable. Each attack he made sent ripples through the air, distorting reality itself. The very fabric of the battlefield trembled under his power. And in the midst of it, Kaldros spoke again, his voice cutting through the chaos like a blade.
"You cannot stop this, Elrian. The Rift is already inside you. You feel it, don't you? It wants you. It needs you."
Adria's breath came in ragged gasps as she swung her sword against one of Kaldros's summoned demons, but the creatures were endless, growing stronger with every passing moment. "Elrian, we can't win this way!" she cried out, her voice shaking. "We need something more. We need a plan."
El'rian's eyes narrowed. He could feel it, the darkness inside of him, the bitter embrace of the Rift trying to choke the thoughts and take control-the whispers, the promises of power that it called to him, begging him to surrender.
He turned to Adria, his face pale, drawn with exhaustion. "I won't let it control me," he muttered, though even while the words left his lips, a pang of doubt clouded his mind. Was he too far gone?
Kaldros's voice cut through his thoughts like a whispering serpent. "You are already mine, El'rian. There is no escaping the Rift. You belong to it now. To me. To the world that is coming."
Adria's hand clamped onto his arm, her fingers cold and desperate. "We can still fight! Together, we can stop him!" A fire of determination blazed in her eyes, yet there was something else, too-a fear that twisted Elrian's stomach.
Now, it was clear in his mind-the world wasn't just crumbling; it was being torn from limb to limb. Kaldros was not a man but an embodiment of the Rift and harbinger of its destruction. At that moment, Elrian knew what must be done.
But then his gaze fell on Adria, and he realized it would come with a cost.
"You're right," Elrian whispered, his voice barely audible. "We need to destroy him. We need to destroy the Rift. But there's only one way to do that…"
Adria looked at him, confusion and fear flickering in her eyes. "What are you talking about?"
Elrian's grip on his sword tightened. His eyes were ablaze with the weight of what he was about to say. "I have to go in. I have to go into the Rift… to end it once and for all."
"No!" Adria shouted, shaking her head vigorously. "You can't—Elrian, no, you can't do that! There's no coming back from the Rift!"
But Elrian was already shaking his head, the decision made. "There's no other way. This is the only way to save everyone."
Kaldros's laughter echoed around them, a sound that made the very air shiver with dread. "You think you can stop it? You think you can stop me? You are already lost, Elrian. You will join the Rift, just like the rest of them."
The darkness grew thicker around them, and at that moment, it was clear what this war was going to cost. The price of victory would not be his life but the remnants of his soul.
The ground shook once more, and Kaldros was gone, leaving the final words of his hanging in the air like a malediction.
"You have little time."
This battle was far from over, and with it, the fight for Elrian's soul.
Screams and clashing steel formed the cacophony of the battlefield. The sound of battle boomed in the air, but Elrian could not focus on the mayhem around him because his mind was taken over by the decision that had been made and was the only way forward.
Adria was beside him, her face pale with fear. Her eyes were wide, filled with disbelief and desperation, and she shook her head as if to deny the reality that Elrian was about to walk into the abyss.
"You're not serious. Elrian, please—" Her voice cracked, and her hand reached out to stop him, but he pulled away, his face hardening.
"I must do this, Adria." His tone was cold and detached, as though he spoke through the mist of a dream nightmare. "Kaldros is right. There is no escaping this. The Rift will take everything with it unless I go in. I have no choice."
Adria's hands were shaking as she reached out to him once more. "Please, don't do this. I—we can still fight him. We can find another way—"
But Elrian had already made his mind up. He could not hear her. The Rift, the words of Kaldros, the tugging dark energy-everything pressed upon him like an unyielding weight, pressing out the last vestiges of hope.
He turned, his eyes locking onto the Rift in the distance—a swirling vortex of black energy, its core pulsing with the promise of destruction. Kaldros had opened it, but Elrian was going to close it. He had to.
"Elrian!" Adria's voice broke through his resolve, but it was a cry of desperation now, a plea not to lose him. "Please! Not like I did. Don't. don't give in to the darkness."
For a moment, El'rian faltered. He turned to her, the fervor in her eyes enough to stop the beating of his heart. Then the Rift called to him again, the pull too hard to resist. He knew what he had to do.
"I'm doing this for everyone, Adria," he whispered, his voice cracking. "For you, for my people, for the world. You have to trust me."
She didn't say anything. She couldn't. There were no words left to stop him.
With one last, lingering glance at the woman who had stood by his side through everything, Elrian turned and began walking toward the Rift. The world seemed to blur as the shadows of the Rift stretched out, reaching for him, coaxing him into their depths.
The closer he got, the more it felt like the world itself was breaking apart: fractures appeared in the ground beneath his feet, the sky darkened, and the winds howled with a violent intensity. He knew there was no turning back. He had no illusions about what would happen once he crossed into the Rift: It would consume him, twist him, and remake him into something else entirely.
The moment he stepped into the churning vortex, waves of agony grasped him, raking his brain and body as if a thousand knives were sawing through it. The Rift was alive, and it wasn't kind. It lashed at him, pulling at his soul, trying to break him, bend him to its will.
Yet Elrian struggled onward, fighting against the darkness with every last shred of energy. He could feel Kaldros in the shadows, watching and waiting for him. His mind had also retained the demonic figure of Kaldros, a lurking specter that kept on whispering promises of power, offering him strength in exchange for his will.
"You are nothing," Kaldros's voice echoed from afar. "You shall never defeat me. You will become one with the Rift, as all others have done before you."
The agony amplified as the shadows tried to choke the life from him, yet Elrian resisted. "I won't become like them. I won't give in!"
The Rift seemed to pulse with anger, swirling around him in chaotic patterns that churned with the desire to crush him beneath its weight. Yet, in the madness of it all, Elrian's thoughts were clear: he was not just fighting the Rift but for his humanity, for that last shred of light left in his soul.
"I will not be your pawn," he whispered, even as the darkness sought to drown him. "I'll destroy you. and I'll bring this world back."
The Rift trembled. For a brief moment, there was a stillness. And then, Elrian saw it—a faint glow in the distance. It was the heart of the Rift. The source of its power. The thing that fed it, that kept it alive and growing.
With a final, despairing cry, El'rian heaved himself up one last time, the last strength bursting from his being in a final lunge deeper into the core of the Rift. But in that instant, he felt it-something inside of him shifting. The Rift was trying to take him, suck him deeper. The very substance of his existence began to dissolve, to flow away, as part of the darkness.
And then, just as the heart of the Rift was within reach, a voice whispered in his mind, cold and familiar.
"You are nothing without me."
It was Kaldros.
"You think you can destroy me?" Kaldros's laughter echoed in Elrian's mind, reverberating through the Rift like a sickening song. "You are nothing but a fool."
But Elrian was beyond fear anymore. He was through with the lies, through with the manipulation. Clenching his fists, the fire in his will burned higher than anything surrounding him in darkness.
With a single, roaring defiance, Elrian plunged his sword into the heart of the Rift. It was as if the world shuddered; the explosion of light and shadow that rent the air stilled all.
There was a moment of silence. Then, the Rift collapsed.
The earth shook while cracks spread through the sky, the frayed fabric of reality knitting itself back together. The shadows that consumed the world were drawn back; dark energy dissipated to nothing.
It wasn't over. Not yet.
As the energies of the Rift dissipated, Elrian found himself falling, the last tatters of his strength going with it. He did it, tore the heart out of the Rift, but at what cost? The blur swam before his eyes, and for one strange, wild moment, he might have sworn he saw Adria's face shining through the gloom.
But before he could reach out, everything went black.
The world was silent when finally Elrian came back around.
He was lying in a field, the sky above clear and bright. The air smelled fresh-clean, almost as if the very earth had been washed of its corruption. He sat up slowly, his body aching as though every muscle had been torn apart and sewn back together.
But he was alive. And the Rift was gone.
As he stood, he felt something—something deep within himself—had changed. The weight of the darkness was gone. For the first time in so long, he felt like he could breathe. The world was still whole.
But was it truly over? Or had he sacrificed more than he realized?
Behind him, there was a soft rustle in the grass, and then a voice—Adria's voice—called out to him.
"Elrian…"
His heart skipped a beat.
And for the first time in what seemed like an eternity, Elrian allowed himself to believe in the possibility of hope.