Chapter 26
The stone doors of the final sanctum groaned open, revealing a vast chamber shrouded in unnatural darkness. The air was cold and dense, making every breath feel like inhaling shadow. The walls, floor, and ceiling were lost in pitch-black void — a space where even light dared not tread.
Draziel took a cautious step inside, his hand instinctively tightening around the hilt of his blade. Ryann followed, the glow of her healing aura flickering against the suffocating gloom, while Sylas kept a steady gale spinning around them to ward off the cold silence.
From the heart of the darkness, a deep, echoing voice boomed:
*"You seek to master what you do not understand."*
Out of the shadows emerged *Marux*, Guardian of Dark — tall, faceless, cloaked in ever-shifting veils of shadow that bled off his form like smoke. His presence was more felt than seen, as if the entire room bent around his will.
*"This trial is not of strength... but survival."*
With a wave of his hand, the darkness surged like a tide, swallowing the trio. Sight vanished. The ground beneath their feet seemed to fall away.
*Isolation.*
Draziel blinked and found himself alone, floating in an endless void. The silence was maddening. No sound, no light — nothing but himself... and the whisper.
*"You failed them."*
Visions assaulted him — Mira's betrayal, the moment his comrades turned their blades on him, the agony of betrayal and death. He clutched his chest, breath ragged.
"No… I survived," he whispered, but the Void whispered back.
*"You were left behind. Forgotten. Unwanted."*
*"That's not true!"* he roared, slashing his blade forward. It cut through nothing — until he felt resistance. Light exploded around him.
Meanwhile, Sylas was caught in an endless gale of screams — voices of his former guild, condemning him, blaming him. His illusions failed him. He dropped to his knees, shaken to his core.
Ryann's trial was colder — standing over Draziel's body, lifeless and broken. She was powerless to heal him. Shadows laughed around her. Her hands trembled.
Back in reality, Marux moved among them, extending tendrils of darkness, feeding the visions. He did not strike with brute force — he attacked the mind, the guilt, the doubts.
But Draziel, in the heart of his illusion, heard a different voice — one deep within.
*"Call me. You know me."*
The *Void* surged in his veins. He reached inward — not with anger, but with *resolve*. He opened himself, not to control the Void, but to *accept it*. A brilliant explosion of black-violet energy tore through the illusion.
The chamber shattered. Sylas and Ryann gasped awake as Draziel stood tall, cloaked in a spectral mantle of the Void.
*"No more tricks, Marux."*
Marux grinned — shadows peeling from him as he summoned a massive greatsword forged from compressed darkness. He charged. Draziel met the attack head-on, his blade cloaked in crackling void energy.
The clash shook the chamber.
Sylas joined with razor winds, creating openings. Ryann summoned radiant chains to bind the guardian's limbs, but Marux burst through them with raw force.
Draziel moved like a shadow himself — teleporting short distances in flickers of void, leaving afterimages that confused the guardian's senses. A tendril of darkness lashed out — but Draziel caught it mid-air, *consumed* it, and redirected it in a devastating counter-blast.
*"You've learned quickly,"* Marux said, gritting his teeth. "But the Void is hunger. It will devour you."
"I'll give it something it's never had," Draziel replied. "Purpose."
With a final burst of Void energy, he pierced through Marux's chest. The guardian staggered, darkness unraveling around him like smoke caught in wind.
He fell to one knee.
*"You have passed."*
The darkness receded. The chamber brightened for the first time, revealing ornate carvings and a massive glowing sigil etched into the floor beneath their feet.
Draziel stood tall, the Void quiet now within him — not silenced, but respected.
Sylas exhaled. "That… was the worst one."
Ryann placed a hand on Draziel's arm. "Are you okay?"
He nodded, though his eyes lingered on the sigil.
*He had won the final trial.*
But something deeper had been awoken.
And it was watching.
---
*Trial Reward: The Seal of Dominion*
As the darkness peeled away and Marux dissolved into a cascade of glimmering obsidian fragments, the chamber began to shift. The floor trembled slightly — not violently, but like something ancient had stirred from slumber.
The runic circle beneath Draziel's feet ignited with layers of intricate patterns — forming a *six-pointed star* surrounded by a *spiraling ring of arcane glyphs*. The light was neither blinding nor gentle — it was *reverent*.
From its center, a structure rose — a *pedestal of black stone*, inscribed with the symbols of the four previous trials. Atop it floated a small, polished crystal — *violet with veins of deep silver*— pulsing in rhythm with Draziel's breath.
Marux's fading voice echoed through the chamber:
*"You have endured the Storm, withstood the Flame, stood strong before Stone, and braved the Darkness. Now, the Seal is yours — should you dare to bear it."*
Draziel approached the pedestal.
The moment his hand touched the crystal, a surge of *raw Dominion energy* rushed through him. His entire body lifted slightly off the ground — suspended — as arcane energy traced across his skin like glowing tattoos.
His vision went white. Then… the *voice* came again.
**"You who hold the Void, and yet are not consumed.
You who were broken, and yet still rise.
We, the remnants of the Primordial Sigil, recognize you."**
A blazing mark seared itself into the back of his right hand — a *sigil resembling a split circle, with six smaller spheres orbiting it*. It pulsed with Void and Dominion alike.
The moment ended, and Draziel dropped to his knees, panting.
*Sylas* helped him up, staring at the glowing mark. "That… that's not just a reward. That's a symbol."
*Ryann* added, eyes wide, "You've been chosen. By the Dominion itself."
Then the crystal split — into *three fragments*, one flying to Sylas, one to Ryann, and the last fusing with Draziel's core. All three glowed for a moment, resonating in sync.
*Trial Reward — Full Unlocked Effects:*
*Draziel – "Seal of the Abyss"*
- His Void Domain is now *partially stabilized*.
- Can form *temporary dimensional tears* for teleportation or unleashing short bursts of consuming energy.
- Can resist lesser illusions and mental attacks.
*Sylas – "Galebrand Crest"*
- His wind magic is enhanced with Dominion clarity.
- Gains a new move: *Tempest Warding*, a protective vortex shield.
*Ryann – "Emberheart Crest"*
- Her healing and light magic now burns impurities, curses, and fear.
- Gains a new ability: *Purifying Flame Pulse*.
The chamber's back wall then split, revealing a descending pathway carved into glowing obsidian.
Suddenly, from the edge of the sanctum, a concealed doorway rumbled open—revealing a spiral stairway of black stone leading downward. Not part of the trials. Not marked on any known map.
Sylas narrowed his eyes. "That wasn't there before."
Draziel felt it in his bones. The trials were just the beginning.
*Below... something waited.*