Within every god lies a storm. But what happens when that storm is carved out, caged, and left to fester for eternity? Kael is about to find out. For what sleeps in the Hollowed Moon... is not just rage. It's him.
The gate cracked open with a sound that wasn't a sound — more like a sigh from the edge of time itself. Silver light poured through, unnatural and weightless. The Hollowed Moon stretched beyond like a canvas torn in half — sky bleeding liquid starlight, mountains floating in frozen arcs, and a moon that pulsed like a dying heart, eternally eclipsed.
Kael stepped forward, the pulse of the realm synchronizing with the fragments in his chest. His eyes glowed dimly, flickering between white and something deeper — something voidal.
Ress Fen collapsed behind him. His body convulsed, eyes rolling back.
Kara stumbled, gripping her head. "What… what is this place?" she gasped, staggering.
Kael turned slightly. "This is what's left of my soul. Or… what used to be mine."
The air tasted like memories. Every step echoed not on stone, but on moments long forgotten — laughter, betrayal, fire. Aeon's presence clung to everything like ash after a funeral pyre.
And Kael? He didn't flinch.
In fact, he felt home.
"Why do I feel more like myself in the ruins of who I used to be?"
The Hollowed Moon was a prison Aeon had forged for himself — or maybe, for the part of himself he feared most. And now, Kael walked that path again, fragment by fragment, soul by soul.
The terrain made no sense. Water flowed upward. Time blinked forward and back in irregular pulses. Kael had to anchor his Core just to move in a straight line.
They reached a bridge — or what looked like one. Bone-white, strung across a void where stars wept sideways. Beneath them was a river made entirely of shattered moments, glittering like broken glass in constant rewind.
Kael took the first step. The bridge groaned under the weight of memory. Kara followed, her steps shaky. Ress remained unconscious, shadows protecting his body like a cocoon.
Halfway across, a ripple distorted the space ahead.
A figure emerged — tall, lean, dressed in cracked armor that shimmered like obsidian mirrors. It had Kael's face, but not his eyes. These eyes were chained shut, and yet, they saw.
"Reflection inbound," Kael muttered. "Get behind me."
The copy moved in silence, its hands forming a sigil Kael vaguely remembered. Then it spoke — not with words, but with pressure.
"You wore your chains with pride. I made them my prison."
It attacked.
Kael summoned twin glaives mid-air. His halberd had evolved over the last two realms, now flickering between forms based on intent.
Clash. Parry. Flame. Shadow. Light.
The copy — "Kael the Chained" — fought with techniques Kael didn't even remember learning. But instinct took over. Pain flared — wounds too deep for mortals — but he held on. In fact, he welcomed the pain.
"If pain is memory, then I will never forget."
He triggered Crucible Drive.
Mana surged — raw, white-hot, forged from every cut and scream. With a roar, he slammed his glaives into the Chained Reflection, not to destroy — but to absorb.
Chains cracked. Shadows dispersed.
New Skill Acquired: Crucible Drive – Convert pain into raw mana. The longer the fight, the stronger the surge.
Kael dropped to a knee, breath ragged.
Kara approached carefully. "You okay?"
He looked up, blood streaking from his lips. "I'm getting stronger. But each time... it feels like I'm losing something."
She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe that's the cost of reclaiming who you were."
They reached the end of the bridge.
Before them stood the Citadel of Still Flame — a floating fortress bound in chains of frozen lightning. Its towers spiraled into clouds that didn't move. Its gates were engraved with runes that hurt to look at. It pulsed with rage.
Kael's hands trembled, not from fear — but anticipation.
"This is where I caged my wrath. My purest instinct. My oldest sin."
The doors began to open.
The heat hit them first. Not fire — but emotion. Pure, molten hatred. Wrath incarnate.
Kael stepped forward.
And from the shadows within... something moved.
[End Of Chapter 13]
"Welcome back," a voice hissed — Kael's voice, but twisted, broken. "Did you come to finish what you started… or to lose yourself forever?"
Preview Teaser — Chapter 14: Wrath IncarnateThe Citadel breathes. And what Kael locked away now wants out. To claim the third fragment, Kael must fight the worst part of himself — not a reflection, but the pure, unfiltered wrath of a god betrayed. Rage has a name. And it remembers.