Chapter 20: The Rift Opens

The sky was no longer just a sky.

It was a tear, an ancient wound in the fabric of the world, as Kael Draven stood at the heart of the Abyssal Rift, hands raised, his body surrounded by a swirling vortex of darkness. The Abyss Order’s forces surged forward, their twisted bodies forming a perimeter as they chanted in unison.

The crystal at Kael's feet pulsed with a terrible rhythm, vibrating through the air. Its dark energy soaked into the very earth beneath them, causing the world itself to groan in agony.

Kael’s eyes burned, glowing with an intensity that reflected the power he now wielded.

The Sanctuary of the Nine, once a place of serenity and purity, began to tremble.

High above its floating island, a swirling maelstrom of dark magic had appeared, turning the once-clear skies into a hellish expanse of swirling clouds and lightning.

Elira Dawnbreaker watched in horror as the rift expanded. She knew the ancient texts. The Sanctuary was the last place that could protect Arcanis from true devastation. It wasn’t just a sanctuary—it was the heart of the world's magic.

"He's pulling the world apart!" Elira yelled to the assembled mages, her eyes wide with panic. "We must stop the ritual!"

In the heart of the Abyss Order, Kael’s grin widened.

The ritual was nearing its peak.

As the void energies poured into the rift, his body crackled with the stolen power of the land. He could feel the laws of time and space bending around him, warping, reshaping. For a brief, fleeting moment, he glimpsed something that no mortal should ever see—a future where he was no longer a Rider, but a god.

“With this,” Kael whispered, “I will make the very rules of reality bend to my will.”

Varek, standing a few feet behind Kael, watched in awe as the rift expanded. His face twisted in both fear and reverence. The very ground beneath them seemed to come alive, stretching and shifting as the universe’s fabric began to tear.

“My lord,” he said cautiously, “The ritual is almost complete. But the Union and Darkveil—they will come for us soon. They—”

“They are too late,” Kael interrupted, his voice filled with absolute certainty. “When this power completes, there will be no Union. No Darkveil. There will be only the Abyss.”

As the final words of Kael’s spell rang out, the rift exploded, unleashing a torrent of void and magic that shattered the landscape.

Far above, at the gates of the Sanctuary, Elira’s senses flared. She felt the powerful surge of magic—the unnatural pull of the Abyss—and knew in that moment, it was too late. The spell had been cast.

The very heart of Arcanis was now in Kael’s grasp.

"Hold firm!" Elira shouted, her voice shaking with urgency. "Prepare the wards! NOW!”

But the ground beneath her feet cracked. The sky split apart. The Sanctuary itself groaned, as if struggling to stay whole.

Varrick and the Darkveil forces arrived on the outskirts of the Sanctuary, their boots pounding on the earth as the rift surged with destructive energy.

“We need to stop this,” Varrick hissed, his eyes fixed on the massive storm above.

A towering general from the Union, Kormis, walked beside him, his sword ready. "We don't have a choice. We fight together, or we die together."

Varrick smirked. “How poetic.”

The combined forces of Darkveil and the Union stood at the edge of the Sanctuary's outer walls, eyes filled with distrust but with a shared resolve. They had no choice but to face the enemy before them: Kael and his increasingly powerful forces.

Elira raised her staff high, calling forth an ethereal light that began to form a barrier around the island, attempting to shield the Sanctuary.

Back in the rift, Kael’s hands clenched as his power surged.

He felt the raw magic coursing through him, the untapped potential of the Heart of Arcanis now completely exposed. He reached out with his mind, feeling the ancient leyline beneath the Sanctuary. It was full of power—the very core of magic.

The Sanctuary was his now. All he had to do was reach out and claim it.

As the final stormclouds gathered above, the first clash between the combined forces of Darkveil and the Union erupted. Varrick’s dark shadows clashed against the shining light of Elira’s spells.

The ground quaked beneath their feet as the Sanctuary trembled, its heart now under attack from every side.

Kael’s voice echoed in the wind, reverberating across the battlefield:

“This world will break. And I… I will remake it in my image.”