The moment Kai's hand touched the shard, a cataclysmic wave of energy erupted. Time itself seemed to tear, fracture, and warp as though the very threads holding the multiverse together were coming undone. For a heartbeat, Kai felt as though he were standing on the precipice of oblivion, with the weight of countless timelines pressing against him. His vision blurred, flickering between the past, present, and future. Every possible outcome of his actions stretched out before him—some ending in victory, others in death.
But then, as quickly as the eruption began, it stopped.
Kai's body was thrown backward, crashing into the jagged rocks surrounding the heart of the rift. Pain exploded in his chest, but his senses quickly sharpened, and he scrambled to his feet, clutching the shard tightly in his hand. The power of it still pulsed through him, threatening to consume him from the inside out.
"Aeris! Lorin! Sera!" Kai shouted, looking frantically around for his companions.
"Here," Aeris's voice came from the distance, strained and faint. "Kai, get up! You're not the only one feeling this."
Kai turned, his heart pounding as he saw his friends emerging from the swirling chaos, battered but alive. Lorin was the first to reach him, helping him to steady himself. The man's usual gruff demeanor was replaced with something akin to concern.
"You're insane," Lorin said, eyes wide as he looked at the shard. "Do you have any idea what that thing could've done to you?"
"I don't have time to explain," Kai muttered, his gaze locked on the glowing fragment of power in his hand. The shard now pulsed with an eerie black-and-white glow, its corruption at odds with the bright aura it once emitted. It felt… unstable.
The world around them seemed to shift, as if the very ground beneath their feet was becoming unmoored. The rift had not closed—it had merely been shifted, transformed into something even more volatile.
"We need to get out of here," Aeris said, her voice rising in urgency as she grabbed Kai by the arm. "Now."
Before anyone could respond, the air around them began to hum. A low, ominous sound echoed through the rift as something massive began to emerge from the cracks in the fabric of time. Kai's eyes widened as he saw the silhouette of a colossal creature, its form shifting and stretching, distorting with every moment. The Temporal Leviathan, a creature of pure time energy, was waking.
"We're not leaving yet," a chilling voice boomed through the rift, and Kai's heart skipped a beat.
Nihil.
The figure of the dark lord emerged from the shifting shadows, his crimson eyes glowing with malice. Behind him, the Temporal Leviathan rumbled, its massive form thrashing violently as it was bound to Nihil's will. The creature's eyes glinted with predatory intent, and the very air around it distorted. It was an abomination, a monstrosity woven from the fabric of time itself, and Nihil stood at its helm.
"You," Nihil sneered, his voice like a blade cutting through the chaos. "You truly think you can stop the inevitable? All you've done is trigger the collapse. The shard is mine, Kai. You are merely a pawn in this game."
Kai felt the weight of Nihil's words, the gravity of the situation sinking in. The rift they were in was more than just a realm—it was a breach in the multiverse itself, and the Temporal Leviathan was feeding off the fractured time streams. The more they struggled, the more the creature grew stronger.
"We won't let you take it!" Aeris shouted, her daggers flashing as she prepared to strike.
Nihil's lips curled into a smirk. "You have no choice but to fight. And I welcome it. You see, Kai, the Worldstone isn't just about balance—it's a tool to reshape reality. This shattered existence, these fractured timelines, they're all part of a greater design. One that you'll never understand."
Kai stood tall, his mind racing. The shard, despite its corruption, could still be the key to stopping Nihil—but not if they kept fighting in the midst of this rift. They needed a plan—something that would give them a chance to take control of the situation.
"The shard's power is a double-edged sword," Sera said, her voice quiet but clear in Kai's mind. "It can either mend the fractures or tear everything apart. We need to purify it, but doing so might have irreversible consequences."
"Then we'll deal with the consequences," Kai said firmly. "We can't let him control this."
With a nod, he turned to face Nihil, his resolve solidifying. "You'll never have the Worldstone, Nihil. Not as long as I stand."
Nihil chuckled darkly. "A boy who plays with forces beyond his understanding. You think you have the power to stop me?"
Before Kai could answer, the Temporal Leviathan lunged forward, its massive maw opening wide, aiming to devour them all in one monstrous bite.
In a blur of motion, Kai drew his sword and infused it with the last of Sera's energy. The blade crackled with power as he faced the beast head-on.
"Move!" Kai yelled to his friends.
Aeris and Lorin immediately took action, distracting the Leviathan with a barrage of strikes, while Kai charged forward, leading the charge. The rift around them twisted violently as he swung his sword at the beast, the blade glowing as it cut through the creature's massive form. Time seemed to freeze around the impact, as if reality itself was forced to bend to Kai's will.
But the Leviathan was relentless. Each swing of the sword felt like it was draining him, the power of the shard within him too unstable to control for long.
"Kai, you're running on empty," Sera warned. "We need to purify the shard now—while you still can."
"Purify it?" Kai muttered under his breath, his movements growing slower with each passing second. The rift around him seemed to pulse, as if it were pulling him deeper into its chaotic grasp.
The Temporal Leviathan roared again, and this time, the entire rift quaked with its power. Time fragmented, splitting open like a shattered mirror. Images of possible futures flashed before Kai's eyes, some of them showing his friends falling, some of them showing him dead.
"No," Kai whispered, gritting his teeth against the vision. "I refuse."
He reached for the shard with everything he had left. The surge of energy that followed was like a shockwave, a flood of pure, unstable power coursing through his body. His vision blurred, but he could feel the shard beginning to respond—its black-and-white light flickering as it started to heal itself.
But just as quickly, Nihil appeared beside him, a twisted grin on his face.
"Too late," Nihil spat. "The fracture is already complete. The timelines are collapsing."
Kai's heart thundered as the last remnants of his strength surged. The shard's energy exploded in his hand, and with it, everything—the rift, the creature, Nihil—was consumed by a brilliant flash of light.
To Be Continued...