Chapter 17: The Enemy of My Enemy

The summit grounds were held within a dormant volcano — Ashgrave Hollow, a no-man’s land scorched by ancient dragonfire, long abandoned by both Darkveil and the Arcane Union.

Here, the sky stayed a dull crimson. Magic barely pulsed. And nothing lived.

Perfect for a peace talk neither side trusted.

Lord Varrick arrived first, cloaked in shadow armor laced with runes. His soldiers kept formation but didn’t draw weapons.

Shortly after, Elira Dawnbreaker descended in a gleaming light bubble, flanked by mage-knights in white-and-gold. Their eyes burned with suspicion.

Both sides stood tense. Fingers hovered near blades. Staffs glowed faintly.

Then, the two leaders stepped forward alone, toward a stone table blackened by time.

Varrick broke the silence. “If we fail here, we die. So let’s try to be civilized.”

Elira nodded once. “Then speak plainly. What does the Darkveil want?”

Varrick sat. “To stop Kael Draven before he becomes a god.”

As the talks began, neither side noticed the presence watching from the void between shadows.

A figure cloaked in glass-like fabric. A mask with no mouth. No eyes.

Not Kael.
Not a general.
Not even of this world.

But one of the Eclipsed—beings from the Abyss beyond the veil—whispering to Kael since his rebirth.

Back at the Abyss Order stronghold, Kael Draven stood before a massive relic pulsing with alien energy.

The Eclipse Core.

Varek had unlocked a sliver of its potential. It allowed them to manipulate not just magic, but consequence.

Myrr approached, her tattoos shimmering.

“The summit is proceeding as expected. Do we move?”

Kael tilted his head.

“No.”

Myrr blinked. “We let them speak?”

“We let them believe,” Kael replied, voice like low thunder. “And we let something else remind them of fear.”

He turned to the Eclipse Core.

“Awaken Itzal.”

Back at Ashgrave Hollow, the ground shook.

All eyes turned as a monstrosity emerged from the earth.

Not a beast. Not a spell. But a living paradox — a creature of broken timelines and fractured reality.

Itzal, the Shadow-Titan.

Its body flickered between decades. One moment bone, the next armor, then a stormcloud. It howled, and all torches in the summit extinguished at once.

The armies of both sides panicked.

Varrick shouted orders.

Elira conjured a divine barrier.

And in the chaos… the Eclipsed spy vanished.

Kael, watching through a scrying mirror, smiled faintly.

“Now they’ve tasted it.”

Selene stepped forward. “They’ll never trust each other now.”

“Good,” Kael whispered.

“Trust is the first spell I’ll unmake.”