The deeper Kael Veyrn descended into the Forgotten hideout, the more the air changed
colder, heavier, as if the stone itself waited for something to awaken.
Blue lanterns flickered along ancient walls carved with runes no one alive could still read. The tunnels vibrated faintly beneath his feet, pulsing with hidden life.
Rai Kuroda walked ahead, his cybernetic arm casting a blue glow across the dark.
Tessa Wyn stayed beside Kael, gauntlet locked tight, goggles flashing with each scan.
Iria Nox brought up the rear, silent, steady, guarding the shadows like a blade waiting to strike.
Rai stopped in a cavern so vast the ceiling resembled the ribs of a titan.
"Let's see what you can actually do."
Lightning crackled along his cybernetic arm as he turned to face Kael.
"Your Aetherial Rupture wasn't an accident. Power like that doesn't just happen."
Kael swallowed hard.
"I don't understand any of this."
Tessa stepped forward cautiously.
"Then let me run a full Aetherial scan. I upgraded the stabilizers I can figure out "
Kael jerked back immediately.
"No."
Tessa blinked, stunned.
He shook his head again.
"Last time your scan nearly triggered something inside me. I don't want to lose control again."
Pain flickered in her expression, but she didn't push him.
Rai folded his arms. "Then we do things my way. Combat trial."
He thrust his glowing palm forward
plasma lightning erupted, crackling past Kael like a warning.
"Instinct over thought. Survive it."
Kael tensed. The shadows around him seemed to shiver.
Iria watched quietly, unreadable, her silver hair lifting in the cold draft.
Before Rai could strike
the earth trembled.
A deep shockwave rolled through the tunnels.
Rai's expression twisted into dread.
"No… no, no NOT him."
Iria's eyes went ice-cold.
Tessa paled.
"…Solis."
He entered the cavern like a star collapsing into flame.
Bronzed skin, long golden hair tied in a warrior's knot. His officer's coat burned at the edges from the heat radiating off him. The massive greatblade in his grip burned with roaring solar fire, lighting the entire chamber in molten gold.
Dominion elites spread out behind him, weapons humming.
General Solis Kane smiled radiant and merciless.
"Kael Veyrn. The boy who ripped open the sky."
He stepped forward. Stone melted beneath every footfall.
"You will come with me."
Kael retreated instinctively.
Rai planted himself in front of Kael in a storm of blue electricity.
"Round two, you sun-scorched bastard?"
Solis smirked.
"I see they rebuilt your arm after I cut it off."
Rai's teeth ground together.
Tessa's brain activated like a machine.
Weapons assembled from pure Aether Force flickered into existence around her, firing bursts at Dominion soldiers dropping them one by one.
Iria's voice trembled with something deeper than fear.
"Solis Kane."
Hate. Pure and ancient.
"You butchered my family."
Solis tilted his head almost thoughtfully.
"Ah. The Nox clan. Explorers of forbidden dimensions. A necessary purge."
Iria vanished phasing out of reality. Soldiers fell instantly, cut down before they even registered her presence.
Lightning detonated through the cavern as Rai charged, unleashing plasma storms strong enough to shatter the floor.
Solis walked through it cutting lightning as though slicing rain.
"You're still beneath me, boy."
Iria reappeared behind him, resonance blade aimed at his spine
but Solis intercepted without even turning his head, flaming greatsword blocking her strike.
"Predictable."
He backhanded the air
a sun-hot shockwave blasted Iria across the cavern, phasing violently between planes.
Tessa forged weapon after weapon mid-air
Hammer → shattered.
Shield → melted.
Spear → evaporated before touching him.
Iria slipped through dimensions afterimages slicing from impossible angles.
But Solis's Sunforged Aether burned even the air she hid in.
The cavern filled with blinding fire.
One by one, the Forgotten began to fall.
Rai dropped to one knee, sparks sputtering.
Tessa collapsed beside him, gauntlet flickering.
Iria reappeared, burns glowing across her arm.
Solis raised his sword toward Kael.
"The others were never my objective."
He stepped closer, flames roaring.
"You are."
AND SOMETHING ELSE SNAPPED WITH IT
A silent shockwave rippled from his chest.
Light died.
Lanterns extinguished.
Solis's sword dimmed.
Dark matter spiraled around Kael like a living vortex.
Void Aether.
Unbound.
Unrestrained.
Cataclysmic.
Solis's confident grin fractured.
"Impossible…"
Kael staggered, eyes blackened, stars swirling within them.
"I… I don't want to hurt anyone"
The void answered for him
a tidal blast of annihilation.
Light clashed with darkness.
Heat collided with nothingness.
Power met obliteration.
The entire mountain shook.
Dominion reinforcements rushing in were vaporized instantly.
Walls collapsed into dust.
Solis was hurled backward, armor melting from both heat and cold.
Fear—true fear finally crossed his face.
"This… power should not exist."
Kael screamed as the Void spiraled, threatening to consume everything including him.
Rai dragged Tessa away.
Iria phased through collapsing stone, desperately trying to reach him.
Solis barely survived.
Half-burned, half-frozen, he stumbled through falling rubble. He activated his comm crystal with trembling hands.
"Report to Lord Veylith… Kael Veyrn is not human… he is something far worse."
He vanished into the shadows.
Far above, untouched by destruction, a hooded figure stood on a shattered ledge. His mask glowed faint crimson.
Cipher watched Kael collapse, his voice quiet as static from another dimension.
"The lost piece has awakened…"
He tilted his head, almost reverent.
"The cycle begins again."