The wind howled across the ruins, carrying the stench of burnt stone and shadowfire. Ash drifted like snow, settling on broken columns that had once belonged to the Temple of Radiance. I could still feel the echo of the explosion that had split the ground—an ache that pulsed in my bones.
Liora stood beside me, her silver hair wild from the wind, her staff glowing faintly with runes of fading light. Her eyes, usually calm, were locked ahead—frozen in disbelief.
From the mist stepped a figure clad in black armor, each plate carved with lines that shimmered red like blood drawn under moonlight. The mist recoiled around him, as though afraid to touch his form. His presence weighed down on the world itself.
"So," he said, voice cold as steel, "the heir of Dusk finally rises."
Liora took a trembling step forward. "No… it can't be you."
He smiled—a cruel, familiar curve that twisted something deep in my chest. "Did you really think death could hold me, sister?"
The words cut the silence like a blade.
Liora's grip tightened around her staff. "Raven…" she whispered.
Her brother. The one she had buried three years ago after the War of the Abyss. The one who had died saving her.
And yet he stood here now—eyes glowing red, the sigil of Dusk burning across his gauntlet.
My mind spun. How could this be possible?
"Raven of the Dusk," I said, stepping forward, my hand on my sword. "How are you alive?"
He turned his gaze to me, and for a heartbeat, the entire world dimmed. I could feel his power pressing against my soul, heavy and suffocating.
"Alive?" he echoed. "No. The dead do not return. They are remade."
Liora raised her staff. "What have they done to you?"
"What I have done to myself," Raven replied. "The gods offered nothing but silence. The shadows listened."
The moment his words ended, the ground trembled.
Dark tendrils erupted from the cracked floor, lashing toward us.
"Move!" I shouted, pulling Liora back as the first tendril sliced through where she had stood. My sword—Ardent Edge—flared with fire as I swung, cleaving through the darkness. The impact burned through my arm, but the tendril evaporated in a burst of red flame.
Raven's laughter echoed, sharp and hollow. "Fire and shadow. Dusk and dawn. You think your light can burn away eternity?"
"Try me!" I snarled.
Liora raised her staff beside me, and light burst forth—pure, blinding, radiant. The mist burned away, revealing a circle of runes glowing beneath Raven's feet.
"He's using a sealing sigil!" she gasped.
Before I could react, the sigil flared. Raven vanished—only to reappear behind us, blade in hand.
"Too slow."
Steel met steel. Sparks scattered like dying stars.
The impact drove me back, boots digging furrows into the dirt. His strength was monstrous—each blow heavier than the last, each strike precise, merciless.
"You're strong," he said, his voice almost approving. "But strength without purpose is hollow."
"I fight for those who still have light!" I shot back. "For her!"
At my words, his gaze flicked toward Liora. For a second—just a flicker—something human crossed his face. Pain. Memory.
Then it was gone.
"You don't understand," he hissed, driving his blade into the ground. "The light took everything from me!"
The world shifted. The ruins around us rippled, fading into a storm of red and black. We were pulled into a different realm—a battlefield of shadows.
"Gautam!" Liora shouted, her voice distant, warped by magic.
"I'm here!" I turned, but the world around us had twisted. The ground was made of shattered mirrors, reflecting fragments of ourselves—some broken, some bleeding, some lost.
Raven appeared again, floating above the mirrored ground. "Welcome to my sanctum," he said. "Here, truth cuts deeper than any blade."
He raised his sword—and every reflection of him moved in unison.
Dozens of Ravens. Each one real. Each one deadly.
"Liora!" I called.
"I'll handle the illusions!" she answered, runes flaring around her hands. "You focus on the real one!"
I nodded, rushing forward.
The first Raven struck, his blade grazing my arm. Pain flared, sharp and cold. I countered with a downward slash, igniting Ardent Edge. Flames roared, burning through the shadow copies—but they kept reforming.
Liora slammed her staff into the ground, shouting an incantation. "Lux Nova!"
Light exploded outward, blinding the illusions. The air crackled, and for a heartbeat, only the real Raven stood—smiling through the smoke.
"There you are," I breathed.
We clashed again. Fire met shadow, light met dark. The world trembled with every strike. Each blow sent shockwaves across the mirrored field, fracturing the ground beneath us.
"You can't win," Raven said, his tone cold but not without emotion. "You're fighting against fate itself."
"Then I'll burn fate to ash!" I roared.
Our blades locked. I felt his strength pressing down, my knees threatening to buckle. Then—a sudden flash. Liora's spell surged between us, a beam of pure light that forced Raven back.
He snarled, raising a hand. The shadows gathered around him, forming wings. "You dare use her magic against me, sister?"
"It's our magic," Liora said, tears in her eyes. "You taught me those runes!"
For a moment—just one—Raven hesitated. The wings flickered.
I saw my chance.
I surged forward, channeling everything—the fire, the fear, the hope—into one final strike.
"Flareburst: Ardent Nova!"
The explosion tore through the battlefield, engulfing Raven in a storm of flame and light. The mirrored ground shattered completely.
When the smoke cleared, I was on my knees, breathing hard. Liora stumbled beside me, her staff cracked but still glowing faintly.
"Is it… over?" she whispered.
I looked up. The air shimmered. A silhouette stood among the drifting ash.
Raven. His armor cracked, his mask half-broken—revealing a human face beneath. He smiled weakly.
"Not bad… heir of dawn," he said quietly. "But this… is only the beginning."
Before we could move, he thrust his hand toward the sky. The shadows around us coiled together, forming a massive sigil that pulsed with dark energy.
"Raven, stop!" Liora screamed.
He looked at her, eyes softening for the briefest instant. "Forgive me, sister. I'm… not in control anymore."
The sigil exploded.
A portal of pure darkness opened above us, swirling violently. The wind howled, tearing the battlefield apart.
"Gautam!" Liora shouted, reaching for me as the pull of the portal grew stronger.
I grabbed her hand, but the force was too strong. Raven was being dragged upward, his body dissolving into the vortex.
As he vanished, his voice echoed—faint but haunting.
"The Shadow Sovereign… is coming."
Then he was gone.
The portal collapsed, sending a shockwave across the ruins. Everything went white.
When I opened my eyes, I was lying on cold stone. The world was quiet again. The mist had returned.
Liora sat beside me, her head bowed. "He's gone…"
"No," I said softly. "He's still out there. And if what he said is true—something far worse is coming."
The air shimmered, and far above us, hidden within the clouds, a dark sun flickered—its light faint, but growing.
Liora followed my gaze. "That's not a star, is it?"
I shook my head. "No. It's a gate."
The wind carried a distant whisper—a voice older than the world itself.
> "The heir of dawn has awakened. Let the age of shadow begin."
Liora's hand found mine. "Then we face it together."
I nodded. "Together."
The horizon burned crimson as fire and shadow intertwined.
And far beyond the storm, the darkness smiled.