MASTERS OF THE ETERNITY
CHAPTER 6: DUSKREACH'S GRAVE
The fog thickened with every step.
Izek and Raian walked in silence, boots crunching the wet forest floor as the sun failed to pierce the dense clouds. The air grew colder. The trees thinner. Somewhere in the distance, birds stopped singing.
The western riverbank — once just a direction — now felt like the edge of something ancient.
Raian broke the silence.
> "How far is this place?"
Izek glanced at the torn scroll again. The symbol on it — the broken and whole circles — pulsed faintly now, reacting to something unseen.
> "Close. I can feel it."
> "Feel it?"
> "Like… gravity pulling me forward."
Raian muttered, "Not creepy at all."
---
By midday, they reached it.
A canyon opened before them — vast, jagged, and echoing with silence. At the center of the chasm sat Duskreach, or what was left of it. Shattered towers leaned like crooked teeth from the cliffs. Bridges had collapsed, roads split by time. Stone statues, cracked and headless, lined the path into the ruin.
A black wind swept through.
> "This is it?" Raian said, stepping forward.
> "Yeah," Izek replied. "This place is… wrong."
And it was.
Every rock seemed carved with symbols that pulsed faintly, like veins. The resonance here wasn't calm or focused. It writhed — wounded and alive.
They stepped inside.
---
Further in, the ruins deepened. Beneath a broken arch, they found remnants of armor, rotted scrolls, and shattered crystals. Whatever happened here had ended in chaos. Raian touched a broken helmet.
> "This was a battlefield."
> "No," said Izek. "It was something worse."
Just then — the ground trembled.
A low groan, like metal tearing underwater, echoed from deep beneath them. A sigil on the wall flared. Izek's fists glowed with a faint gravitational shimmer.
Then, from the depths — something moved.
---
From below the stone altar, a creature emerged — not a Hollowkind… but worse.
It stood tall, wrapped in decaying armor that pulsed with dying resonance. Its face was hidden behind a cracked mask, leaking dark mist from within. Bladed limbs jutted from its back like broken wings.
> "A Warden," whispered Raian. "I've heard stories…"
The creature screeched, resonance twisting around it like black smoke.
> "Izek," Raian warned. "It's guarding something. Maybe the source."
Izek stepped forward, his fists glowing brighter now.
> "Then we're breaking through."
---
The Battle Began.
The Warden struck like a phantom — moving with jerks and bursts, distorting the space around it. Each swipe of its bladed arms carried a wave of decaying energy.
Izek charged, fists heavy with compressed force. He swung — the ground cracked beneath the pressure.
The Warden dodged, only to lurch into Raian's path. With a shout, Raian unleashed a flaming strike, catching it off-balance and sending it sprawling.
But it didn't bleed. It laughed — a gurgling, empty sound that echoed inside their skulls.
> "It's feeding off the resonance here!" Raian shouted. "This whole ruin is alive!"
Izek gritted his teeth. He couldn't just punch it. He had to bend it.
---
Closing his eyes briefly, he focused. The flow inside him responded. Not wild now — measured. Controlled.
He swung his fist down — not on the creature, but on the space around it.
The gravity spiked. The air buckled. The Warden was pinned, body warping under the invisible weight.
Raian charged and delivered a flaming uppercut, cracking the Warden's mask.
It shrieked, then dissolved — pulled into the earth like dust caught in a whirlpool.
Silence returned.
---
At the heart of the ruin, they found it.
A stone tablet, etched with the same twin-circle symbol as the scroll. Beneath it, in ancient script, read:
> "From balance came Resonance. From ambition came ruin. Beware the ones who broke the circle."
Raian frowned. "What does it mean?"
Izek stared at the inscription. His fists no longer glowed, but his heart pounded with the weight of understanding.
> "It means someone destroyed the harmony of Resonance. On purpose."
And the ruin was a warning.
---
As they turned to leave, another figure stood at the ruined gate.
A tall woman, draped in black and silver, her face obscured by a metallic veil. She held a long staff shaped like the twin-circle sigil.
> "You two have wandered too far," she said coldly. "The Order will not allow this."
Izek raised a brow. "Then stop us."
She didn't move. Only whispered:
> "The Blade of Eternity responds to those who break fate. But fate breaks back."
Then vanished into mist.
---
Raian looked at Izek.
> "So… we've pissed off a secret organization?"
> "Looks like it."
> "And we just beat a gravity-immune, resonance-feeding monster from hell?"
> "Pretty much."
Raian sighed. "Well looks like she isn't trying to attack us"
They stepped from the ruins of Duskreach — carrying new knowledge, new threats, and the undeniable truth:
Their path wasn't chosen by destiny.
They were punching through it.
TO BE CONTINUED