Srijan_Pandey_8761

In the Golden Dragon Nation, your destiny is decided at sixteen by a single injection. For dirt-poor miner ** Zane Voidcrest**, the annual Awakening Day is his only chance to escape a life buried in coal and despair. But when the serum unlocks a forbidden bond with a primordial beast—a shadow-wolf with the voice of a forgotten god—Kael becomes a fugitive. Branded a “corrupted” threat by the Elite, hunted by jealous rivals like the pyrokinetic aristocrat **Zane Ashgrave**, and haunted by his wolf’s insatiable hunger for chaos, Kael must master his power before the Nation’s enemies strike.  

Monsters claw at the borders. Rebellions simmer in the slums. And the Primal Beasts, long thought extinct, are waking. To survive, Kael will forge alliances with outcast mages, rebel factions, and creatures of myth. But as he uncovers the dark truth behind the Elite’s “benevolent” rule, he realizes the real war isn’t between humans and monsters—it’s between those who chain the world… and those who dare to break it.

Ascendant Beasts : The Voidcrest Prophecy

# **The Fusion**

The Betrayer's laughter echoed through the Blackspire Depths, his form a grotesque amalgam of shadow and sinew, the Heart's power pulsating within Zane's lifeless body. Thalia staggered back, her relic shard blazing violet as the chamber trembled.

"You think *you* can undo centuries of planning?" the Betrayer sneered, Zane's voice warped with ancient malice. "I am the First Pact's architect—and its destroyer. You are *nothing* but a shadow of my bloodline."

Vyrthax lunged, his starry fangs sinking into the Betrayer's arm, but a whip of shadows hurled him into the altar. The wolf's whimper tore at Thalia's resolve.

"Let him go!" she demanded, thorns spiraling from her fists.

The Betrayer flexed Zane's stolen hands, tendrils of void-energy coiling around them. "Why? This vessel is perfect. Weak. *Malleable.*"

### **The Veilwalker's Gambit**

Thalia closed her eyes, letting the Veilwalker's power tear through her. The world fractured, revealing the spectral plane—a twisted mirror of the Depths, where the Betrayer's true form loomed, a colossus of fractured light and rot.

**"You dare challenge me here?"** his voice boomed, shaking the astral foundations.

Thalia's spectral form tightened her grip on the relic. "I reclaim what you stole."

She lunged, the shard's light carving through shadows. The Betrayer parried with a blade of condensed void, their clash sending shockwaves through the realm.

### **The Elite's Hour**

In the physical world, Lira dragged Vyrthax behind a crumbling pillar as Elite forces stormed the chamber. Lysandra barked orders, her remaining loyalists firing sunsteel rounds at the Betrayer's corporeal form.

Jarek's faction flanked them, their weapons aimed at Thalia's motionless body. "Take her down! She's the real threat!"

Lira's dagger found Jarek's throat. "Not today."

Chaos erupted—Elite turned on Elite, cultists clashing with soldiers. Amid the bedlam, Lysandra locked eyes with Thalia's vacant form. "Finish this," she muttered, lobbing a grenade of Primal energy at the Betrayer.

### **The Heart's Whisper**

In the spectral plane, Thalia faltered. The Betrayer's blade pierced her shoulder, violet essence spilling like liquid starlight.

**"Your ancestor's sins are your inheritance,"** he taunted. **"The Awakening serum, the Devourer, the fissures—all my design. And you… you are my final masterpiece."**

Thalia's vision flickered—Zane's consciousness flickered in the void, a spark amid the shadows. *"Thalia… the altar. Break the cycle."*

### **The Shattering**

With a roar, Thalia tore free, hurling the relic shard at the spectral altar. Light detonated, severing the Betrayer's tether to the Heart. In the physical realm, Zane's body convulsed as shadows vomited forth, coalescing into the Betrayer's howling spirit.

"Now, Lysandra!" Thalia screamed.

The commander lunged, driving her sunsteel blade into the Betrayer's core. He dissolved, his final scream merging with the Depths' collapsing walls.

### **The Cost**

Silence fell. Zane stirred, his amber eyes flickering open. "Thalia…?"

She collapsed beside him, her Veilwalker glow dimming. "You're back."

Above, the chamber ceiling cracked, fissures spiderwebbing anew. The Primal stag's voice echoed through Thalia's fading consciousness.

**"The Betrayer is gone, but the First Pact remains fractured. The true enemy… approaches."**

### **Cliffhanger: The Gathering Storm**

As the survivors fled the Depths, the northern sky split. Not fissures—*wings*. A silhouette darker than the void itself descended, its roar shaking continents.

The Devourer had evolved.

And it was *hungry*.

Chapter 19: Blood of the Betrayer