Darkness hung heavy across the broken earth, where old walls crumbled into dust under silent stars. Not far off, Kael waited, chest rising slow, thoughts cutting clean through fog. Inside, something fierce beat like a caged storm - time itself, wild and close to breaking free.
Quick learning was his only option. That moment left no room for slow progress.
Wind rushed between broken walls, murmuring old secrets. What he remembered from blood and bone said this place belonged to the Abyss Elders long ago - those who stood against divine rule. Nothing stayed but fragments now, plus things such as the Nightfang Stalker, and darker shapes.
Knuckles tight, Kael felt the weight of something strange inside. This power - called Temporal Grasp - could drag moments backward, speed them up, even stop a falling leaf midair. Yet doubt crept in. How far could it really go? Boundaries remained unseen.
Finding out meant doing it one specific way.
A shape in the corner caught Kael's eye - broken stones stacked like bones. Not moving, yet something inside him stirred at the sight. The air shifted when he paid attention.
"Accelerate."
The world flickered near the wreckage, then - stones twisted like time had snapped forward. Decades of rot folded into a breath. What stood firm cracked sudden, falling apart without sound.
A shiver ran through Kael as he let out a sharp breath. Weakness pulled at his limbs, heavy and sudden. The room seemed to tilt just slightly under the weight of it.
"That took too much out of me I need to refine this."
Into the quiet he stepped, eyes shifting toward what came next. There it was - a lone leaf tumbling through air, lifted by a sharp gust under moonlight.
"Freeze."
Time stopped.
A stillness held the leaf midair, like the world forgot how to turn. Reaching out, Kael took it gently, breaking the quiet. At touch, the power slipped away - then the leaf turned to dust in his hand.
Thumping hard, his heart raced like never before. Not merely magic - this energy ran deeper, capable of twisting what's real. Yet here's the catch: it wobbled, unpredictable at its core.
If he went too far, it could take him over.
A noise cracked through the broken stones at his back. Sharp as a blade, Kael spun around - aware now, alert. Not empty after all; eyes held still from the shadows.
He wasn't alone.
A shape slipped through the broken columns, almost lost in the dim glow of the moon. The still air held its breath as darkness shifted where stone once stood tall. Faint light traced the edges of something moving just beyond sight.
Kael squinted. Reveal who you are
Silence.
A whisper came. Guttural. Not human at all.
"You are not meant to be here Celestial Sovereign."
Fear gripped Kael deep inside. The moment froze like a breath caught too long.
Something stirred behind his name. Was it a voice he knew? Or maybe nothing at all.