The beasts circled, their massive shadows looming like mountains. The stag pawed the ash, molten antlers dripping fire. The serpent coiled above, wings cracking with lightning. The wolf's rooted paws tore up the ground, dragging broken earth in its wake.
Alaric's chest heaved, sweat stinging his eyes. His golden-black flames burned fiercely, but he could feel how quickly they ate at him. His body trembled under the weight of the chains rattling in his soul.
The Hollow that had led him here hovered at the edge of the plain, its faceless head tilted. "Prove yourself," it whispered. "Or be devoured."
The beasts roared in unison — and attacked.
The wolf lunged first, roots whipping like serpents. Alaric leapt back, slashing a stream of fire that scorched the air, but the wolf pressed through, its teeth snapping.
He thrust the amber stone forward, the golden-black fire exploding in a wave. The wolf howled as its shadow-flesh sizzled, but its roots wrapped around his wrist, pulling him down.
Before he could break free, the stag charged. Its molten antlers came down like twin blades.
Alaric twisted, barely avoiding a killing strike, but the impact blasted him across the ash. His back slammed into jagged stone, pain tearing through him.
The serpent struck next. Lightning snapped down its scales, crashing into him before he could rise. His body convulsed, smoke rising from his skin. His vision blurred.
For a heartbeat, he saw nothing but darkness.
"…You cannot win…" Eryndor's voice slithered through the chains. "…Bow, and it ends…"
"No," Alaric gasped, forcing himself to his knees. "I won't."
The amber stone pulsed weakly, Rudra's faint whisper echoing. "Stand."
He pushed up, golden-black fire surging again. His flames roared outward, tearing the wolf's roots away, scorching the stag's bark-flesh. The serpent hissed, its wings torn by fire.
But the beasts did not fall. They pressed harder, as if feeding on his defiance.
The stag's molten sap ignited the ground. The wolf's roots spread like chains, trying to drag him under. The serpent's lightning turned the sky white.
Alaric screamed, pouring everything he had into his fire. The chains inside him rattled louder, shaking, straining, threatening to break.
And then… something snapped.
The air around him darkened. His fire twisted, black consuming gold, until the light became a searing eclipse flame — a sphere of burning shadow and blinding radiance, swirling around him.
The beasts faltered, their roars shaking with unease. The Hollow whispered, almost reverent. "At last…"
Alaric barely recognized himself. His hands blazed with eclipse fire, his veins glowing like molten cracks. The chains inside him weren't rattling anymore. They were breaking.
The wolf lunged — and he struck. His hand flared, a crescent arc of eclipse fire slicing clean through its chest. The beast howled, its shadow-form unraveling into smoke.
The stag reared, molten antlers dripping, but Alaric raised both hands. A column of eclipse fire erupted, swallowing the creature whole. Its bark-flesh cracked, split, and dissolved into ash.
The serpent shrieked, lightning cascading down its body. Alaric leapt into the air, the eclipse fire propelling him upward. He grabbed the serpent's neck, his fire burning through its scales, tearing shadow from flesh. The beast thrashed, but his scream cut through the darkness:
"I am not yours!"
The serpent's body shattered into smoke, dissolving into the storm above.
Silence fell.
Alaric landed hard, his knees buckling. The eclipse fire still burned across his arms, his chest, his face. The chains inside him were gone — or worse, transformed. The power no longer felt bound. It felt endless, roaring, demanding.
The Hollow drifted closer, bowing low. "Our king awakens."
Alaric staggered back, clutching the amber stone, his chest heaving. "No… I'm not your king…"
But his voice trembled. Because part of him — the part drunk on the power coursing through him — wasn't sure anymore.
The ash plain trembled. In the distance, more shapes moved. Bigger. Stronger. An army of epic-tier beasts, their glowing eyes opening one by one in the storm.
The eclipse fire flickered around him, unstable, searing. His body shook under its weight. If he stayed, it would consume him.
He looked at the rift tearing open again, faint light calling him back.
Clem. Darvin. Eldrin. The Academy.
His heart clenched.
With a final scream, he forced the eclipse fire inward, shoving the storm of power back into the amber stone. His body felt like it was tearing apart, but the flames dimmed, the chains reforged — fragile, trembling, but holding.
He ran.
The Hollow's faceless voice echoed after him. "Deny it if you wish. But the eclipse is yours. And so are we."
He dove through the rift.
Alaric collapsed onto the Academy's stone floor, gasping for breath. Clem was at his side instantly, her hands on his shoulders. Darvin stood guard, blade ready, eyes wide with panic. Professors crowded the hall, stunned into silence.
The Hollow Ones were gone. The rift was closed. But the whispers were already rising.
"…He followed them…"
"…He came back changed…"
"…Did you see his eyes? Burning black and gold…"
Alaric raised his head slowly. His reflection in the shattered glass of a broken ward stared back at him — eyes glowing faintly with eclipse fire.
He looked like a king of shadows.
And he didn't know how to stop it.