The Void
Black.
A faint, rhythmic drip... drip... drip...
Then silence.

Elias opened his eyes—but there was no light. No ceiling. No floor. Just endless, cold nothing. He floated, shirtless, weightless, surrounded by the bleeding echo of his death. The wound in his chest glowed faintly, a crimson halo pulsing like a dying heartbeat.

Elias (weak, confused): "...Where the hell am I?"

A whisper rippled through the void, soft but layered—like dozens of voices speaking as one.
Voice: "You're not dead... yet."

Suddenly, a flicker. A shadow coalesced from the blackness, slowly forming a humanoid shape—identical to Elias, but darker. No pupils, no iris—only deep void-like eyes with glowing rings spinning slowly inside.

Elias (defensive, panicked): "Who are you?!" (His voice echoed infinitely in the emptiness.)

Shadow-Elias: "You've seen me before. On that night... when the shadow stirred." "I wear your face only so your mind doesn't shatter. The truth would be... too much."

The void warped. Memories not Elias's began to leak into his mind—battles waged with fire and screams, mages falling like ash, ancient voices shouting spells he couldn't understand. Then one image: a man cast in runes, chained and screaming as he was pulled through a portal of swirling black and gold.

Elias (recoiling): "That... that was you. You were exiled."

The figure stepped forward, the space beneath its feet crumbling like reality couldn't handle its weight.

Shadow-Elias (calm, almost kind): "My name is Nyxoth. And long before you were born, I ruled from behind the veil. Until they banished me." "The Arcane Council feared what they couldn't control. So they imprisoned a god."

Elias stared, horror creeping in.

Elias: "You're lying—this is a dream, this is bullshit—"

Nyxoth: "No. This is your blood. Your curse. Your inheritance."

Black veins pulsed up Elias's arms. His breath hitched. His body shivered—not from cold, but from recognition.

Nyxoth: "I created the Forsaken to remind them I still exist. But they all failed me... until you. You carry more than power. You carry my blood."

Elias tried to scream, but his voice was swallowed by the dark. Nyxoth moved closer, inches from his face.

Nyxoth (softly): "You died... too early. But I will give you a favour. One... single... time." "Return. Finish what I could not."

Darkness swirled violently, tearing through the void like a storm. Tendrils of shadow shot into Elias's chest, sealing his wounds, rebuilding his body. Pain surged through him like fire and ice. His eyes rolled back—then opened, glowing dimly with ancient power.

Nyxoth (whispering as the void fades): "Live again... my blood. And choose wisely. Because the next time we meet—it won't be a gift."

Return to Arkwatch 

Thunder cracked above the burned ruins of Arkwatch.

The battlefield was silent, save for the labored breaths of the survivors. Dorian knelt, hands trembling, magical restraints binding the defeated yet eerily smiling Varik. Faith was on the blood-soaked ground, clutching Elias's limp body, her healing magic flickering with hopeless desperation. Dante stood behind her, face pale, hands shaking, tears flowing down his cheeks.

Faith (whispering, broken): "Why... why him...?"

Dante (hoarse): "He wasn't supposed to die. He was... he was my brother."

Logan dropped to his knees a few feet away, blood streaked across his cheeks, sword trembling in his hands. They had won the battle—but lost Elias.

Suddenly, the air changed.

A pulse—deep, unnatural—rippled through the earth. Everyone froze. Faith's hands jerked slightly. Elias's chest rose once, then fell still again.

Faith (gasping): "I—did you feel that?!"

Before anyone could react, Elias's body lit with a dull crimson-black glow. Veins across his chest pulsed like something ancient was being reborn. A second heartbeat echoed faintly through the silence.

Dorian (rising, eyes wide): "Back away. All of you. That's—not healing magic."
They didn't move.

And then—

Elias's eyes burst open, and for the briefest flicker, they weren't his. Rings of swirling shadow. Alien. Ancient. Watching.

Then—gone.

He gasped. Life rushed into his lungs. His wounds closed without a trace. The blood—gone.

Faith (whispering): "Elias...?"

Elias (slowly sitting up): "I was... gone."

Dante fell to his knees, his arms wrapping tightly around Elias. He didn't care what anyone thought. He hugged him so hard it nearly knocked him down again.

Dante (tears pouring): "You idiot—you absolute idiot—you scared the hell out of me!"

Elias (smiling faintly): "I'm glad... to see you too..."

Dante: "You don't get to just die on us. You hear me? Never again."

Elias nodded softly, something flickering behind his eyes.

Logan approached slowly, uncertainty in his step.

Logan (carefully): "You're... back. You... shouldn't be."

Elias (looking at him): "I know."

Logan (more to himself): "People don't just return from that kind of wound. That wasn't magic from this world. It felt... wrong."

Dorian (suspicious): "Because it was."

They all turned to Varik, who began to laugh again, slumped in his bindings.

Varik (smirking): "He gave it to you, didn't he...? The favour."

Dante (stepping forward): "Who gave what to him?!"

Varik: "The one who made the Forsaken... the one they banished... his blood runs in the boy's veins."

Faith (softly): "Elias... what did you see...?"

Elias didn't answer.

Because the thing in the void hadn't just revived him.
It had marked him.

And somewhere, deep in the scars of the world, shadows shifted.
Waiting.

Varik's smile widened like a scar as he turned to Elias, blood still dripping from his mouth.

Varik (mocking): "He gave you the favour... and I'll take it back myself."

With a sickening crack, the blood-forged chains around him shattered in a single twist of his torso. Dorian's eyes flared in shock, raising a spell—but Varik was gone in a flash of red.

He was on Elias.

But this time—it was different.

Elias moved just as fast.

A black blur collided with the red mist. The impact burst air like a bomb.

The ground cracked beneath them. Dust exploded outward. Trees snapped in half. Faith, Logan, and Dante stumbled back as their eyes struggled to catch up.

Logan (gasping): "What... the hell...?"

Varik (snarling, mid-motion): "I'll kill you—then your friends. Then I'll sew them into a screaming pile of playthings."

Elias (voice like cut glass): "Try me."

The fight erupted.

Varik swung first, blood-forged scythes erupting from his arms. They hissed through the air, aiming for Elias's neck—but Elias phased sideways in a blink, slamming a knee into Varik's ribs, then summoned shards of black arcane daggers and drove them into his shoulder.

Varik screamed, but grabbed the blade inside him and twisted it out, spraying blood in arcs—and hurled it back at Elias.

Elias ducked—but Varik closed the distance instantly, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him into the ground so hard the earth cracked.

Varik (snarling): "You're fast. But not fast enough."

Blood tendrils erupted from Varik's  back like tentacles, trying to pierce Elias through the heart. Elias grabbed one mid-air, twisted it, and threw  Varik  sideways into a stone ruin.

The two clashed again.

Every time Varik bled, he used it. His own wounds became weapons, lashing out in disgusting, unpredictable arcs. Elias adapted.

He baited Varik—allowed him to slash through a shadow-double, then struck from behind with a compressed wave of kinetic magic, blasting Varik into the air.

Varik twisted mid-air, and a chunk of flesh from his own thigh tore free. He grabbed it, cast a skin-stitch curse, and padded it into armor, then crashed down, exploding the ground with a bloody glyph.

Faith (wide-eyed): "He's using his own flesh to fight..."
Dante (smiling slightly): "But Elias is matching him."

Back in the battle—

Elias vanished.

A moment later, Varik screamed as dozens of blades erupted from the ground, all marked with anti-regeneration sigils. Each strike was calculated—not to kill, but to cripple. A gash to the tendon. A stab through the shoulder joint. A slice to the eye.

Varik (gurgling): "You little... FUCK!"

He ripped his own arm off, blood spraying like a fountain, then slapped it back on with a self-carving glyph, sutures growing across the limb like centipede legs.

Logan (staggering): "Holy shit. Did he just—?"

Dorian (grim): "He did. And Elias is pushing him into a corner."

The tide shifted.

Elias raised his hand and summoned a gravity pulse. Varik crashed into the ground, pinned.
Elias (calmly): "I know how you fight now."

Varik (grinning through cracked teeth): "Then DIE KNOWING IT."

Varik pulled a hidden blade of blood-silver and drove it straight through Elias's gut.
Blood exploded.

Faith screamed. Dante moved to run—but Dorian grabbed him.

Faith (in horror): "Elias—NO!"

Varik laughed, pulling Elias close.

Varik (triumphant): "One favour wasn't enough. You're still just a—"

Elias (whispers into his ear): "...Got you."

Varik's eyes widened.

Elias's hand—already underneath Varik's ribs—glowed.

A sigil flared.

Elias had planted it while pretending to be dying.

Elias (coldly): "You never noticed. You never changed. You're still a walking slab of meat."
The sigil exploded.

A burst of black light ripped Varik's insides apart.

His limbs tore free. His body splintered. And Elias, with finality, thrust his palm into Varik's chest and vaporized his cursed heart.

Silence.

Varik's body slumped, collapsing into ash and shredded skin.

Elias stood, barely breathing, blood down his side—but alive.


Dante (in awe): "That was the coolest fucking thing I've ever seen."

Logan (grinning): "He used himself as bait... to plant a kill sigil. That's insane."

Faith (tears in eyes): "You... idiot... brilliant, reckless idiot..."

Dorian (nodding with pride): "He's not the boy from before Arkwatch anymore. He's something else now."

As the wind blew away the ash of Varik the Flayer, the team stood behind Elias—not just as comrades...

...but as witnesses to the beginning of something far greater.

The battlefield was still. Ash drifted like snow. The only sound was the wind tugging at torn cloaks and broken earth.

Elias stood, chest heaving, blood-soaked but victorious.

And then—

Faith (softly, voice breaking): "Elias..."

She ran.

No hesitation. No restraint. She crashed into him, arms wrapping tight around his torso, tears smearing her dirt-covered cheeks.

Faith (shaking): "You're really here. You're actually here."

Elias winced slightly at the pressure, still sore, but smiled. Just faintly.

Elias (hoarse): "Yeah... I'm not going anywhere."

Dante followed, trying to be cool—but his eyes were red.

Dante (grinning): "That was... badass. Stupid, reckless, 'we're gonna talk about this later' level of badass."

He pulled Elias into a tight hug right after Faith stepped back, patting his back a little too hard.

Dante: "Don't do that shit again. Thought you were fucking gone, man."

Then Logan approached, quiet, hesitant. He didn't speak immediately—just looked at Elias for a long moment. Then...

He stepped in and hugged him too, more awkward, more reserved—but real.

Logan (soft): "You really died, didn't you?"

Elias didn't answer.

He just nodded.

The silence hung for a beat—until Dorian stepped forward, eyes heavy with understanding.

Dorian (low, serious): "You saw him... didn't you?"