The forest had grown darker. The weight of the Sigil pressed against Jack's chest as they made their way back toward Auren's home, its glow faint but persistent. The forest behind them was alive with whispers, like it was watching, listening, waiting. Jack's fingers twitched around the Sigil, the piece of ancient magic that could, in theory, save Kael. But in his heart, Jack wasn't so sure anymore. The forest—the sentinel—it all felt wrong. And Kael... Kael had changed.
He didn't know if there was a way back from what had happened.
"Something's wrong," Nyssa murmured, her hand gripping her sword tightly as she scanned the shadows. "We're being followed."
Jack turned, his eyes narrowing. The forest had always been oppressive, but now it seemed to hum with a sense of malevolent intent. The trees shifted as if rearranging themselves. Every step seemed to be matched by something unseen—something waiting to strike.
Auren, barely able to stand after the battle at the Elder Tree, hobbled beside them, his face ashen. He hadn't spoken much since they left the Darkwood, and Jack didn't blame him. They were all on edge. But now, his voice broke the silence.
"We need to hurry," Auren rasped, his tone grave. "Kael's transformation isn't slowing. Whatever's inside him… it's growing stronger."
Jack glanced at him, a knot of dread tightening in his stomach. "We have the Sigil. We have the Heart. We can fix this."
Auren shook his head. "It's not that simple, Jack. The ritual we need to perform isn't just a cure—it's a binding. A curse."
The Failed Ritual
They made it back to Auren's home, the mountainside sanctuary where Kael had been left, unconscious and broken. The air was thick with the tension of impending doom. Jack's chest tightened as he approached Kael's prone form, now lying in a makeshift bed, still and lifeless.
Auren turned to the group with a dark gaze. "The Sigil and the Heart should, in theory, be enough. But…" He hesitated. "But there's something else I didn't tell you. The corruption in Kael isn't just the work of magic. It's a curse, older than any of us. A curse that binds the soul of the Devourer to a vessel. Kael… is no longer Kael. He's a vessel of something far worse."
Nyssa's eyes widened. "You're saying Kael's... not even himself anymore?"
Auren's voice dropped to a whisper. "Not completely. And if we fail, he'll become a gateway. A doorway for the Devourer to return."
Jack clenched his fists. "We can't fail."
They all gathered around Kael, preparing the ritual, positioning the Sigil above his head and the Heart of Elandir on his chest. The air grew heavy, and the ground seemed to hum beneath them.
Jack took a deep breath. His hands hovered over Kael, shaking. They had to do this. There was no other choice. But as he began to chant the ancient incantation Auren had taught him, something in the air shifted—shuddered.
The first few words left his mouth without issue, but then the air began to crackle. Kael's body twitched, convulsing as the shadows in the room seemed to come alive, reaching toward him. The Heart of Elandir pulsed with unnatural force, casting a sickly, green glow.
Nyssa stepped back, sword raised, her eyes darting around, scanning for any signs of attack. "It's not working!"
"Keep going," Jack gritted out, his voice strained.
But before they could complete the incantation, a horrified scream filled the room. Kael's eyes snapped open, glowing with an eerie light, not the green of the Heart, but a sickly purple, like the depths of a dying star. The shadows around him thickened, swirling.
Jack recoiled, trying to backpedal, but it was too late.
The Unraveling
Kael's body arched off the ground, convulsing violently, as though fighting against something trying to take over. His voice, when it came, was not his own—it was distorted, layered with another presence, something older, something dark.
"You cannot bind what was never meant to be sealed."
The words reverberated in Jack's skull like a gong, splitting his mind in two. He staggered back, horrified, as the ground cracked beneath Kael's body, the Sigil vibrating violently.
Kael's eyes locked onto Jack's. There was recognition there—faint and fleeting—but the darkness that lurked beneath the surface was undeniable.
"You were always meant to be the key, Jack," Kael's voice rasped, now deeper, darker. "And now, the door will open."
Jack's heart slammed against his chest as the temperature in the room dropped. A shadow, darker than the night itself, spread from Kael's body, pulling at the walls and the air, twisting the very reality around them.
Auren stepped forward, his hand raised in a desperate attempt to stop the ritual. "No! This isn't Kael anymore. We're too late."
Jack didn't hear him—couldn't hear him—because his mind was locked on Kael's eyes. The bond they had shared, the friendship they had fought for, was fading. It was slipping through his fingers like sand.
And then, the world fractured.
The Dark Awakening
The room shattered into a kaleidoscope of fractured images. Time bent, twisted, and snapped. The ground beneath their feet gave way, and they were falling through an endless void, consumed by darkness.
"You will not stop it, Jack."
Kael's voice rang out, now layered with a thousand others, each more chilling than the last.
Jack fought to regain his senses, but the chaos was overwhelming. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. His world was spinning into nothingness.
And then, he saw it—the true form of the Devourer. Or, at least, what it was becoming.
The edges of the room melted away, replaced by an abyssal expanse, a void where nothingness and darkness reigned. And there, towering in the center of the blackened void, stood something far more terrifying than anything Jack could have imagined.
A shape, not quite humanoid, but not quite alien either. Its skin shimmered with an iridescent darkness, like the expanse of a galaxy, and its eyes—its eyes were the void itself, pulsing with an ancient hunger that seemed to pull at the very core of existence.
It was Kael. And it wasn't.
"You are too weak to stop what you have already set in motion," the creature said, its voice a thousand whispers of the past and future.
Jack felt his knees buckle beneath him. The darkness was consuming him. The Devourer was awake. And the world was slipping into oblivion.
The Unseen Hand
And in that moment, Jack understood. Kael had never been the key. Jack was. He was the Hollow Key, the one who would unlock the door to the Dark Lord's return. And now it was too late to stop it.