The void trembled with the presence of the ancient being beneath the chamber, its awareness stretching like tendrils into the fragments inside me. Every nerve, every vein, every shard of divinity screamed, sensing the threat, yet aware of the opportunity: a challenge that could reshape everything.
But the ancient presence was not alone.
A pulse of energy struck from above—a signal unmistakable. The Watcher. Its gaze pierced the void, unblinking, unrelenting. I could feel it weighing my every thought, my every movement, testing my resolve, calculating my potential.
You cannot rise unchecked, its presence whispered in my mind. You are anomaly. Unstable. Dangerous.
I gritted my teeth. Let it watch. Let it calculate. It will see that I am no one's pawn.
And then the battlefield of realities cracked open further. From the splintered skies above, figures descended: Divine Sentinels, the Archons of the Academy, and beings I had never encountered—ancient and powerful, their very presence bending the void.
They formed a circle around me. Their energy flared, synchronized, focused. Judgment. Suppression. Control. They came not to negotiate. Not to speak. They came to contain.
The fragments pulsed violently inside me, screaming in recognition. Enemies… not all mortal. Not all known. Danger… immense…
I spread my wings fully. They burned brighter than ever, a storm of molten light and shadow, water and clarity merging into a single, living force. The fragments aligned as one, sentient, aware, responding to me as a single entity.
"Come," I shouted into the void, voice carrying across the fractured space. "All of you! Witness what happens when the fracture decides its master!"
The Sentinels moved first, surging forward in perfect synchronization, energy lances aimed at me. Archon Valthis himself advanced, staff glowing with sigils designed to strip divinity from mortals.
And beneath it all, the ancient presence stirred, ripples in the void indicating it was moving closer, waiting to strike at the perfect moment.
The fragments screamed, then responded—energy spiraling outward, forming a protective barrier, countering the Sentinels' strikes. Flame met light, water met stone, shadow enveloped steel, clarity pierced through sigils. The battle erupted, shockwaves tearing through the void, threatening to unravel reality itself.
Lysara's voice rang in my mind. Eryndor… don't hold back. They don't understand what they face.
I clenched my fists, the fragments thrumming in unison. Then they will learn.
Energy clashed with energy. Beams of divine light met spiraling storms of my fragments. Shadows coiled and struck, only to be torn apart and reformed as part of my wings.
The Archons faltered, surprised by the cohesion, the sentience of the fragments. The Watcher observed, silent, calculating, unblinking.
And far below, in the depths of the void, the ancient presence shifted. Its voice, felt rather than heard, whispered into the fragments themselves:
"You will belong to me… and when you do, all that stands above will crumble."
I gritted my teeth, wings flaring. "Not today. Not ever."
The fragments screamed in unison, and the entire void convulsed violently. The Sentinels staggered. The Archons braced themselves. And in the chaos, a shadow unlike anything before began to rise from the depths—larger, faster, and infinitely more aware than the ancient presence had revealed before.
The fragments pulsed, one voice in my mind screaming: It's coming… the true master awakens…
And in that moment, I realized the terrifying truth:
The Watcher, the ancient presence, the Academy… none of them had seen the full scale of what the fracture could unleash.
And neither had I.
The void trembled. Reality itself whispered.
And then, with a pulse that echoed across dimensions, the shadow moved forward, fast, unstoppable…
And the battle for the fracture truly began.