Vol.1|Ch 13 - The Warden [1]

A/N: Please make sure to give power stones if you liked the story thus far. I am planning to keep the story 100% free. Support will encourage me to continue the story. I mean, what's the point of writing a story if people don't like it? So, if you can, then make sure to give me some support.

INFO -

1. Thoughts are within '__' and in Italic characters.

And conversations are within "__"

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After the battle ended, The Law Maker (Jin) wasted no time. He moved swiftly, headed toward the area where he had last sensed the others—their Ki, their presence, the subtle threads that still tied them together. But as he got closer, something felt wrong. The air grew still. Too still. His senses extended like ripples across the terrain... and found nothing. No signatures. No warmth. Not even the faintest echo of their presence.

That shouldn't have been possible.

'Why are they gone? This isn't normal... Did the Warden interfere?'

The Law Maker (Jin) narrowed his eyes, forcing himself to stay focused. Panic wasn't the answer. Not now. He reached the site where they had last fought, where energy still lingered like smoke after fire. He dropped low, scanning the ground with heightened vision and spiritual perception. For a few long seconds, there was only broken stone and bloodstains left behind by earlier chaos—but then, something caught his eye.

A fragment. Small. Almost dismissed as debris.But it wasn't.

It was a piece of an eye. Not flesh. Not organic. Mechanical? No—something else entirely. It shimmered faintly, like it still remembered seeing. The Law Maker (Jin) knelt beside it and brushed away the dust. The fragment pulsed faintly as if it were still alive... and, strangely, still connected to something unseen.

"A severed part of an eye still tethered to something else?" His voice was quiet, thoughtful, tinged with unease. "Feels like a trap."

He stood, considering. A part of him wanted to analyze further, to be sure. But time was a luxury he couldn't afford. The others—wherever they were—they were still alive. He knew that much. The marks he left on them, subtle and hidden even from Ki-detection, still resonated faintly within him. They hadn't died. But they were no longer here.

That left one option.

'Even if it's a trap, I need to follow it.'

The Law Maker (Jin) focused on the residue clinging to the eye piece. Whatever energy bound it was subtle but traceable. He allowed it to guide him—slowly, carefully, threading through ruined halls and silent corridors until the world began to change. The architecture around him grew darker, twisted. Stone gave way to obsidian. Hallways narrowed unnaturally. The very air became heavier, thick with unseen pressure.

Eventually, the trail ended—and what stood before him wasn't a door, or a gateway, or even a wall.

It was a pit.

An impossibly deep hole was carved into the ground like the earth itself had been torn open. Jagged edges rimmed its perimeter, black stone scarred with ancient symbols that shimmered faintly with a reddish hue. He stepped to the edge and peered down.

Nothing.

Not even with his enhanced senses could he find the bottom. Light didn't reach far. Sound didn't echo. It wasn't just a fall into darkness—it was a fall into silence. A place that didn't just lead downward, but into something far worse.

The hole looked ancient, but not forgotten. It wasn't made to bury. It was made to swallow.

And it radiated something deeply familiar. A signature twisted enough to make his skin crawl.

The Law Maker's (Jin) expression hardened. Whatever was down there—it wasn't just another trap. It was something else. And for sure, he knew it; whatever it was, it would be the hardest.

-

After what felt like an eternity of falling, The Law Maker (Jin) finally hit the bottom—not with a crash, but a surreal shift in sensation. Something passed through him mid-fall, something he couldn't quite grasp. It wasn't pain, or pressure, but… recognition. As if something had seen him on the way down, and left a mark.

He landed lightly in a space of unnatural darkness. The ground was solid, but he couldn't place its texture. All around him stood strange, door-shaped portals—each glowing with a different color, like floating gateways to unknown places. They gave off a faint hum, as if each held its own frequency, its own reality.

Then, a voice emerged from the void. Smooth. Mocking.

"Well, well, well… Look who decided to drop in."

From the darkness stepped a figure, The Law Maker (Jin) recognized instantly—Marin.

The Law Maker's (Jin) gaze sharpened. "Marin? No… You're not him. Your Ki signature's all wrong."

The being smirked, and the illusion shimmered slightly before stabilizing again. "Ah, yes. My apologies. I borrowed a familiar face. Thought it might ease the tension. You might not know me—but I know you, The Law Maker as you claim to be."

The Law Maker's (Jin) expression remained unreadable. "So you're the Warden."

His voice cut through the dark, calm and cold. He stepped forward without hesitation, eyes locked onto the shifting form before him. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly, though it didn't reach his eyes.

The Warden paused, then raised his right hand in a flourish, bringing it slowly to his chest before bowing deeply, his movements exaggerated and theatrical.

"Your one and only."

The Law Maker's (Jin) eyes narrowed, his expression unwavering despite the growing unease stirring within him.

"So, you must know what this means, don't you?" The Law Maker's (Jin) voice was cold, cutting through the tense silence.

The Warden then began to circle him slowly, his form shifting fluidly with each step—one moment Mira, then Kael, then the shadow creature, then even Riva, each transformation seamless and eerie.

"I do and I must say," the Warden continued, voice laced with amusement, "I'm impressed. A celestial, here of all places. That wasn't in the design."

The Law Maker's (Jin) brow twitched. "Celestial?"

The Warden tilted his head, mock-surprised. "Oh dear. You don't know? A celestial unaware of their own nature?"

Then, it came—"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

A sharp, echoing laugh that filled the chamber like a crack spreading through glass. There was nothing special about it—no Ki distortion, no psychic weight—but something about it made The Law Maker's (Jin) skin crawl. It was not some kind of attack, but it made him somewhat uneasy.

Still, The Law Maker (Jin) showed nothing. His expression remained carved from stone, cold and unreadable. He refused to let the unease show—refused to give the Warden even that satisfaction.

The Warden continued with a smile that twisted at the edges. "Ah, this will be so much more entertaining than I thought."

The Law Maker's (Jin) patience snapped. His voice dropped low, furious. "I don't have time for your games. I'll tear the knowledge from your mind if I have to."

Without another word, he launched forward, Ki flaring in a deadly arc.

The Warden let out a theatrical gasp. "Oh no. I'm terrified," he said with a grin, before turning and darting toward one of the glowing portals, slipping through its shimmering surface like a shadow.

The Law Maker (Jin) followed without hesitation.