The Blackheart Guardian
The formidable being appeared before us as a shifting mass of shadows, formless, yet with a sense of overwhelming power. It seemed to be forged from the wrath of the world itself. Silent at first, its deep voice began to reverberate like thunder in the bones.
"You are knocking on the door of truth... and no one will let you pass easily."
"This is the Blackheart Guardian," Ariel said, raising her hand and conjuring a swirl of blue light. "This is the Blackheart Guardian, the last threshold before reaching the source of the shadows."
We had to face it. There was no escape, and no point in retreating now. I reached for the enchanted sword I had obtained from the Wind Temple and whispered, "Are we ready?"
Iyad shook his head and said with a defiant smile, "We won't know until we try, will we?"
Lilia, gripping her magic wand tightly, took a step forward and said calmly, "Let's finish this... together."
The Guardian charged, his speed believable against his size. The fight began. Shadows thickened around us, attacking us in the form of dark spikes and writhing claws. Ariel parried them with an energy shield, while Lilia fired precise magic shots.
I moved quickly, striking more with my heart than my mind. Every movement, every strike, tested my will.
Ariel shouted, "Strike the heart! In the center! There's a faint pulsation, the source of its power!"
I leaped toward the creature's center, as its nebulous body opened to swallow me up. I was thrust inside, cold, dark, afraid... Then I saw the heart.
It hung there, covered in a web of black moss. It beat slowly, each pulse making me feel deeper in the memories.
Then I heard a voice... my father's voice.
"Do not be afraid of the dark, my son... for light is only created in darkness."
I shouted, delivering the final blow.
The guard exploded in a whirl of shadows, and I fell to the ground, panting, covered in minor wounds, but my heart was light.
Ariel stood over me, extended her hand, and said with a calm smile, "Prove you're not just a traveler from another world."
I stood, realizing this wasn't the end. It was the beginning of the most difficult phase.
The End of Chapter 90
Chapter 91: The City of Silent Spirits
After defeating the guardian, a wide stone passage opened before us, leading to a completely different realm. There were no shadows here, no thick darkness... instead, a faint blue light emanated from the crystals in the walls, and a strange silence surrounded us, as though we had entered a world outside of time.
Ariel said, looking around intently:
"We've arrived... in the City of Silent Spirits."
"What is this city?" Iyad asked, walking cautiously on the floor that appeared polished like mirrors.
Lilia answered, her face starting to show signs of worry:
"A place that only those who have faced the heart of darkness can enter. Here, souls are tested, not bodies."
The city seemed as if it were made from frozen light. The buildings were similar, with windows opening into the void, uninhabited, but you could feel the sensation of being watched at every moment.
In the center of the city stood a giant stone statue of a woman with her hands on her chest, her eyes closed as if in mourning.
We approached the statue, and suddenly we heard a soft voice coming from within it:
"Welcome... those who carried the burden of shadows. But your journey is not yet over. To continue, you must face yourselves."
Then the statue split in the middle, and a circle of light appeared, like a giant mirror.
Ariel spoke in a deep voice:
"The final trial is here... inside. Each of us will face our own dark side. If we survive... we deserve to reach the end."
I felt fear, not from the battle, but from the idea of facing myself. What would I see? My failure? My guilt? My fear of returning to a world that no longer exists for me?
I stepped into the circle first, with Lilia and Ariel behind me, and Iyad following without saying a word.
Inside the light, I found myself standing in a distorted version of my old room on Earth. I was staring at myself... but the other version of me was glaring at me with empty eyes.
"You ran away from them, didn't you?" my shadow said. "You ran away from your weakness, from a world that rejected you."
"I didn't run away," I said. "I'm trying to be something better."
The shadow smiled mockingly: "You're just lucky. But you're still the same coward."
I looked at it directly. "Maybe... but I fight now. And I choose not to be that coward anymore."
In an instant, the shadow melted into light, and I fell to the ground. Then I found myself outside the circle, and the others emerged, tired, but successful.
Ariel said, her eyes shining with something like pride:
"Now we can proceed... we are ready to face the origin of the shadows."
End of Chapter 91
Chapter 92: The Prophecy of the First Ruler
After we passed the soul test, a circular courtyard appeared before us, surrounded by eight stone pillars, each inscribed with a language we had never seen before. In the center of the courtyard, a stone platform rose gradually to an ancient throne covered in runes and dark crystals.
Lilia said, wiping dust from one of the inscriptions:
"This language... it's the inscriptions of the First Covenant. It speaks of 'the ruler who crossed between worlds, and rejected the end.'"
We approached the throne cautiously, until Ariel suddenly stopped, her eyes widening in shock.
"This is the seat of power... the throne of the First Ruler," she whispered. "From here, all the kingdoms began... and from here, the shadows were born."
Iyad replied, his voice tense:
"Does this mean the shadows... were created by humans?"
Ariel nodded slowly.
"Not just humans, but a ruler like you, World Knight."
I was about to respond when the surrounding crystals began to pulse with a dark blue light. Then, a transparent apparition emerged from the throne, a tall man with glowing eyes, dressed in a robe of ancient symbols.
"Finally, you've arrived..." said the apparition. "I have waited a thousand years."
I asked, "Who are you?"
He smiled in a broken voice:
"I am the First Ruler... the one who betrayed the worlds, and fell into the abyss of eternity. You are the ones chosen by the prophecy to fix what I have ruined."
Ariel approached and asked:
"Then... is what we face today the result of your choice?"
"Yes," the ghost replied. "I was the first to open the gate to the worlds, to save my kingdom... but I unleashed forces I could not control. The shadows are the price of that."
Lilia stepped forward, her eyes glaring at him:
"And what do you want from us?"
"You have two choices..." said the apparition, pointing to two gates that appeared behind the throne, one made of light, the other of thick darkness:
"First, the Path of Purification: face the essence of the shadows and erase them forever... even if it costs one of you your life."
"Second, the Path of Control: use the shadows as a weapon, and enforce order by force. But it is a path with no return."
We exchanged looks. The decision wasn't easy. But I knew deep inside what had to be done.
"We choose the light," I said.
The apparition nodded, then began to fade away as he said:
"Then, prepare yourselves... for the true world of shadows begins now."
Suddenly, the ground beneath our feet opened, and we fell into a whirlpool of light and sound, not knowing where it would lead.
End of Chapter 92
Chapter 93: The City of Shadows
When I regained consciousness, I felt like I was on the edge of a deep abyss. The air around me was heavy, saturated with darkness, but a distant light danced in the far horizon. This was the only thing illuminating our way in this strange world.
"Is everyone okay?" Iyad asked, helping Lilia stand.
"Yes..." Lilia answered quietly, her eyes scanning the shadows that scattered around us like clouds. "But where are we?"
Ariel took a deep breath and said:
"We've reached the heart of the shadows. This is the city that was under the control of the First Ruler before it shattered."
I looked around. The city stretched before us, narrow streets and abandoned buildings, all covered in moving clouds of shadow that intertwined with one another. There were distant sounds, whispers that were incomprehensible, as though the trapped souls were speaking in silence.
"We need to find the source," I said firmly, pointing to the dark sky. "The source that created all of this."
"But how?" Lilia wondered. "There's no clue."
Ariel, trying to focus her senses, said:
"The source is close. There's something... in the heart of the city. We will discover it."
We moved cautiously between the deserted buildings. The ground beneath us was unstable, as if it were breathing, shifting with every step. Suddenly, we entered a vast square, where a massive statue of a figure wearing armor made of shadows stood. The statue stared at us, and its glassy eyes glowed strangely.
"This is the First Ruler," Ariel said in a deep voice. "He left this statue as a memorial, while he himself became part of the shadows."
"Are we facing him now?" Iyad asked nervously, looking at the statue.
Suddenly, the statue began to change. A huge shadow burst from it, taking on a human form, and began moving toward us. The shadow's eyes glowed with a deep red, and its voice was like thunder:
"You chose the path of light... but are you ready to pay the price?"
The shadows gathered around us, and the space we could move in started to shrink. I felt its presence behind me, as if every step we took was leading us into a trap we couldn't escape from.
Lilia said, trying to gather her magical energy:
"We won't surrender. We choose the light, and we will fight until the end."
The shadow was getting closer fast. With courage, Ariel stepped forward and said:
"We will not kneel before the darkness. This is our fate."
The darkness began to grow denser, and the entire place was engulfed in pitch-blackness. The shadow smiled, but we all felt a strange force inside, as though we were all united by something greater than fear.
And the battle began.
Ariel charged first, using her magical shield to minimize the effect of the shadows. She surrounded herself with a blue light aura, but the shadow was stronger. Shadows began to attack her from all sides, but she didn't retreat.
I too, rushed forward with my sword, trying to strike the creature's weak points, while Lilia unleashed a powerful magical beam.
But the battle was fierce. The shadow grew stronger with every moment, and every strike we made against it felt like hitting a wall.
Ariel screamed: "We can't do this alone... we need to combine our powers!"
In that moment, we understood that we couldn't attack individually. We had to unite. I placed my hand on the sword's heart, lifted my eyes to the dark sky, and took a deep breath.
"There will be no defeat," I whispered.
And in that instant, energy gathered in each of our hands, and we released it all at once toward the massive shadow. Our powers merged, and we were able to create a massive light explosion, a beam that pierced the darkness.
Then, a moment of silence.
End of Chapter 93
Chapter 94: Explosion of Light
The moment our energies merged, the entire arena exploded around us. A beam of light pierced through the deep shadows, and a tremendous resonance of power echoed throughout the dark city. Our beam illuminated the darkness like lightning, fighting against the shadows that surrounded us with all its might.
The shadow in front of us began to shrink gradually, letting out a deep muffled scream as its energy dissipated before the light we had unleashed.
"We... we did it!" Iyad yelled with excitement, watching as the darkness shattered before us.
But something was strange. Although it seemed like we had defeated the shadow, the surrounding shadows didn't vanish. On the contrary, our light began to recede little by little, and the dark city itself started to tremble as if it were about to collapse.
"What's happening?" Lilya said, watching what was happening around us.
Ariel looked tense, her eyes scanning the horizon.
"We haven't defeated the First Ruler yet. The shadows attacking us are just a part of his true power. If we manage to defeat him completely, this world will disappear."
The city's walls began to crack, and shadows grew thicker with each passing second. We began to feel as if the entire place was moving, as though the city itself was trying to swallow us.
"We need to get to the heart of the city!" I said, catching my breath, pointing toward the path ahead. "If we can reach the source of the shadows, we can end all of this."
Without hesitation, we began running toward the large square that seemed to be the center of the city. The road was filled with scattered shadows, but they began to retreat as we got closer.
As time passed, we arrived at a place where the shadows were at their weakest. There was a massive pillar of shadow in the center of the square, with a strange green light swirling around it.
"This is the heart of the shadows," Ariel said, watching the pillar. "The First Ruler created it, and he controls this place."
"How do we merge it with our power?" Iyad asked.
Ariel thought deeply for a moment before responding:
"We have to fight our own shadows. This pillar represents each of our powers. If we defeat our own shadows, we can destroy the heart of the shadows."
At that moment, dark figures appeared before us, taking the form of distorted copies of ourselves. I saw myself there, a shadowy version of me, but with eyes filled with darkness and malice.
Ariel, Lilya, and Iyad were also facing their dark copies. Each of us stood before a difficult internal challenge.
"Now we must face ourselves," Lilya whispered softly, as the shadow in front of her attacked.
I took a deep breath, raising my sword, ready to face my dark counterpart. The battle began.
The internal battle began in the hardest way possible. Every strike of the sword, every spell we cast, was met with greater resistance from the shadow version of ourselves. The shadowy beings possessed our powers, but they were distorted by our weaknesses.
"You don't deserve to be here," said the shadow that resembled me, laughing mockingly.
"I am more than that," I replied, gathering all my strength. "I choose my destiny."
Then, I raised my sword high, unleashing a pure light upon it. In that moment, I felt my inner strength surge, and I knew I wouldn't let myself fall back into my darkness.
The shadows began to disintegrate, and those dark copies returned to the darkness from which they had come.
Indeed, we had all triumphed over our shadows. Now, only the massive pillar remained, which began to crumble.
Ariel, Lilya, and Iyad looked at me and nodded. Together, we had overcome the darkness.
In an instant, the destroyed pillar crashed to the ground, and the darkness dissipated, allowing us to see the clear sky for the first time in this dark world.
End of Chapter 94
Chapter 95: A New Dawn
As the pillar fell, the sky began to slowly open. The shadows of the world receded little by little, as if a new dawn was beginning to make its way through this dark land. The place that had been filled with darkness and ruin was now bright, with rays of sunlight streaming through the black clouds, washing away everything that had hindered us.
"Did we... succeed?" Lilya said in a voice filled with astonishment, as she gazed at the sky that was beginning to change.
Iyad replied, catching his breath as if a great burden had been lifted from him:
"It looks like we did. But there's something strange inside me... did we really finish?"
Ariel was watching the shattered pillar. We all felt that something was not over yet. Something deep within this place was still standing, watching us, waiting.
"Don't rush," Ariel said in a low voice, her sharp eyes scanning the sky and the city. "This land won't change easily. The First Ruler was not just a person. He was a dark force that manifested in this world, and this world still bears the remnants of his power."
Then she paused and pointed to something strange in the distance. A series of massive towers were emerging from the ground, rising toward the sky rapidly, with strange lights emanating from them.
"What are these towers?" Iyad asked, pointing toward them.
Ariel replied, her face tense:
"These are the last remnants of the First Ruler. The towers represent the pathways that once connected the worlds. These towers hold ancient keys and contain powers from past ages."
"Does that mean we have to deal with these towers now?" Lilya wondered.
I responded quickly, trying to take charge in this decisive moment:
"Yes, if these towers represent the path to the heart of darkness, we won't be able to leave without discovering what lies within them."
As we approached the towers, we began to feel an increased pressure in the air. There was something unsettling about the atmosphere, and the pressure grew stronger the closer we got.
Ariel led us through the dark towers, revealing more of their truth. The towers were imbued with ancient secrets, and each one emitted a strange energy that drew closer to us.
We arrived at a massive tower in the center. It was taller than all the others and was surrounded by intricate rings of magic. At the top of the tower, there was a massive door engraved with ancient symbols.
"This is it..." Ariel said, taking a deep breath. "This is the entrance to the heart of darkness."
But before we could take another step, a massive apparition appeared, reflecting the shape of the First Ruler. His red eyes glowed with an eerie light, and the air was filled with coldness.
"You dare to enter my kingdom... you will not leave alive," said the deep voice, as the form of the First Ruler drew closer to us.
"We're no longer afraid of you," I replied in a determined tone. "We're here to finish what you started, to free this land from the shadows you created."
Our next battle was not against the shadows, but against the Ruler himself. Our swords, magic, and inner strength were our only hope in this decisive battle.
Ariel, Lilya, and Iyad began to prepare their powers, while I focused on the blade in my hand. Everything was building toward this moment. The battle was at hand.
But the First Ruler was not an easy opponent. His power was much greater than we had anticipated. He shifted shape and abilities each time we tried to attack him, and he radiated dark energy that paralyzed our movements.
Ariel, breathing heavily, said:
"We need to focus all our power in one moment. Only then will we be able to defeat him."
"But how?" Lilya asked.
I answered as the First Ruler advanced toward us:
"When we fight together... we must unite like never before. That's the only way."
We gathered our powers in a single moment and unleashed a massive beam of light toward the Ruler. The battle between light and darkness was at its peak.
In an instant, the First Ruler let out a deafening scream, and a large part of his dark body was destroyed. His power began to wane, but it wasn't over yet.
End of Chapter 95