Zulmara; White Prison

A guttural roar split the leaden sky: "AH!"

It was answered by a monstrous, shuddering shriek:"KRAA!"

The landscape was in ruins. Deep craters gouged the earth, and ragged holes tore through cloud layers that bled inky darkness. One tattered scrap of gray cloth—emblazoned with the number four—drifted aimlessly, stained a dark crimson by someone's blood.

"Krag! Fall, you monster!" hissed Jin, swinging an enormous fang-like blade toward the twisted arachnid known as Krag. The blade struck one of the disturbing faces at the end of the monster's limb, piercing through with a sickening crunch.

Krag the Spider—an abomination among the Tenebraith—was in a dire state. Three of its five loose-skinned legs lay severed on the ground, leaking thick rivers of red. The human-like faces at their ends bore twitching tongues and contorted expressions.

But Jin was scarcely better off. Blood streamed from his mouth, and his left arm dangled by ragged sinew, bone, and shredded muscle. His entire form shook from the pain and effort.

"Zulmara!" Jin snarled, glaring at the serpent coiled beside him. "Devour!"

A manic hiss escaped the snake as it grew even larger. Its scales reflected the flickering destruction all around.

High above, the Supreme and a small group of Sentinels floated in the air, the raging conflict happening far below them. Rain battered their robes as they surveyed the carnage.

"It's over now," the Supreme said softly, taking his eyes off the battle. He turned his back on the scene, gazing instead at the wounded sky. His face a picture of contained sorrow. "He will fall." 

"What do you mean?" asked the Third Sentinel, Geor, his face drawn with exhaustion. "Shouldn't we help Jin?"

"We can't," the Supreme said, his tone weighed down by resignation. "If we join, the Tenebraith beyond the border will flood in. That would trigger a full-scale war here—and we would not emerge victorious."

Geor's breath caught. "But we can't just abandon Jin!"

Spinning toward him, the Supreme fixed Geor with a piercing stare. "When you became a Sentinel, you accepted the possibility of dying in battle. That's the reality of our responsibility."

Below them, the snake Zulmara opened its gaping maw and—without warning—bit off Jin's head. Geor's eyes widened in horror.

"This is the final stage of a Latifa," the Supreme murmured, his back still turned. "No one has ever truly reached it, but a forced usage is possible. When a Rulin becomes one with their Latifa… Fanaa."

Zulmara's serpentine body swallowed Jin's remains whole. Explosions erupted from within the serpent's belly, causing Zulmara to convulse with each internal blast. Minutes stretched on, and Krag remained paralyzed, pinned by the crushing pressure emanating from the imploding snake.

The Supreme suddenly narrowed his eyes. "Geor, with me. The rest of you—gather all nearby Sentinels here. Now."

The old man stepped forward, as though walking on solid air, heading directly for the nearby fracture in the sky. Geor followed, his expression grim as the Supreme's two attendants hurried off to relay orders. Geor noticed the dark expression the Supremes face, his heart beginning to beat rapidly. 

"What's happening?" Geor panted, struggling to keep pace.

"I sense more Tenebraith watching from within the fracture." The Supreme's gaze locked onto a looming rift. Cold winds buffeted them, whistling through broken fence-like structures that floated around the fracture in a desperate attempt at containment.

"They're going to rescue Krag?" Geor asked, apprehension tightening his voice.

"Likely," the Supreme confirmed. "We must prevent that."

Back below, Zulmara continued its violent transformations. Each explosion within it released smoke from its jaws, while Krag lay broken, trying in vain to move. The Tenebraith's shrieks reverberated, fracturing the very earth beneath it.

Suddenly, an echoing cry rippled through the sky: Kul!

Zulmara froze, its serpentine form going rigid. Mara!

A second echo followed, and the snake's head exploded in a gruesome spray of flesh and blood. Bits of gore splattered across the ruined ground.

"So… this is Fanaa." A clawed hand—scaled and glinting—gripped the side of the snake's torn neck. Pulling itself free from the serpent's remains was Jin—or something that resembled him. His face was unnaturally handsome yet radiated malevolence. Scales dotted his pale body, and two lifeless green snakes draped over his shoulders, their heads slumped.

"You forced me to this point," he hissed, stepping onto the air as though it were solid ground. "So be it. You'll die here." Slowly, he walked with light steps towards the fallen Krag. Stepping higher into the sky each time. 

Krag still couldn't stir. Rain began anew, each droplet pounding the devastated field. Jin lifted his face to the sky, letting the water soak him. His hand clenched, crushing two massive fangs which crumbled into crimson-streaked shards that hung in midair instead of falling.

Green light flared from Jin's open palm. Instantly, every scrap of blood and flesh nearby flew toward the disintegrated fangs, merging into them. The shards grew into a colossal lance—a fang far taller than Krag's monstrous form.

Damdant.

A single whispered word escaped Jin's lips, halting the rain, wind, and even time itself for a heartbeat. With a flick of his wrist, the colossal fang descended.

"KRAAAAAAA!" Krag's shriek resounded, its human face contorting in abject terror.

High above the battlefield, the Supreme and three Sentinels—Geor among them—hovered in tense vigil. Rain battered their robes as lightning flickered across wounded clouds. Their eyes were locked on a towering rift in the sky, outlined by broken, fence-like barriers that tried—and failed—to contain its edges.

Suddenly, an unearthly roar echoed from the fracture, making the storm's thunder seem tame by comparison.

"Something's coming!" Geor shouted, voice taut with dread.

The Supreme felt it first: a bone-deep tremor, like a premonition of an unstoppable force.

"Prepare yourselves!" he commanded, his baritone carrying a steeled urgency.

In the next instant, a colossal hand emerged from the fracture—eerie in its half-human shape, yet too large and warped to be natural. Its pallid skin had a sickly sheen, veins bulging like blackened vines beneath the surface. Long, razor-like nails glimmered at the tips of each finger, dripping with an oily fluid that hissed against the storm-chilled air. The flesh quivered as it gripped the surrounding fence-like structures, shattering them with a hideous crackling of wood and metal.

"It's trying to save Krag," one Sentinel murmured, beads of sweat mixing with rain on his brow. Indeed, the hand clawed desperately, as though reaching for the massive Tenebraith below—eager to pull it back through the rift to safety.

But the Supreme's eyes glowed with fierce resolve. "We cannot allow it," he hissed.

"Nafskara…" he began, leveling his palms at the tearing sky.

The other three Sentinels followed suit, forming a tight crescent around him.

"…White Prison!" they all cried in unison.

A dazzling surge of Nafs erupted around them, arcs of dark-hued light twisting into a brilliant white radiance. Their combined energies converged into a coruscating sphere that expanded and morphed into intricate, lattice-like walls. Within these walls, skulls danced—spectral entities that cackled with otherworldly laughter, their empty eye sockets glowing with mocking glee.

As the Sentinels poured their souls into sustaining the formation, blood began seeping from their noses, mouths, and eyes, a grim testament to the power they were unleashing. Despite the agony, none of them faltered. With each passing heartbeat, the White Prison took form:

Within the swirling tempest of energy, the giant hand flailed in defiance—its nails scraping across the newly forged enclosure, sending sparks and shards of ghostly whiteness flying into the churning sky. Yet it could not break free; the combined might of four Sentinels refused to yield.

"Hold it!" the Supreme roared, sweat and blood streaming down his face. He clenched his fists, and the cage tightened, forcing the monstrous limb back inch by inch.

A guttural bellow thundered from beyond the rift. The hand tried one last time to force itself through—fingers bending and contorting, nails peeling against the cage's shimmering walls—before giving in to the crushing pressure.

With a final surge, the White Prison slammed shut around the bleeding fracture, shearing off part of the wrist in a splatter of viscous black fluid. The severed portion fell away, dissolving in the tumultuous space between worlds. Then the giant skull-gate clamped down, stifling the echo of any further roars on the other side.

Far away, in his bedroom at the estate, Kai couldn't sleep. The wind howled, the rain roared ceaselessly. A restless energy gnawed at him. "What's happening?" he muttered, rubbing his arms for warmth.

He glimpsed a flash of white over the distant mountains, an eerie light that seared itself against the stormy sky. His pulse quickened. "What is that?"

Forgetting any coat or proper gear, he sprinted outside and made for the stables. There, Muz, his mountain horse, dozed fitfully. The animal pricked its ears at Kai's urgent approach.

"Come on, Muz!" Kai shouted, voice filled with adrenaline. The horse shied away, unsettled by the rain and strange atmosphere, but soon complied. Kai vaulted onto Muz's bare back—no saddle, no reins.

"Go!" he commanded, lightly kicking Muz's sides. With a fierce neigh, the steed broke into a full gallop, plunging into the forest. Rivulets of rain whipped against Kai's face as branches clawed at them both. He kept his gaze locked on the distant glow.

"Faster!"

Muz tore through the undergrowth, an unstoppable force on the rugged terrain. In under a minute, they reached the base of a steep mountain. Kai's heart thundered in his chest. "Climb," he urged. The horse obeyed, hooves surefooted on the wet rock.

Kai steadied himself with his Nafs, gripping Muz's mane. Up they went, faster and faster, until they crested the peak. A silver moon loomed overhead, fuller than Kai had ever seen, lighting up the soaked landscape.

Finally, they reached the summit, where Kai drew a sharp breath. His eyes locked on the blinding white glow in the distance—a colossal, cage-like formation lit under the moonlight.

"That's… the White Prison," he whispered, shock stealing the warmth from his voice.