Chapter 24 – The Forsaken Rise

Cain's body moved before his mind could catch up, golden flames igniting in his veins as he spun toward the exit. The chamber trembled under the weight of whatever had arrived, and an unnatural pressure settled over the air, thick and crushing.

The Titan standing behind him remained still, his burning gaze locked on the growing darkness outside.

"They have come to reclaim what was lost."

Cain swallowed hard, his instincts screaming. This wasn't like fighting Enforcers or Warbringers. This was something else entirely.

The woman beside him was already moving, her body flickering unnaturally as she analyzed their escape routes. Her eyes darted to him, then back to the Titan. "What the hell is coming?"

The Titan didn't answer.

Because the thing outside answered first.

A voice slithered through the chamber, stretched and warped as if spoken by many mouths at once.

"Forsaken no longer."

Cain's blood ran cold.

A shape descended from the ruined ceiling, its body obscured by shifting, writhing shadows. At first, Cain thought it was cloaked, but then he realized—the cloak was alive, moving, whispering.

The figure landed without a sound.

Tall. Too tall. Its limbs too long, too thin, its fingers tipped with something worse than claws. But it was its face that sent a pulse of instinctual terror through Cain's body.

Because there was no face.

Just a smooth, hollow expanse where its features should be.

Cain barely had time to react before another figure emerged from the entrance. And another.

And another.

They moved like phantoms, their bodies twisting unnaturally as they drifted closer. Not walking—gliding.

"You kept him from us."

Cain's stomach twisted.

They weren't talking to him.

They were talking to the Titan.

For the first time, the Titan's posture shifted slightly, his golden flames flaring.

"You were cast into the abyss for your failure." His voice was steady, unreadable. "You are no longer my kin."

The tallest of the Forsaken figures tilted its head, shadows rippling unnaturally around its frame.

"No longer your kin?" The voice hissed like an echo breaking apart. "Then tell me, oh last Titan… why do we still hear the call?"

Cain's Titan Core roared inside him.

Because now that they were close enough—he felt it.

The same power burning in his veins.

The same energy that had saved him.

It was inside them too.

But twisted.

Cain clenched his jaw. "They're—"

"Corrupted remnants." The Titan's voice was final. "What was left when the purge failed to finish its work."

The tallest Forsaken shuddered, as if laughing without a mouth.

"Not remnants. Not broken. We survived."

The shadows thickened around them.

"And now we have come for him."

Cain felt the exact moment their attention snapped onto him.

Every instinct screamed at him to move.

They lunged.

Cain barely dodged in time, golden energy bursting from his limbs as he threw himself backward. The ground where he had stood cracked and warped, the Forsaken's impact bending space itself.

They weren't just fast.

They unraveled reality where they touched.

The Titan stepped forward, golden flames surging. His presence alone sent a shockwave through the chamber, halting the Forsaken's advance.

"You will not take him."

The Forsaken twisted unnaturally, their heads turning toward the Titan.

"We already have."

Cain's Titan Core flared violently.

Something seized his chest.

He gasped, staggering as a force tore through his veins, pulling at the energy inside him. His vision blurred, his limbs locking up—

They were calling to it.

Calling to him.

Cain's knees buckled.

The Forsaken were stealing his Titan Core.

The woman cursed, her hands flickering with blue light as she reached for him—but the shadows from the Forsaken lashed out, cutting her off.

Cain clenched his teeth, his entire body burning. His Titan Core wasn't resisting.

It recognized them.

It wanted to go back.

"Come home, lost one."

Cain roared.

And for the first time—he fought back.

His Titan Core ignited.

The golden flames inside him erupted outward, a pulse of raw energy that ripped through the chamber. The Forsaken reeled, hissing as the force pushed them back.

Cain gasped for breath, barely holding himself upright.

But something had changed.

Because the Forsaken were smiling.

Even without mouths, he felt it.

"He remembers."

Cain's breath stalled.

The tallest Forsaken lifted a long, clawed hand, fingers twisting unnaturally.

And the shadows answered.

The entire room collapsed into darkness.

Cain couldn't see. Couldn't move.

Then—he was falling.

Plummeting into the Abyss.

Again.