Night fell across Veilstone.
Not gentle.
Not peaceful.
A quiet too deep, too heavy, as if the very ground was holding its breath.
Kael sat alone in the Veilstone Shrine, meditating beside the half-broken seal where Seraph Elandriel remained imprisoned. Her wings, once radiant, now glowed faintly—tarnished by shadow and hesitation.
She spoke for the first time in days.
"You've changed this city."
Kael opened his eyes. "No. They changed when I stopped asking permission."
Her voice trembled. "You fight the heavens… but something below stirs. I feel it. A voice... a pulse."
"Alert: Deep resonance detected.""Abyss Root Sync: 3% → 7%""New pathway unlocked beneath Veilstone. Coordinates available."
Kael stood, cloak flowing like smoke. His eyes shimmered silver-violet.
"Then it's time I answered."
Location Unlocked: Hollow Echoes – Root Node Chamber (Veilstone)
Kael, Zar, and Lira descended into the crypts beneath Veilstone. The air became colder, the walls more alive, coated with veins of dark crystal and writhing tendrils.
They arrived at a circular chamber — massive, hollow, and beating like a heart.
Floating at its center was a stone monolith wrapped in cursed chains.
From it came the voice.
"You rise fast, little king.""Too fast.""Will you burn out… or burn the world?"
Kael stepped forward, unfazed.
"I came to awaken your power, not beg for it."
[Root of Dread Node – Communing][Dormant Entity: Nullus – Fragmented Mind Sync: 12%]
SAGE pulsed.
"Warning: Entity attempting partial possession. Mental trial initiated."
TRIAL SEQUENCE: Mind of the Abyss
Kael's body collapsed.
His mind awoke — in darkness.
He stood before himself, but twisted. Older. Covered in abyssal armor, with one eye missing, the other glowing endlessly.
"You seek strength. But can you carry its price?"
Kael stepped forward. "Show me."
Suddenly—
He was in Redfall, burning.
Lira's body lay motionless.
Zar was impaled.
The sky was shattered.
"This is one end, Kael.""Where you win everything, and lose everyone."
Kael gritted his teeth. The world around him trembled.
"I won't become that."
"Then fight me."
Internal Duel: Kael vs. Abyssborne Kael
Swords clashed — one forged of pure shadow, the other of abyssal flame. Kael fought his own instinct, rage, ambition — everything that would consume him.
He didn't overpower his other self.
He accepted it.
[Mind Trial: Complete][Trait Acquired: Inner Sovereign – Mental corruption resistance + Power control boost][Nullus Sync Progress: 12% → 23%][New Skill Unlocked: Abyss Manifest – Temporarily channel alternate version of self in battle]
Back in the Real World
Kael gasped and stood — stronger.
The chamber cracked. The monolith pulsed.
Lira stepped back. "That thing... it knows you now."
Kael touched the stone, unafraid.
"Let it. I am not its puppet. I am its heir."
[Title Gained: Voice of the Root][Global Effect: Root Pulse spreading – Abyss influence now affecting nearby dungeons][New Creatures Awakening: Deepborn Leviathans | Wyrm Priests | Dreadshades][Faction Response Pending: Abyss Cults beginning to rise worldwide]