The stars shimmered above the forest as Kael stepped outside his wooden home. The Rift pulsed softly within him, like a quiet heartbeat echoing through his soul. The world around him was peaceful—too peaceful. There was a restlessness stirring in his chest, a sense of unfinished destiny.
He looked up.
The sky, vast and infinite, beckoned him. There was more beyond this world. Kael, sovereign of the Rift, had healed his home. But the Rift itself was never meant to be bound to one plane.
With a breath, he extended both hands to the heavens. A tear in the sky formed above him, a brilliant vertical line of pure Riftlight, crackling with cosmic energy. It split the atmosphere like paper, revealing a corridor between worlds. The pressure of thousands of realities pressed inward, but Kael stood unmoved. He was more than mortal now.
Wings of pure shadow and light erupted from his back—extensions of the Rift, both divine and demonic. With a single powerful beat, he took flight.
And then—he vanished.
[Location: ??? – Unknown Realm, Designation: "The Starless Realm"]Kael emerged into a world of void and silence. There were no stars here, no sun, no moon—only an endless horizon of obsidian sky and cracked earth floating in shattered chunks across an impossible cosmos. Gravity shifted unpredictably, as if the laws of reality had been broken long ago and stitched together by madness.
He landed softly on a floating stone platform, his boots echoing in the stillness.
Suddenly—
[WARNING: Dimensional Field Detected – Suppressing Rift Energy... 25% capacity engaged.]
Kael's eyes widened. The Rift within him... weakened? No—it was being suppressed. Something was interfering, and it wasn't natural.
He turned slowly.
A figure stood on the edge of the platform. Humanoid. Armored in what looked like dark crystal and flowing threads of starlight. No face, only a void beneath a horned helm. Kael readied the Riftblade, its edge shimmering with fractured dimensions.
"You are not of this world," the figure said, its voice a perfect balance of harmony and destruction. "You trespass in the domain of the Nihlari, Guardians of the Boundless."
"I go where I wish," Kael replied coolly. "And I do not answer to ghosts."
The figure raised its hand.
[ALERT: Combat Initiated – Unknown Entity Classification: Nihlari Voidwarden][Suggested Action: Retreat or Annihilate]
Kael lunged forward, Riftblade singing through the air. But the figure was faster—impossibly fast. It moved with the flow of reality itself, sidestepping Kael's slash and driving a punch into his chest.
Kael flew backward, crashing through a floating chunk of land.
[HP: 9,320/10,000]
"What...?" he coughed, eyes flaring with disbelief.
The figure didn't gloat. It simply stepped forward, speaking once more.
"You believe yourself powerful, Gatekeeper. But you are merely the protector of one gate. We are the Watchers of infinity."
A pulse of energy radiated from the Voidwarden. Kael could feel it—his abilities warping, his strength buckling.
But then, something deep inside him stirred.
[The Forgotten's Shadow: Active]Distortion Detected. Source: Entity "Nihlari Voidwarden" is corrupted by The Forgotten.
Kael's eyes glowed with furious clarity.
"You're tainted."
The Voidwarden hesitated for the briefest second.
And that was all Kael needed.
He surged forward, not with raw power, but with perfect instinct. Echo Step. Dimensional Strike. Rift Storm. Each move bent the suppressed Rift energy into weapons of focused destruction. Sparks of crimson and violet light exploded as Kael and the Voidwarden collided again and again.
But as powerful as Kael was, he knew one thing:
This was not the apex.
This world, this Starless Realm—it was a crucible. And the beings here… they were forged in a higher fire.
[STATUS REPORT – MODIFIED BY REALM CONDITIONS]Name: KaelRealm: The Starless RealmLevel Cap: UnlockedXP: 0/∞Rift Energy Access: 25%Distortion Detected: Forgotten Presence Growing
As Kael knelt on a fractured cliff, breathing heavily and bleeding from his temple, he finally understood.
This world would not bow to him easily.
He looked toward the horizon, where six more figures had begun to appear, each cloaked in power older than time itself.
His grip on the Riftblade tightened.
"This isn't over," he whispered.
No… this was just the beginning
chapter End