The air in the Elemental Conclave's grand hall hummed with latent power, the four Aetherium Crystals suspended above the central dais pulsing in rhythmic harmony. Raine adjusted her gloves, the intricate runes woven into the fabric glowing faintly as they channeled the raw energies of fire, water, wind, and earth. The Conclave elders watched from the shadows, their faces unreadable beneath hoods embroidered with sigils of forgotten covenants.
*This is it*, she thought. *The final trial.*
Her fingers trembled as she reached for the last crystalthe Earth Shard. The weight of her family's legacy pressed upon her shoulders. The Aeris Floating City, her home, had thrived under the Conclave's rule for generations, but whispers of dissent lingered in its winding streets. The elders spoke of balance, of safeguarding the realms, yet Raine had seen the hollowed-out husks of villages consumed by unexplained "accidents"plac es where the air still crackled with residual void energy.
She pressed her palm against the Earth Shard,channeling her focus. The crystal flared to life, its emerald light merging with the others in a swirling vortex of elemental harmony. For a moment, the hall was bathed in radiance-
Then the world shattered.
A sound like breaking glass split the air, and the crystals *exploded*. Shards of fire, water, wind, and earth spiraled outward, embedding themselves into the walls, the floor, the very fabric of reality. The ground beneath Raine's feet convulsed, and a jagged wound tore open at the heart of the daise-fissure of pure darkness, its edges writhing with tendrils of inky void.
*The Rift.*
The name surfaced in her mind like a curse.
From the abyss surged the Shadow Tide, a living torrent of consuming blackness. It moved like liquid night, swallowing stone, light, and sound. Raine barely had time to scream before the Tide lashed out, tendrils snatching at the edges of the hall. The elders scattered, their chants rising in desperate unison, but the void cared nothing for their incantations.
And then*Aeris*,
Through the collapsing archway, Raine saw her city. The Floating Isles of Aeris, suspended above the clouds by ancient magic, were being*devoured*. The Shadow Tide coiled around spires and bridges, reducing them to crystalline ash. Her breath caught as she glimpsed a familiar figure- her mother, standing atop their ancestral tower, arms outstretched as if to embrace the storm.
"*No!*"
The word tore from her throat, raw and ragged. But it was too late. The Tide reached her mother, and in the span of a heartbeat, her form*changed*. Skin blackened, fracturing into jagged obsidian shards. Her eyes- once warm and amberhollowed into pits of endless void, reflecting the abyss that had taken her.
Raine's gloves burned. She looked downthe runes were *crystallizing*, the fabric hardening into jagged, glass-like growths that bit into her skin. Pain lanced up her arms, but it was nothing compared to the horror clawing at her chest,
A hand seized her shoulder, wrenching her back. One of the elders, his face contorted in fury, hissed into her ear: *"This is your doing, unstable one."*
Before she could react, a sigil flared beneath her feeta-binding circle, its lines searing into her vision.
The last thing she saw before darkness took her was the Rift expanding, its maw stretching wider, hungrier.
--.
When consciousness returned, Raine found herself in a cell carved from black basalt, its walls etched with glowing runes that pulsed like a slow, sick heartbeat. Her gloves had beenremoved, revealing the crystalline corruption creeping up her forearms. She flexed her fingers, and the shards embedded in her skin shimmered faintlyechoing the same eerie glow as the Rift.
A sound made her turn.
A man stood beyond the bars, his silver hair shifting as though caught in an unseen wind. His eyesone gold, one violetheld the weight of ages.
*"You see it now, dont you?"* His voice was low, threaded with something
like pity.
*'The Conclave's lie."*
Raine's throat tightened. "Who are you?"
The stranger smiled, but it didnt reach his eyes. *'Kaios. And I've come to show you what they fear most.'*
He reached through the bars, his fingertips brushing her temple-
And the world dissolved into fractured visions.
---
*She stood in a chamber hidden beneath the Conclave, where elders in bloodstained robes chanted over a pulsing wound in realitya- smaller Rift, restrained by chains of molten gold. A figure writhed within its depths, half-formed, whispering.
*"The experiment must continue,"* an elder hissed. *"The weak must be culled."*
A younger Kaios, bound in sigil-carved manacles, snarled as they forced his hand into the Rift. His scream echoed through time itself."
--
Raine gasped, wrenching away. The vision faded, but the truth remained, seared into her mind like a brand.
Kaioss gaze never wavered. *"Theyve been feeding the Rift for centuries. And now, it's hungry for more."*
A tremor rocked the prison. Dust rained from the ceiling as distant screams echoed through the corridors.
*"The Tide is coming,"* Kaios murmured. *"And you, Raineyoure the only one who can stop it."*
He extended his hand.
*"Or become its god."*
Outside, the walls began to crack.