Chapter 14: Rise of the Broken Sea
The cliffs of Stormreach trembled as the Unmaker dragged itself from the ocean's depths.
Hundreds of feet tall. Its skin was a mixture of bone, black coral, and shadow-forged iron. Tentacles made of liquid stone writhed behind it. Its eyes—two gaping vortexes—swallowed all light.
And it was still only half-awake.
The ocean boiled around it. Storm clouds curled inward, as though the sky itself recoiled from its presence.
Kavin stood on the cliff, surrounded by his companions: Lyra, Riven, Seraphine, and Theron—each of them armed, scarred, and ready.
But not even their combined strength felt like enough.
"We're not prepared for this," Seraphine whispered, her breath visible in the suddenly frozen air. "This isn't a beast. It's a god of undoing."
Theron gritted his teeth. "Then we hit it like gods."
Kavin's voice was steady. "No fear. We stop it before it fully wakes."
He raised his hands—and the sea wind obeyed.
⚡ The battle began. ⚔️
Kavin launched himself into the sky, fire spiraling behind him like wings. With a roar, he sent a storm-forged lance straight into the Unmaker's chest. It hit like thunder—but the beast barely flinched.
The Unmaker raised one massive arm and slammed it into the cliffs.
A wave of black energy burst outward—destroying entire stone towers, shattering defensive walls. Elemental warriors were thrown like dust.
Seraphine summoned walls of ice to slow the shockwave.
Riven cast a dome of lightning to protect the wounded.
Theron charged through the falling debris, slamming his stone-covered fists into the creature's lower limbs, cracking off chunks of ancient armor.
Still, it kept rising.
From across the sky, High Seer Maelira watched with cruel satisfaction.
"The world will drown beneath it," she whispered to the Queen.
But the Queen frowned. "He resists too well."
Maelira's eyes turned gold. "Then let the Unmaker see the truth. Let him see the core of the boy's soul."
Suddenly, the Unmaker's gaze locked onto Kavin.
The sky turned still.
And in an instant—Kavin was pulled into a vision, his mind forced into the Dark Memory.
He saw his past—his lonely childhood, his parents' betrayal, the burden of the mark, the blood he'd spilled, the people he'd lost.
The Unmaker's voice rumbled in his head:
"You think yourself a hero.But all you've done is burn.And what burns... eventually turns to ash."
But Kavin... smiled.
"I am fire," he whispered inside the vision. "And fire doesn't fear the dark."
He shattered the illusion with a scream of light—and burst from the Unmaker's mind control in a blaze of blue-white flame.
He returned to the real world in a flash of radiance.
Lyra stared, awed. "You broke its hold."
Kavin didn't answer. He flew straight up—higher than the clouds—and gathered every element he had ever touched.
Flame, wind, storm, light, even a whisper of frost.
The sky cracked with energy.
"FOR THE WORLD!" he roared—and hurled a celestial spear straight into the Unmaker's core.
The explosion was blinding.
The Unmaker shrieked and staggered—its chains began to reform, reacting to Kavin's energy.
Theron slammed his fists into the ground, summoning a mountain ring to trap the creature's feet.
Seraphine cast freezing winds into its joints.
Lyra climbed its back, planting charged daggers into the shadow marrow.
And Riven chanted a sealing spell passed down from the First Age.
Together, they forced the Unmaker back beneath the sea, locking it beneath new enchanted chains of starlight and stone.
The ocean calmed. The sky cleared.
And the heroes fell to their knees, exhausted—but alive.
Kavin stood at the edge of the cliff, watching the waves settle.
He whispered to himself, "This is just the beginning."
Far across the world, the Queen of Ashes turned from her mirror.
Her voice cold and final.
"Then we move to Phase Two."
Behind her, Maelira smiled.
And in a room of crystal and blood...a new enemy opened her eyes.