A Rift Beyond Return
The world split apart.
The fissure in the sky expanded, stretching impossibly wide, until it became something far worse than an open wound—it was an abyssal gateway.
Jorath felt his soul strain against an unseen force. It wasn't magic, wasn't divine power—it was something that shouldn't exist.
A calling.
A presence that demanded.
The air around Thalos warped. Shadows coiled at his feet, spiraling unnaturally, like tendrils reaching for their master.
The Harbinger of the Abyss stood motionless, its jagged mask unreadable, but Jorath could sense something behind it.
Expectation.
Anticipation.
The Rift pulsed again.
And from within its depths—figures began to emerge.
Not monsters.
Not demons.
Something worse.
The Forgotten Ones
Eryndra gasped. "Those are—"
She didn't need to finish.
Jorath knew what she had seen.
At first, they looked human. Cloaked in tattered black, their faces hidden behind dark veils.
But as they stepped forward, their bodies distorted.
They weren't bound by form.
Their limbs twisted and bent at unnatural angles.
Their movements lagged, like echoes of something that had already happened.
They were wrong.
Reality itself rejected them.
Yet they walked forward, unaffected.
Jorath's hands trembled. "The Forgotten Ones…"
They were myths. Stories whispered by scholars who had stared too long into the unknown.
Creatures that did not belong to this world—beings that had been erased from history, yet still existed.
And they were here.
Because of Thalos.
The Harbinger's Ultimatum
The Harbinger raised its hand. The chains coiled tighter, humming with an unholy resonance.
"The Forsaken Throne calls you, Ashen King."****"
Jorath's breath hitched.
That name again.
Why?
What was the Forsaken Throne?
Thalos did not answer.
He simply stared at the figures emerging from the Rift, his golden eyes reflecting nothing but cold calculation.
Then—he exhaled.
And the world responded.
Power That Shouldn't Exist
A pulse.
Not magic. Not divine energy.
Something deeper.
The air thickened. The sky darkened.
Even the Forgotten Ones halted.
Then, slowly—they bowed.
Jorath's blood turned to ice.
Eryndra grabbed his arm. "Tell me you saw that."
He couldn't answer.
Because the truth was terrifying.
These things, these creatures that should not exist—
They had just acknowledged Thalos as their king.
And Thalos—he hadn't rejected it.
Not once.
Not even now.
A Choice That Could Break Reality
The Harbinger's voice was final.
"Take your place upon the Throne."
"Or be erased."
The air shuddered as the Rift expanded once more.
Something massive stirred beyond it.
Something that had yet to enter.
Jorath knew—if that thing crossed over…
There would be no world left to save.
He turned to Thalos.
Say something. Do something.
But Thalos simply lifted his hand—
And smiled.