The silver light of the twin moons had vanished—eclipsed by a blood-red hue that cast a grim glow across the land of Elaria. Whispers of an ancient omen echoed in forgotten tongues, but for Kael, this night was a reckoning.
He stood upon the highest spire of Blackreach Citadel, cloak fluttering in the tainted wind. Below, a congregation of shadowy figures waited, cloaked in abyssal robes. The Cult of Nihra—the last loyal remnants of the Old Abyssal Order—had returned, answering the silent call of their King.
"I was told you were dead," one of the elder cultists said, kneeling as his hood fell back, revealing a pale face etched with eldritch runes.
"Death is a doorway," Kael replied coldly, eyes glowing faintly with blue flame. "And I chose to return."
The elder nodded slowly. "Then the time has come."
Kael raised his hand, and in his palm glowed the shattered fragment of the Abyssal Core—the heart of the old world. It pulsed with hunger and memory, resonating with the blood moon above. The cultists began chanting in a language long buried, their voices weaving through the wind like ghostly threads.
Above them, a crimson sigil took shape in the sky—a circular pattern of shifting runes and monstrous eyes. The Blood Moon Pact had begun.
But it wasn't just a ritual. It was a challenge.
As the sky trembled, a ripple burst through reality—and from it, descended an astral being wrapped in chains of light. An Arbiter of the Celestial Council.
"You have no dominion over the heavens, Abyss King," the Arbiter thundered.
"I don't seek dominion," Kael replied, unsheathing the Voidfang Blade. "Only balance. One corrupted by your kind."
With a cry of divine wrath, the Arbiter descended, blades of starlight forming in each hand. The cultists fell back as the spire erupted in a duel of light and darkness. Sparks of celestial gold clashed with shadowy void strikes, shaking the entire citadel.
Kael moved like smoke and flame, his every step echoing the rhythm of the abyss. The Arbiter struck fiercely, slashing through the stone with holy fire—but Kael was relentless. Each blow he landed weakened the Arbiter's form, drawing more power from the blood moon above.
Then Kael whispered a forbidden word.
The Abyss surged up from the depths, forming spectral arms that grabbed the Arbiter's limbs, holding him still.
"For every kingdom you shattered in the name of purity," Kael growled, driving his blade through the Arbiter's core, "this is justice."
The celestial being screamed and shattered into radiant shards, which were consumed by the Abyss.
Silence fell.
Kael turned to the cultists. "The pact is sealed. The Celestials will come. We are no longer hiding."
"What now, my King?" the elder asked.
Kael looked to the blood moon, his expression unreadable. "We awaken the Abyssal Titans. If they want war… then war shall echo."
The chapter closed with a tremor shaking the land. Far to the north, beneath the sleeping glaciers of Nyrrath, something ancient stirred—an eye opened in the dark, glowing with a fire older than the stars.