The world was crumbling.
Jack could feel the weight of it pressing down on him—the collapse of reality, the destruction of everything he had fought for. The skies were nothing but a swirling mass of blackness, streaked with fragments of starlight that flickered like dying embers. The ground beneath him was split open, cracks radiating outward, swallowing the very earth itself. His heart thundered in his chest, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't outrun the darkness.
He stood at the precipice of it all.
Before him, Kael—no, the Dark Lord—rose from the shadows, his form towering, his eyes glowing with cosmic power. His body, once human, was now an amalgamation of shadow and starlight, a living void that devoured all light in its wake. The twisted mockery of Kael's face curled into a smile, but there was nothing human about it. It was a smile of an ancient being, a force far beyond any mortal comprehension.
"Jack," the Dark Lord's voice rumbled, a sound that reverberated through the very air. "Thank you. You've done well. You've unlocked the door for me. Now, it's time to open it fully."
Jack's breath caught in his throat. He had been too late to stop it. Auren's sacrifice, the rituals, the Heart of Elandir—all of it had been for nothing. The Devourer had been freed, and in the process, Kael had been consumed, turned into something far worse. He was no longer his friend. No longer human.
The Dark Lord stepped forward, his presence suffocating the very air around them. Every movement of his was like a ripple in the fabric of reality itself.
"You've always been destined for this, Jack," the Dark Lord continued. "You were born for this moment. To bring me back. To open the door. Now, join me. Together, we will remake this broken world."
A wave of despair swept through Jack's heart. The Dark Lord's words carried the weight of a thousand truths, truths that Jack had refused to acknowledge until now. The final, horrifying realization washed over him—he had never been the hero. He had never been the one to stop the darkness. He had been the vessel, the key, the unwitting architect of the catastrophe that was now unfolding.
"No," Jack spat, his voice raw with defiance.
"I'll never join you."
The Dark Lord's smile only deepened, but there was no joy in it—only the cold certainty of inevitability. "You think you can stop me, Jack? You think you can resist your fate? I am the beginning and the end. I am the darkness that was never meant to be contained. You cannot defy me."
The ground trembled again, the void expanding as if answering to the Dark Lord's call. The stars in the sky continued to flicker and vanish, swallowed by the endless abyss.
The Betrayal Revealed
As the world shuddered, a voice called out from behind Jack, weak but unmistakable. "You are not alone, Jack."
Jack whirled around, his heart leaping in his chest.
Nyssa—bloodied, broken, but still standing—had somehow managed to make her way through the chaos. Her expression was filled with pain, but also with determination. She was still fighting, still holding on to the hope that somehow, they could stop this madness.
But there was no time.
The Dark Lord turned his gaze upon her, and for a moment, Jack saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes—a memory of their past, a bond that still lingered, even in this twisted form. But it was fleeting, gone in the next instant as the Dark Lord's power surged forward, sending Nyssa crashing to the ground in a blinding flash of energy.
"Foolish girl," the Dark Lord muttered, his voice dripping with disdain. "You dare challenge me?"
Jack rushed to Nyssa's side, his heart pounding as he helped her to her feet. But there was no time to mourn. The Dark Lord was too powerful. The very air around them crackled with energy, warping and distorting the world.
"You're too weak to stop me," the Dark Lord sneered. "And now, you're going to watch as your world dies."
The ground split beneath them, and from the cracks, dark tendrils began to emerge—writhing masses of shadow and void. The very earth seemed to be unraveling, falling apart as reality itself began to collapse.
And then, in a moment of blinding clarity, Jack saw the true nature of the betrayal.
Isolde's voice echoed across the ruins, soft and cold, as if speaking from the depths of the void itself.
"You think you've won, Jack? You think you can stop him?"
The air grew cold, and Jack's blood ran cold as well. He turned toward the sound of the voice, and there she was—Isolde, standing at the edge of the abyss, her eyes glowing with the same dark power that now consumed Kael.
"No…" Jack breathed, realization dawning like a thunderclap.
Isolde smiled, her lips curling into a twisted grin. "Did you really think I was dead, Jack? That my sacrifice would be the end of me?" She raised her hand, and the darkness around them seemed to ripple and pulse in response. "I gave my body to the Devourer to become something more. The seed. The catalyst for his return."
Jack's stomach churned as the world around him seemed to shift. The truth was as cold and unrelenting as the void itself. Isolde had never been a pawn in this game. She had been the orchestrator, the one pulling the strings, the one who had set this disaster in motion. Her sacrifice had not been for the world—it had been for herself, for the rebirth of the Devourer.
She wasn't dead.
She had become something worse.
The Final Betrayal
Jack's heart raced, his thoughts a blur as the ground shook beneath him. The Dark Lord—no, the Devourer—was beyond their reach now. He had been set free, and there was nothing that could stop him. But Jack couldn't—wouldn't—give in.
In a final act of defiance, he reached for the Sigil, the shattered relic that still held a sliver of power. It was his last hope. His only chance to stop this nightmare.
But before he could use it, the Dark Lord's hand shot out, gripping his throat with an unnatural strength. "You still don't understand, do you, Jack?" the Dark Lord whispered, his voice low and ominous. "You were never meant to stop this. You were meant to start it."
With a sickening twist, the Dark Lord raised Jack into the air, his feet kicking helplessly as his vision blurred.
"Now," the Dark Lord murmured, his eyes glowing with the power of the cosmos, "the world will fall."
But just before Jack lost consciousness, he heard something—something faint, almost like a whisper.
A voice.
A voice that didn't belong to the Dark Lord.
"Jack…"
His eyes shot open. The voice was familiar. It was Kael's voice.
But Kael wasn't supposed to be here. Kael was gone. Or was he?
As the darkness consumed him, Jack realized one horrifying truth.
The Dark Lord had lied.
It was never over.
The worst was still to come.