The world below was already a ruin when they hit it again. Shockwaves rolled through the shattered plains like tides. The ground gave way beneath them, collapsing into a hollow abyss where magma and broken bones mixed together into a burning sea. Cain landed first, his boots sinking into molten stone, his lungs filled with the taste of iron and smoke. Nebula rose from the crater seconds later, its body half-dissolved, half-reformed, its voice now a rasp echoing from every direction.
"Why persist?" it demanded, its shape stretching into something no longer human. "There is no end to this."
Cain dragged his sword through the molten flow and faced it. "Then I'll make one."
He launched forward, his blade cleaving through the superheated air, and Nebula met him with a counterblast of warped gravity. The air collapsed between them, sucking magma upward into a burning spiral that illuminated the battlefield like a dying sun.
