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Jonah’s blade cut through the swirling shadows, the crimson sky casting flickering light on his face. His breath came in ragged gasps, his every step fueled by raw determination. The figure in the distance, cloaked in flowing black, stood unmoving, watching him with hollow eyes that seemed to pierce straight into his soul.
The whispers in his head grew louder as he approached, each step sinking deeper into the ash-covered ground. They slithered across his thoughts, sharp and venomous.
“You cannot stop this, Jonah.”
“You are too late.”
“The gate will open again.”
Jonah clenched his teeth, his grip tightening on the dagger. “No. Not again.”
As he closed the distance, the figure raised one pale hand, and the shadows around it twisted and surged forward, forming grotesque shapes with elongated limbs and hollow faces. They lunged at Jonah.
He ducked under the first swipe, his dagger slashing upward, cutting through one of the creatures. Its form dissipated into wisps of smoke, but two more replaced it almost instantly.
“Jonah!” Kael’s voice rang out from behind him.
Arrows streaked through the air, striking the shadowy figures and forcing them back. Kael stood atop a ridge, her bowstring taut, her face set in grim determination.
“Go!” she shouted. “We’ll hold them off!”
Jonah didn’t hesitate. He surged forward, the shadows clawing at his boots, the figure ahead growing clearer with each step. Its face was still hidden beneath the hood, but Jonah could feel the weight of its gaze.
“Who are you?” Jonah demanded as he closed the distance.
The figure’s voice came, layered and cold. “I am what remains. I am what he left behind.”
Draven.
Jonah lunged, dagger aimed straight for the figure’s chest. But it moved with impossible speed, sidestepping the attack and grabbing Jonah’s wrist with an iron grip. The touch burned like frostbite, searing cold sinking into his bones.
“Foolish boy,” the figure hissed. “Did you think this would end with Draven? Did you think closing one gate would silence the void?”
Jonah gritted his teeth, his free hand reaching for the second dagger strapped to his side. With a surge of strength, he stabbed it into the figure’s side.
The creature let out a distorted screech, its grip loosening. Jonah wrenched free, stumbling backward.
The figure clutched its side, dark smoke pouring from the wound. But it wasn’t defeated.
“You cannot kill what has already transcended,” it rasped.
Jonah realized, with a sickening certainty, that this wasn’t just some remnant of Draven’s power—this was something older, something worse.
From behind him, Kael’s voice rose above the chaos. “Jonah, the ridge—there’s something glowing!”
Jonah turned briefly, his eyes catching a faint light pulsing from the ridge above Kael. It was faint but unmistakable—another symbol etched into stone, glowing with the same energy he had seen in the chapel and the fortress.
Another seal.
The figure lunged again, but Jonah was ready this time. He ducked low, rolling across the ground and sprinting toward the ridge.
“Kael! Cover me!” he shouted.
Arrows flew overhead as Kael unleashed volley after volley at the pursuing shadows.
Jonah reached the ridge, his eyes locking onto the glowing symbol carved into a stone obelisk. It was faint, flickering, as though barely holding on.
The whispers in his head grew deafening.
“Do not touch it!”
“You will not stop us!”
But Jonah didn’t hesitate. He pressed his hand against the symbol.
A blinding light erupted from the obelisk, spreading outward in waves. The shadowy creatures shrieked, their forms disintegrating into smoke as the light washed over them.
The cloaked figure recoiled, its hollow eyes blazing with fury.
“No! You cannot—”
The figure’s voice was swallowed by the light.
When the glow finally faded, the battlefield was still. The sky, though still bruised with red and gray, had softened. The shadows were gone.
Jonah fell to his knees, his chest heaving. Kael rushed to his side, her bow still clutched tightly in her hands.
“Jonah... you did it,” she said softly.
But Jonah shook his head. “It’s not over, Kael. That was just one seal. There are more out there, and whatever Draven started—it’s still trying to break free.”
Kael’s face was pale, but she nodded. “Then we’ll stop it. Together.”
Jonah forced himself to his feet, his body aching but his resolve stronger than ever.
The shadows had been driven back—for now.
But the Dominion was vast, and the seals that held back the darkness were weakening.
Jonah turned his gaze to the distant horizon, where faint storm clouds still churned.
Their fight wasn’t over.
But they had won this battle.
For now.