Ash_Monarch

The Apocalypse is in full swing. 

Defiled - powerful creatures corrupted by the Great Collision - prowled the lands in search of prey. Unfortunately for them, the human race had long since retreated behind the secure walls of the Sanctuary of Everlast. 

During one of his regular excursions outside the Sanctuary, Alden is separated from Celeste. - his childhood friend and crush. In that moment, he came to regret never summoning the courage to confess. 

Somehow managing to survive thanks to some trickery, Alden awakens as a mage. 

Instead of receiving a normal power, he gains the ability to decay. What's more, during his ascension, he received a vision from his future self advising him not to trust the Asterons - celestial beings who had saved his race from inescapable doom.  

Normally... such a revelation wouldn’t faze Alden. 

However, there was only one major problem with the declaration, though. 

Celeste was bound with an Asteron. 

And not just any normal Asteron... 

She had made a pact with one of the Divine Sovereigns.
________ 

Cover is not mine. I found it on Pinterest.

The Inner Odyssey

As he watched the young man rise, Azrael was still in a state of disbelief.

He had made sure to make him suffer…

What sort of strength did the young man possess that allowed him to shrug off such harrowing pain with apparent ease?

Azrael had created that for the express purpose of breaking the youth. Yet, contrary to his expectations, it didn't work.

The Reaper snarled, the tenebrous void reflecting his rage. It roiled, restless and overwhelming. Azrael's rage rose the more he looked at the light emitted by the young man.

That was the conclusion that Azrael had formed—the sum of his hatred and prolonged exposure to evil.

His heart had long since become empty.

Fused