ch19

The ground still trembled from the aftershocks of the battle. Jeremy stood at the edge of the ruined square, his breath steady despite the carnage around him. The bodies of countless monsters lay in piles, some still dissolving into necrotic dust from his magic.

Mordis sheathed his dark blades, his skeletal form coated in the blood of his enemies. His glowing blue eyes flickered as he scanned their surroundings.

Nyx perched atop a broken pillar, his eight legs clicking against the stone as his crimson eyes darted around. His webbing still draped over parts of the battlefield, some strands still twitching with the lingering death throes of trapped creatures.

But despite their victory, something was wrong.

Jeremy could feel it—a pulse in the air, an unnatural vibration deep within his bones.

"The monsters stopped coming," he murmured.

Mordis tilted his head, as if listening.

Nyx's mandibles twitched. "Not stopped. They're afraid."

Jeremy turned, his eyes narrowing.

The creatures had been driven into a frenzy when the city's oppressive aura had disappeared. But now, despite the fresh blood in the air, despite the piles of corpses—there was only silence.

Something had changed.

Then, the sky split open.

A crack—deep, echoing, unnatural—rippled through the air above them. Jeremy felt it in his skull, a sensation like claws dragging across his mind.

Nyx shuddered. "The seal..."

Mordis took a step back, his blades rising instinctively.

Jeremy looked up—and saw the rift.

A jagged tear in the very fabric of reality hovered above the ruined city. Through it, something dark slithered, twisting and writhing in ways that defied logic.

Jeremy's breath hitched. He recognized that darkness.

The same presence he had felt in the dungeon where he had first awakened. The same force that had whispered in the void before he had gained his power.

"No."

The darkness pulsed—then descended.

A massive claw, black as the void, pierced through the rift, followed by another. The air trembled as a form began to emerge—too large, too unnatural.

Jeremy's status screen flickered, his vision distorting.

[ERROR: Entity beyond system parameters detected.]

[WARNING: Hostile force surpasses current level cap.]

A pressure heavier than anything he had ever felt crashed down on him.

Mordis dropped to one knee, his bony fingers digging into the ground. Nyx's entire body stiffened, his webs disintegrating under the weight of the entity's mere presence.

Jeremy gritted his teeth. His instincts screamed at him to run—but he knew there was nowhere to go.

Then, the whispers came.

"You are not ready."

The voice was layered—thousands of voices speaking at once, folding over each other like an echo in an abyss.

"Yet, you hear us."

Jeremy's mind felt like it was being pulled in two directions at once.

The entity was looking at him.

No, not at him.

At his soul.

A third claw tore through the rift, stretching reality further. The sky twisted, stars bleeding into colors that should not exist.

Nyx's voice was barely a whisper. "Jeremy, we—"

The claws moved.

A blur. A rush of energy.

Then—agony.

Jeremy felt something wrap around him, something cold, something vast. His vision shattered, his body burning from the inside out.

Mordis reached for him—Nyx screamed something incomprehensible—

Then—

Nothing.

Darkness swallowed him whole.