Chapter 50 – The Abyss of the Self

Cain plummeted into darkness.

It wasn't like before. He had fallen into the abyss once, had felt the emptiness swallowing him whole, but this was different. This time, the abyss knew him. It welcomed him. The moment he was pulled inside, the air around him shifted, warping, twisting—no longer something to escape, but something that had been waiting for him all along.

His Titan Core pounded violently, golden fire sputtering around him, trying to resist whatever force had dragged him in. He reached out, trying to control his descent, but there was no gravity here. No direction. No escape.

Then, he stopped falling.

Cain landed on something solid, but there was no impact, no force to break his movement. He simply… was.

The world around him was empty, an infinite stretch of blackened space, but it didn't feel hollow. It felt full. Not of life, not of power, but of something unfinished.

Then he saw it.

A throne stood in the distance. Not like the broken one he had seen before, not like the remnants of his past struggles. This one was whole. Unblemished. Towering. A seat of absolute power, carved from the very fabric of this abyss.

And on it sat himself.

Cain stared, his body tensing, flames flickering uncertainly around his hands. The version of himself sitting on that throne was not a shadow, not a reflection. It wasn't trying to look like him. It simply was him—just more.

Stronger.

Older.

Complete.

Cain exhaled slowly, forcing his stance to stay steady. His Titan Core still burned inside him, but it wasn't fighting back anymore. It wasn't rejecting what was happening.

It was recognizing it.

The Cain on the throne leaned forward, golden eyes glowing dimly in the void. "You finally made it."

Cain narrowed his eyes, his fists clenching. "What is this?"

His counterpart smiled, resting one arm on the side of the throne, his fingers lazily tapping against its surface. "This is where you buried me."

Cain took a step forward, the emptiness beneath him rippling slightly at his movement. "I didn't bury anything."

The other him chuckled, the sound almost amused, but there was no real joy in it. "You did. You just don't want to remember why."

Cain's Titan Core flared violently, rejecting those words. He forced his breathing to stay even, his instincts screaming that this was a trap, that none of this was real, but his body wasn't so sure.

Because deep down, something inside him agreed.

The Cain on the throne tilted his head slightly. "You want the truth?"

Cain said nothing.

His counterpart exhaled slowly, lifting his other hand, palm facing upward. The void around them trembled. The air shifted, and suddenly, Cain's mind fractured.

Images flooded his vision.

Not just memories—realities.

He saw a war, but not the one he had glimpsed before. Not the fall of the Titans, not the golden battlefield he had once stood on.

This war was different.

It wasn't against an enemy.

It was against himself.

Cain stood at the center of it, his golden flames raging out of control, shaking the very foundation of the world. The Titans that had once stood beside him were gone. The sky above him was cracked, splitting apart, unable to contain the force of his Titan Core.

And before him—was the throne.

Cain watched himself in the past, a version of him that was stronger than anything he had ever been, standing before that seat of power, golden flames surging violently around him.

And then—he made a choice.

The Cain in the vision lifted his hand, and with a single motion, he sealed himself away.

Chains of golden fire wrapped around his body, his Titan Core breaking apart as he locked himself inside his own prison, tearing himself into pieces, hiding his true self away where no one would ever find it again.

Cain's breath hitched.

He staggered, his Titan Core convulsing inside him, the weight of the truth pressing down on him like an avalanche.

This wasn't something that had been done to him.

This wasn't some enemy's plot, some grand manipulation.

He had done this to himself.

Cain gasped, struggling to stay on his feet as the vision faded, leaving only the empty void once more. His counterpart was still sitting on the throne, watching him with unreadable eyes.

"Now you remember."

Cain's hands trembled. His golden flames, once so sure, flickered uncertainly. "Why…?" His voice barely came out. "Why would I do that to myself?"

The Cain on the throne stood slowly, golden fire crackling around him, but there was no hostility in his movements. No aggression.

Just certainty.

"Because you were afraid."

Cain froze.

The words hit harder than any strike he had ever taken. His Titan Core screamed, his entire body rejecting that idea, but he knew it was true.

"You were the strongest," his counterpart continued, stepping forward. "You had everything. Power beyond anything the world had ever seen. And you looked at what you had become—"

He stopped just a few paces away, meeting Cain's gaze directly.

"And you realized you were a monster."

Cain's vision blurred. His Titan Core felt unstable, his golden fire erratic.

"You didn't trust yourself," the Cain before him said, his voice steady. "So you did the only thing you could. You tore yourself apart. Locked away the power you feared. Buried your true self where no one—not even you—could reach it."

Cain took a shaky breath, his mind reeling.

That couldn't be right.

He had spent his life fighting to get stronger. He had clawed his way up from nothing, had sought power at every turn. He had never been afraid of it.

Had he?

The Cain before him exhaled softly, golden embers swirling around his shoulders. "But you came back."

Cain swallowed hard, his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles burned. "I had to. I needed to—"

His counterpart cut him off.

"You had to," he agreed. "Because the world is breaking. Because something is coming."

Cain's Titan Core shuddered violently, as if reacting to something beyond this place.

"You knew this day would come," the Cain before him said, stepping forward again. "That's why you left a path back to yourself. That's why you made sure I would be waiting here."

Cain exhaled sharply. "Then what now?"

His counterpart smiled, golden flames flickering brighter.

"Now, we finish what you started."

The ground beneath them trembled violently.

Cain's Titan Core erupted, his body locking up as a new pulse of energy shook the void apart.

The third chain was beginning to break.

And Cain had no idea what was about to happen next.