Gales whistled through the loneliness of the wilderness, as Elrian's feet crunched on the rubble of the ruins, ancient pieces of the world whispering secrets to the darkness. History weighed heavily upon his shoulders; every step closer to the weapon that could end the Rift and shatter Kaldros' power.
He clutched the scroll that had brought him here, his eyes tracing the symbols etched across its surface-forgotten by time, but still whispering with haunting echoes of their creators. Anticipation weighted the air; the landscape was distorted, twisted by the lingering essence of the Rift.
"It has to be here," Elrian thought, barely louder than a whisper. The sword at his side seemed to weigh heavier with each passing moment, as if even it knew the burden that awaited him.
His gaze settled on a black altar, where symbols etched into the stone pulsed with an unholy glow. The weapon lay buried beneath it, a key to save this world—and bring about destruction on everything he knew.
Yet, the deeper into the temple Elrian sank, the heavier his heart felt. He was not alone.
Back in the hollowed halls of their hidden refuge, Adria stood over the old hearth, her eyes scanning the flames as if they might tell her something. A shadow loomed behind her, and she didn't need to turn to know who it was.
"Elrian will not return the same," she spoke to herself, her hands shaking as she traced the edge of a worn leather journal—her husband's journal, the man whose death had set this all into motion.
From the doorway, a soft voice broke her reverie.
"Mother," Darius said, his tone filled with a weight matching hers, "do you think he'll come back at all?"
Adria whirled, her eyes slitting. "Do not speak of such things. El'rian will return. I will not let him sacrifice everything—"
"But what if the cost is too high?" Darius cut in, his voice breaking with a fear he couldn't contain. "What if the Rift. what if Kaldros-"
"Enough!" Adria snapped, stepping toward him, her hand gripping his arm tightly. "You must understand, Darius. He is not just fighting for this world, for our survival. He is doing it for your father, for the future. If Elrian does not succeed, there will be nothing left. No family, no world. nothing."
Darius recoiled from her touch, his face pale as he stepped back. "I cannot lose him, Mother. Not again."
Her eyes softened, but only for a moment. She reached out to him, but her voice was unyielding. "You must learn to accept the truth, my son. This battle. it is a battle for us all. And sometimes, to win, you must be willing to give up everything."
Elrian's hand brushed against the stone altar as the shadows closed in around him, the temperature plummeting. He could feel the presence before he saw it-a whisper of something ancient and malevolent.
"You seek to destroy me," a voice boomed from the depths of the altar, a voice that rumbled with power beyond comprehension. "But you are not ready, child of light."
Elrian's heart pounded in his chest. "I am ready. I have come to end this."
The altar started to shudder; stone stirred as if alive. "You think the weapon can grant you victory? You believe that the price will not break you? You do not understand the true cost of what you seek."
His grasp on the sword tightened. "I understand more than you think."
The voice laughed, the sound sending shivers down his spine. "Then you will understand that nothing is ever truly free."
With a sudden burst, the earth beneath Elrian's feet tore apart, revealing a chasm of darkness. His legs buckled as he was pulled toward it, the weapon vibrating as if it sought to escape his grasp. But Elrian held on, his eyes burning with determination.
"I will give it all!" he screamed. "I won't let your darkness engulf us anymore."
With a surge of final will, he thrust the sword into the altar, and a blinding light exploded, engulfing everything in its way.
Meanwhile, at the refuge, Adria stood still, her face white as marble. She could feel it-something had shifted, something in the very air around them changed.
Darius approached her warily. "Mother. What is it? What's happening?"
Adria's voice was barely a whisper. "The world is breaking, Darius. Elrian. Elrian has made his choice."
And the light enveloping Elrian flared brilliant, the world around him tearing apart. The weapon-the artifact of unimaginable power-had come to his call, but at what cost?
El'rian's body bucked and heaved as his life force was sucked from him by the power of the weapon. He gritted his teeth, refusing to give in.
"No," he thought. "I cannot fail. I cannot fail them."
As the darkness began to close in, a final vision flashed before his eyes-the face of his mother, her words echoing in his mind.
"Are you ready to sacrifice everything?"
A sharp pain pierced his chest, and for a moment, everything went dark.
Back in the refuge, Adria fell to her knees, her face streaked with tears. "No. no."
Darius pulled her close against him, his own heart breaking as he whispered, "Mother, please. don't do this."
But it was too late.
The Rift had been sealed, Kaldros was defeated. but at what cost.
Elrian awoke in darkness, the weight of the world pressing down on him. He could feel the power surging within him, but something was different.
"Where. am I?" His voice echoed, but there was no answer.
He stood, his body aching from the strain, his eyes scanning the void around him. He could still feel the presence of the weapon within him, but now it was a part of him—a curse and a blessing, intertwined.
"I have won," Elrian thought, but the victory tasted bitter.
The world would be saved. But at what cost?
As the darkness closed in, Elrian's eyes slowly grew accustomed to the encroaching darkness. His heart was racing in his chest, the remnants of the artifact's power still thrumming through his veins, searing him from the inside out. The world surrounding him was no longer a world he had ever known; this was a place beyond time, a place of shadows and echoes. It was as if the very fabric of existence had unraveled with his last breath.
He lurched forward, his body unsteady, yet somehow couldn't kick this overwhelming feeling in his gut that he wasn't alone. His voice cut through the silence, soft, hoarse. "Is this. is this the price?"
No response came.
Instead, it grew colder on the air, and the darkness deepened, as if swallowed by a chasm. The ground on which he stood was uneven, a twisted landscape that, to him, at least, was shifting with each step he took.
Then a shape came out from the darkness, and
Was just at first a silhouetetto-noise of movement-caught in transient flesh, setting into something all too dark-so real.
"Elrian." his voice was low as distant-thunder growl, "Really believed to be able to prevent me? Prevent you from being at every cost for this world that doesn't accept you or ever will accept you?
The figure stepped into the dim light, and Elrian's breath caught in his throat. It was Kaldros, the manifestation of all the darkness the world had ever known, his eyes glowing with malevolent light, his skin grayish, cracked, towering over Elrian in twisted mockery of what once was.
"You. you're not real," Elrian spat, his tone shaking with an equal mix of anger and incredulity. "You can't be here."
Kaldros chuckled, the sound cruel and hollow, vibrating air. "Not real? My dear child of light, I am the embodiment of this world. You think that you can destroy me? Destroy the Rift?" His voice swelled with power as if the very fabric of reality seemed to shudder under his words. "You are but a fragment of what you once were. The weapon you had welded? It only served to bind you to me."
Elrian's thoughts raced. That weapon, once the power promised to save him, suddenly felt like the anchor pulling him closer to the deepest part of this abyss. In his chest, his heart went taut at the seepage of an uncomfortable truth.
"You were my sacrifice, Elrian," Kaldros whispered and inched nearer, his figure ever larger, yet darker. "And now you're mine."
The air around Elrian began to distort, a dream slipping through his fingers. His legs shook, his head spun. No, I won., he thought desperately, but his body refused to listen. He dropped to his knees, his hand clutched over his chest as the searing heat of the artifact's power began to twist inside him.
"No." he gasped, fighting to stay conscious. "I didn't. sacrifice everything for nothing!"
But Kaldros was already gone, vanished into the darkness, his voice one last echoing whisper. "The cost of power is always high, El'rian. And you shall learn it, soon enough."
As she sat at the hearth of the refuge, staring into the dancing flames, the eyes of Adria were hollow and vacant. The moment Elrian had set out, she knew something would happen because something had changed. In fact, the very air around them was thick with unease that she could not explain, but by now, it was too late.
"Darius," she whispered, her voice no more than a whisper. "Where is he? Why hasn't he returned?
Darius stood beside the door, his face pallid, the expression unreadable. "I don't know, Mother. But. I can feel it. Something is wrong."
Suddenly, a firm knock came at the wooden door. Adria and Darius twisted sharply, both bent to hear over and over again. Once more, there was a knock this time louder and urgent.
Her heart skipped another beat. "Who-
Darius reached for the door, his hand wrapping around the handle. The world outside seemed. off, as he swung the door open. The familiar woods beyond their shelter were an eerie void, unnatural, where the shadows moved with an unnerving self-awareness. A figure stood in the doorway.
It was Elrian, but. not Elrian.
His eyes, once bright, had sunken; his face was haggard with exhaustion, his skin ashen, life sucked out. His presence screamed emptiness.
"Elrian." Adria breathed, her hand flying to her mouth as her heart plunged into the pit of her stomach.
He stepped forward, his movements sluggish, unnatural. "Mother. Darius." His voice cracked, an unnatural rasp that sent a shiver down their spines. "I. I failed."
El'rian lay still, finally, in the void as the power of the artifact coursed through his body. There was a presence that nudged the edges of his consciousness, a whispered haunting at the back of his mind. "You have given everything. There is nothing left. Nothing to fight for."
He struggled against the darkness, the weight that threatened to engulf him utterly. "I won't. I won't give in," he muttered, his voice barely a whisper.
The darkness gave a cruel laugh in return. "Then fight, Elrian. But know this-when you wake, the world will be a different place. You are no longer a hero. You are a tool of destruction, bound to me for eternity."
But Elrian said nothing. His chest still aflame, from somewhere within him, a resistance was mustered. Shutting his eyes tightly, his mind latched on to but a single phrase: It can't end this way.
Meanwhile, back at the refuge, the night was growing darker and the wind howling louder. Adria and Darius could only watch in helpless horror as Elrian collapsed into their home, his eyes empty, his spirit shattered.
Adria rushed to him, her hands shaking as she tried to lift him. "What happened, Elrian? Tell me! What did you do?"
Elrian's lips barely moved as he whispered, "I failed. I didn't. I couldn't stop it."
The silence that followed was crushing, heavy with what Elrian had said.
"What is it, Elrian?" Darius asked, his voice finally cracking. "What happened to you?"
And then, ever so slowly, Elrian raised his head, his eyes vacant, as though he stared past them into a world beyond their own. "I-I am no longer myself. The Rift. Kaldros. it resides inside me now."
Adria's face whitened, her breath catching in her throat. "No. no, it can't be. We still have a chance. We can—"
"No, Mother," Elrian whispered, his voice low and resigned. "There is no chance left."
And in that moment, the truth they all had been blind to finally came crashing down: the Rift wasn't just a force of destruction but a corrupting force. And El'rian had become its vessel.
The first light of dawn crept over the horizon, casting an unearthly glow on the world. But it was not a beginning. It was an end.
In that moment, it dawned on Elrian what his sacrifice would really cost him. He had given everything. but now nothing remained but darkness.