Garret's body lay twisted in the dirt.

The cryo-blast had shattered his chestplate, blackened half his face. But even through the frost and ruin, there was a smile.

Soft. Crooked. At peace.

Liara saw it—and broke.

She collapsed. 

Hands trembling violently, a sob clawing its way out of her chest like a dying animal.

Liara: "No, no... Please.. Garret..."

She buried her face into Raiga's chest, and the sobs came like a child, uncontrolled, breathless.

Liara: "I made him come... I forced him... This is all my fault..."

She couldn't breathe. Couldn't move.

Raiga, bleeding and dazed, leaned forward from the backseat of the rig.

Raiga: "Liara... we have to go..."

No response.

Raiga: "Liara. Look at me. LOOK at me!"

She didn't.

Raiga: "Liara, get the rig on! We don't have time!"

A beat. Her eyes lifted. Red. Empty. Lost.

Then—

A door slammed shut.

Both froze.

From one of the idle vehicles in the sand, a figure emerged. 

Not Dominion.

A long coat, darker than shadow. A body half-formed in flickering haze. Like a glitch in the world itself. Behind him, A group of men stepped down. All armored. All armed.

Their insignia: the sigil of the Aetheria's Church of Eternity.

Raiga's blood turned cold.

Liara: "...What the hell is that...?"

The soldiers leveled weapons. All aimed at the rig.

Raiga went for the glove compartment, he had no idea why. Reflex.

Then—

The figure raised a hand.

Every soldier stopped. A perfect, unified halt. Then, lowered their weapons in silence.

No voice. No signal.

Just obedience.

And the figure, the one the Inquisitor had called 'sir', began to walk.

Slowly. Calmly.

Toward the frozen battlefield. Toward Garret's corpse. Toward the shattered mass of frost and blood still twitching—

—the Inquisitor.

Raiga and Liara both stared. Unable to breathe.

The figure's outline shimmered, like heat waves from a dying star. He wasn't solid. He wasn't natural. Every step sent a vibration through the sand.

When he passed through a beam of light, he vanished for a split second.

The Inquisitor lay broken, half-buried, bones cracked by the blast.

His kinetic armor sparked erratically. A shard socket blinked red. The cryo-grenade had devastated him—nerve damage, cellular rupture, blood freezing in his veins. His body was failing.

He looked up.

Inquisitor: "Your grace... I... didn't expect... he had it hidden. I'll finish it now... j-just... give me a moment..."

The figure didn't reply.

He stood still. Staring.

Too still.

Raiga: "...Who is that?"

The figure tilted his head.And said—quietly:

Prophet: "There's no need."

The Inquisitor blinked. Confused.

Inquisitor: "...W-What...?"

A single step forward.

Then—CRACK.

The man's boot came down with inhuman force.The Inquisitor's skull exploded beneath it like overripe fruit.

Silence.

Liara screamed.

Liara: "Oh god—OH MY GOD—"

Raiga: "LIARA, WE NEED TO MOVE! NOW!"

Both of them scrambled into the rig. Liara slammed the door shut, shaking, still bleeding, still shaking her head.

Liara: "Come on... come on COME ON, START!!"

She hit the ignition.Nothing. Just a cough.

Liara: "START YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"

The man was walking. Step after step. Unstoppable.

His face remained unreadable. No fury. No emotion. Just the vacuum of something vast and alien. No soul behind the eyes.

Raiga: "GO, GO, GO—"

CLICK. WHIRR.

The engine turned over.

Liara gasped, hit the throttle—

The man was standing right in front of them.

They didn't even see him move.

He lifted one leg.

And kicked.

BOOM.

The front of the rig caved. The entire vehicle lifted, flipped into the air—twisting head over tail, metal screaming—

Liara: "RAIGA—!"

CRASH.

The rig slammed upside-down into the sand.

Windshield shattered. Roof crushed. Smoke poured from the vents.

Silence.

Black. Muffled. A ringing in the ears.

Raiga gasped awake.

Pain exploded across his chest and shoulder.

Everything was upside down.

Blood dripped from his temple.

His head throbbed.

Across from him—Liara.

Motionless.

Raiga: "Liara...?"

She didn't respond.

Raiga: "LIARA—!"

He reached for her, but pain stabbed through his spine. His body screamed. His wound tore wider.

He coughed blood. His vision swam.

Footsteps.

Close.

Then—metal torn apart.

The man ripped the rig door off with one hand.

Smoke hissed. Wires sparked.

Without a word, he reached in.

Grabbed Liara by the throat.

Pulled her out like a rag doll.

Raiga: "HEY! DON'T TOUCH HER! PUT HER DOWN! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU—!"

The man didn't even glance at him.

Liara groaned faintly. Dazed. Bleeding. Her eyes fluttered.

The man held her off the ground by the neck.

Raiga thrashed inside the wreck, blood flying from his mouth.

Raiga: "LET HER GO! You son of a—!"

The figure finally spoke.

Voice low. Calm. Almost... disappointed.

Prophet: "You really thought you could play the part of a normal life...

He looked directly at Raiga.

Prophet: "You're not free. You never were."

The air felt heavier.

Thicker.

Prophet: "Weapons of mass extinction are not allowed to live. You are chaos incarnate. You are the beginning... and the end."

He lifted Liara slightly higher.

Prophet: "I will break you. Mind. Flesh. Soul. Until nothing remains but obedience."

Raiga froze. His hands trembled.

Prophet: "You will be our Judgment. You will burn this world... And drag the new world screaming into existence."

He glanced at Liara.

Prophet: "First, everything you care for. Your heart. Your light. It dies here."

Liara whimpered weakly.

Eyes barely open.

Raiga clawed at the seatbelt. Dragged himself free.

Raiga: "NO! NO PLEASE—DON'T—DON'T DO IT—"

Prophet: "Now suffer, Heir."

SHLKT...

The blade pierced her stomach.

Liara's eyes went wide.

Everything stopped.

Raiga fell silent.

No wind.

No sound.

No time.

The man pulled the blade free.

Dropped her.

She hit the sand. Twitched. Blood pouring.

Liara: "Rai...ga..."

And then—

Stillness.

Dead.

Raiga screamed.

Raiga: "NOOOOO!! YOU PIECE OF SHIT!!!"

But it wasn't a scream anymore. It was raw existence, shredded into sound. A howl not of man, not of beast—but of something older. Forgotten. 

Prophet: "YES... YES! LET IT CONSUME YOU! DESPAIR—AND ASCEND!"

The voice echoed from nowhere. And everywhere. A grotesque symphony of joy twisted into torment.It fed on the moment. It worshipped it.

The world around him trembled. Air cracked like glass. And then—

Silence.

Not peace. Not calm.

A void. A breath between universes.

Raiga opened his eyes.

And he was elsewhere.

Not a memory. Not a dream. A plane beyond logic.

The village burned before him once again. Flames moved in slow motion, like liquid gold over black stone. Ash floated upward, not falling, but rising, as if time were weeping in reverse.

And in the center of it all: His grandfather. Standing. Watching.

But Raiga knew. That wasn't him. It wore his face, but not his soul.

The figure stepped forward. Eyes like empty moons. Voice ancient, vast, like it spoke from behind the stars.

???: "They took everything from you." 

The air vibrates around him. The ashes of the past stirring like breath.

???: "Let it rise. The fury, the fire, the truth they tried to chain."

A pause. The voice leans closer, not in sound, but in presence—

???: "Unleash it, Aaryan... I will stand with you."

Something clicked.

The fear didn't vanish—but it burned.

Turned into heat. Into focus. Into fire.

His hands clenched. His breath sharpened.

And for the first time... he didn't feel lost.

He felt ready.

Then the scream came, rising from somewhere deeper than his voice.

A roar that shook the air, and the ground beneath him cracked. Reality peeled like skin. Raiga felt everything: past, present, death, fire, pain, love, loss—collapsing inward.

And in that collapse—he rose.