The abyss pulsed with unseen energy, each heartbeat of the void pressing against Reinhardt's chest like an invisible force. The entity before them remained motionless on its throne of bone and obsidian, its hollow gaze stripping away all pretense.
Selene stood tall, her posture unwavering despite the weight of the unknown pressing against her. "I will pay the cost," she declared, her voice steady.
The entity tilted its head, shadows writhing in response. "Even if the price is your soul?"
Reinhardt's breath hitched. He stepped forward instinctively, placing himself slightly between Selene and the figure. "She will pay nothing until we know what we are bargaining for."
A deep, echoing chuckle rumbled through the void. "You misunderstand, knight. The price is not mine to set. The truth you seek demands its own tribute."
The mist thickened, rising in tendrils around them. Reinhardt barely had time to react before the world shattered.
The darkness fell away.
He blinked, his surroundings no longer the abyss but something far more familiar. Stone walls rose around him—the great hall of the Order. Torches flickered along the walls, casting eerie shadows. A memory.
And there, in the center of it all, stood his younger self.
The moment hit Reinhardt like a blade to the gut. He knew this place. He knew this day. It was the day he had first met the Grand Inquisitor.
He watched as his past self kneeled before the man, taking the oath that would chain him for years. "I swear my loyalty to the Order and to the cause of justice," his own voice echoed through time.
But now, standing outside the memory, Reinhardt saw what he had missed back then.
The Grand Inquisitor had smiled, but his eyes had been calculating. The knights who stood around them had not been proud; they had been watching.
And behind them, half-hidden in the flickering light, stood the shadowed figure of the abyssal entity.
Reinhardt's blood ran cold.
"You were there," he whispered.
The vision shattered, and he was back in the void. The entity's form pulsed, shifting like smoke.
"You have always belonged to me, Reinhardt."
Selene's eyes widened. "No—"
But Reinhardt already knew. The truth had been revealed.
And now, it could not be forgotten.