A Passage into the Unknown
The great stone door yawned open, revealing a darkness deeper than the Abyss itself. It was not the formless void that surrounded them, nor the oppressive shadows that whispered in the dark.
This was different.
Ancient. Hungry.
Seraphina's instincts screamed at her to pull her son back, to turn away. But the boy—small, fragile, and yet somehow untouched by fear—took a step forward.
The kneeling figures did not stop him.
Instead, their voices merged into a single, resonating whisper.
"The lost one returns."
Seraphina tightened her grip on her son's wrist. "We don't know what's on the other side."
The child's golden eyes flickered as he turned to look at her.
"But it knows us."
Before she could answer, the door shuddered.
A pulse of power surged outward, sending cracks through the ruins around them.
And then—from the darkness beyond the door—something moved.
---
A Voice from the Depths
A shadow shifted beyond the threshold.
Then, a voice spoke.
Not in whispers. Not in layered echoes like the Abyssal watchers.
This voice was clear.
Deep.
And it carried authority.
"You have finally come."
Seraphina's breath hitched. The weight of the voice pressed against her mind, like unseen chains tightening around her thoughts.
Her son, however, did not waver.
He stepped forward.
The darkness beyond the door seemed to part before him.
And Seraphina saw something impossible.
Beyond the threshold was not just another abyss.
It was a place—a realm of twisting spires, endless stairways, and skies that bled golden light.
A realm that should not exist.
And yet, her son… belonged.
Seraphina swallowed hard. "Who are you?"
The shadow in the doorway shifted.
"I am the Keeper of Forgotten Names. And this child… has a name I have not heard in millennia."
Her son blinked. "Xel'thorin?"
The Keeper stilled.
Then, it laughed.
Not in mockery. Not in madness.
But in recognition.
"So… the world has forgotten, but the blood remembers."
The great stone door groaned, widening further.
"Come, little heir. There is much to remember."
Seraphina's pulse raced. She couldn't let him go alone.
She grabbed his hand, her voice firm. "If he goes, I go."
The Keeper's golden gaze turned to her.
It studied her for a long moment.
Then, it nodded.
"Then step forward, Seraphina of the Lost Line. But know this—once you enter, the Abyss will no longer be your greatest enemy."
Her grip on her son's hand tightened.
No more hesitation.
She stepped through the door.
And the Abyss shut behind them.
---
The Watching Eyes of Malagar
Far from the Abyss, in a high tower bathed in golden candlelight, Malagar's eyes snapped open.
He was not there. He had not seen it.
But he felt it.
Something in the world had shifted.
Something… had awakened.
A slow smirk spread across his lips.
"Now we shall see."
He turned to the darkened chamber beyond, where his agents waited in silence.
"Send word to the council. The hunt is no longer about an exile and her son."
His eyes gleamed.
"We are dealing with something far greater."
"And I intend to control it."
---
The Keeper's Trial
A Realm Beyond Understanding
The moment Seraphina and her son stepped through the great stone door, the air around them changed.
It was no longer thick with the oppressive weight of the Abyss. Instead, it was alive—filled with unseen currents of energy, whispering and shifting like the breath of a forgotten world.
The landscape stretched infinitely before them:
Towering obsidian spires twisted toward a sky that bled golden light.
Pathways of cracked marble floated in midair, some whole, others broken, leading to nowhere.
Monoliths covered in ancient symbols hummed faintly as they passed, their surfaces shifting like living ink.
The realm was not dead.
It was watching.
Seraphina's grip on her son's hand tightened. "Where are we?"
The shadowed figure standing before them—the Keeper of Forgotten Names—tilted its head.
"This is the Threshold—the bridge between what was, and what will be."
Her son stared up at the Keeper, his golden eyes reflecting the shifting lights of the sky. "What do you want from me?"
The Keeper studied him for a long moment.
Then, it extended a hand.
"Not want. I must test you."
Seraphina immediately stepped between them, her instincts flaring. "Test him how?"
The Keeper did not answer her. Instead, it turned to the boy.
"You spoke the name. You carry the blood. But do you remember?"
The air trembled.
And the world around them changed.
---
The Trial Begins
Without warning, Seraphina found herself alone.
The sky had darkened. The floating pathways had vanished.
Her son was gone.
Panic seized her, but before she could move, the Keeper's voice surrounded her.
"This is the first trial—Severance."
The shadows around her shifted.
And then—she saw them.
Figures emerging from the darkness. Ghosts of her past.
The village she abandoned when she first fled the Inquisition.
The faces of the people she had failed—those who had died because of her.
Malagar. Standing before her, his golden eyes burning with cruel amusement.
"You cannot protect him forever, Seraphina."
"He is not yours to keep."
Seraphina clenched her fists. This isn't real.
But then—the whispers started.
They came from everywhere, wrapping around her like unseen chains.
"You are a curse."
"You should have died with the rest."
"The bloodline should have ended with you."
Cold. Crushing. Suffocating.
And then, in the depths of the darkness, she heard him.
Her son. Screaming.
Seraphina's eyes snapped open.
She would not let this realm break her.
She took a step forward.
The ghosts lunged.
And she fought.
---
The Boy's Awakening
Elsewhere in the realm, the child stood in silence.
The world around him was not the same as Seraphina's.
Before him stood a throne.
It was made of black stone, pulsing with veins of golden fire.
The air hummed with something familiar.
Something inside him.
A whisper curled through his mind, soft yet impossibly old.
"Do you know who you are?"
The boy did not answer.
He didn't know.
But something inside him did.
The golden light in his eyes flared.
And the throne before him began to awaken.