The storm over Lunareth had lasted three days and three nights. The city slept beneath a shroud of endless thunder, as if the heavens themselves trembled for what was to come. The rain no longer fell like a blessing it hissed, alive with mana, thick with the scent of distortion.
In the ruined church where Adrien had hidden for weeks, the candlelight flickered weakly against the roaring winds. The rain struck the glass like desperate fingers trying to break in. Adrien sat silently on the broken altar, staring into the empty pews that once held prayers. Now, only ghosts listened.
He hadn't slept since the light erupted from the horizon. That golden flare the same one the voice called "the Third Chosen" had burned itself into his mind.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw it again, swallowing the sky like dawn devouring night.
But it wasn't dawn.
It was judgment.
He rose to his feet, the shadows following like obedient beasts. The violet aura that wrapped his body pulsed faintly with each heartbeat, shifting and bending to his emotion. Each step he took made the old wood creak under the weight of his power.
Adrien whispered to the silence, "The others are awakening."
A faint whisper answered him from within the voice of *Lnx*, ever watchful, ever cruel.
"The balance demands it. You killed the second vessel. The chain is broken, and the next seeks to restore it."
Adrien clenched his jaw. "Restore it… by destroying me?"
"By judging you. The Third is not like the second. He carries the Light of Divinity pure, absolute, and merciless."
Adrien's eyes narrowed, glowing faintly. "Then it's already war."
He turned his gaze toward the stained glass window. The faint shimmer of morning struggled to pierce through the heavy rain clouds. Lunareth looked asleep, unaware that beneath its streets, two divine energies had already begun to converge.
The door creaked open behind him.
It was the same girl the one who had found him days ago. Her name was Lyra, a student from the city who had refused to leave, even after the destruction.
"You're leaving again, aren't you?" she asked quietly.
Adrien didn't answer immediately. His eyes lingered on the dim cityscape beyond the window.
Finally, he said, "If I stay, more people die."
"You always say that," Lyra whispered. "But every time you leave, it rains harder."
Her voice trembled. "I saw you that night. You could've killed them all but you didn't. You saved those children, Adrien. You're not like them."
He turned toward her then. His eyes were sharper than the storm outside. "Don't make the mistake of thinking I'm a hero."
Lyra stepped closer. "Then what are you?"
For a moment, the shadows paused. The church fell silent. Adrien's expression softened barely noticeable, but real.
"I'm what's left when heroes die," he said quietly.
Outside, the air rippled.
The rain halted frozen in midair. Every droplet hovered like crystal, reflecting faint streaks of golden light.
Adrien instantly knew. *He's here.*
A blinding radiance tore through the clouds, descending like a divine blade. It wasn't just light it was power so pure it burned. The Lnx within Adrien recoiled instinctively.
"The Third has descended," whispered the voice of Lnx.
"The Law of Light has found its host."
Adrien's cloak flared as he stepped into the storm. The shadows spread behind him like wings. The sky above split open, revealing a man standing atop a floating bridge of light.
He was radiant hair white as dawn, eyes golden like a god's. His aura made the air hum, and the rain vaporized before touching him.
So this was the Third Chosen.
"Adrien Blackwood," his voice boomed, calm yet absolute. "Bearer of the Law of Shadow. You've broken the sacred balance. For that, your existence must end."
Adrien smirked faintly, his violet aura sparking around him. "Balance? You mean control. You think the world needs your light to survive, but light that blinds is just another form of darkness."
The man's gaze hardened. "You speak like a heretic."
"Maybe I am," Adrien said, stepping forward. "But even heretics bleed the same as gods."
The golden figure raised his hand, and beams of pure energy descended from the sky. Adrien vanished in an instant, his form dissolving into darkness. The explosion shattered the streets, sending shockwaves through the city.
But before the light could fade, Adrien emerged behind him shadow blade drawn striking with precise fury.
Clang!
Their energies collided light against shadow, creating a blast that split the clouds apart. The entire skyline of Lunareth was illuminated, half gold, half violet.
Every time their blades met, the air screamed. Every movement carved destruction. Buildings trembled, glass shattered for miles, and the earth itself began to crack open under the weight of their powers.
Lyra watched from the distance, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't even call his name the wind devoured her voice.
Adrien gritted his teeth, sweat and blood mixing with rain. The Third Chosen's strikes were merciless, guided by divine precision. Each beam of light felt like judgment incarnate.
But Adrien wasn't yielding. His shadows coiled tighter, sharper. Each swing of his sword left trails of darkness that ate through the air itself.
He could feel his Lnx power evolving.
No longer just reacting to him it was *fusing* with him.
The voice in his head trembled.
"Careful… too much, and you will become the Law itself."
Adrien ignored it. "Then let it happen."
He roared, unleashing a wave of energy that tore through the clouds. The night sky turned violet-black, consuming the golden light around them.
The Third staggered back, eyes narrowing. "You would destroy yourself for this world?"
Adrien smiled faintly, a ghost of warmth hidden in his cold gaze. "Not for this world... for the people still worth saving."
With one final clash, their energies collided in a sphere of brilliance light and darkness merging until everything vanished in a silent explosion.
When the dust settled, the city was still.
A crater lay in the center of Lunareth. The golden figure was gone, only a faint trail of radiance lingering in the wind. Adrien knelt at the center, trembling, blood dripping down his arm. His shadow flickered weakly alive, but unstable.
The voice of Lnx whispered faintly.
"You've done what no bearer should. You defied the chain."
Adrien breathed heavily. "I don't care about your laws anymore."
"Then you walk a path even gods will fear."
Adrien rose, barely standing. His eyes once violet now shimmered with streaks of silver, a fusion of shadow and light.
"I don't care what they fear," he murmured. "I'm not their puppet."
The rain resumed, soft again. The city slept beneath the broken sky.
Lyra ran to him, her clothes torn, eyes wide. "Adrien! You're alive"
He smiled faintly, just once, before collapsing into her arms.
The shadows around him faded into silence.
The rain eased into a mist that shimmered under Lunareth's fractured moon. Lyra knelt in the crater, cradling Adrien's limp body. His pulse was there but faint, fragile, like a candle struggling against the wind. The violet aura that had once roared like a storm now flickered in weak threads across his skin.
"Stay with me," she whispered, pressing her hand against his chest. "You can't disappear… not after all that."
Her tears mixed with the rain, drawing faint ripples of light around them. She didn't know it, but her emotion resonated with the remnants of Adrien's mana. The energy pulsed, faintly reacting to the warmth of her touch.
For a moment, the storm hushed.
From somewhere above, hidden among the clouds, something watched.
(The Aftermath)
Lunareth woke slowly. Survivors crawled out from ruins, whispering rumors of gods clashing and a boy of shadow who fought the sun itself. No one knew his name, only the story a ghost who burned the sky violet.
The church bells rang again after years of silence. Not from faith, but from fear.
Lyra dragged Adrien into the shelter of the church, covering his wounds with torn cloth. The shadow marks along his neck were fading, replaced by pale streaks of light the residual trace of the Third Chosen's power.
"Your body… it's rejecting both energies," she muttered through tears. "You can't hold this much light and darkness together!"
But Adrien's expression was calm, even unconscious. His breathing shallow but steady. His lips moved faintly whispering a single word.
"Mother…"
Lyra froze. For a heartbeat, she saw the child he once was. The boy who lost everything under the red eclipse. The same boy who kept walking alone because no one else could.
She turned her gaze to the shattered stained glass above. The pieces glowed faintly with reflected starlight violet, gold, and black all together.
"Maybe," she whispered, "the gods never meant to curse you. Maybe they feared what you'd become."
(Between Worlds)
Inside Adrien's mind, darkness stretched endlessly.
No sound. No warmth. Only the echo of his heartbeat.
Then footsteps.
He turned. A figure stood before him, cloaked in white light, its face obscured. Its voice carried both familiarity and distance.
"You fought against the Law itself. Why?"
Adrien's eyes, dull and weary, met the figure's glow.
"Because your Law would've killed them."
"You defied creation's balance."
"Balance means nothing to the dead," he said. "You talk about order while the streets rot."
The figure's form wavered.
"You are becoming what you feared a bridge between shadow and light. Do you understand what that means?"
Adrien took a step forward. "It means I finally see both."
He extended his hand and the light touched his palm. For an instant, the world burst into color an impossible horizon where dawn and night coexisted.
"Then walk it," the voice said softly.
"But every step will cost you."
The world shattered.
(Awakening)
Adrien gasped and sat up violently, the sound of rain slamming back into his ears. Lyra jumped, dropping the bowl of water she had been holding.
"You're awake?" she stammered.
He blinked, eyes unfocused at first, then sharp again.
"How long?"
"Three days," she said. "The city's in chaos. People say you're some kind of omen."
He exhaled. "They're half right."
He looked at his hands traces of golden cracks across his veins glimmered faintly before fading. Both powers now lived inside him unsettled, unstable.
Light and darkness had never meant to coexist. Yet somehow, they did.
He stood slowly. Every muscle screamed, but the pain grounded him.
"What happened to the Third?"
Lyra shook her head. "He… vanished. There's no trace."
Adrien's gaze hardened. "Then he's not dead."
Outside, a single bell rang low, distant, metallic. Adrien's instincts flared.
It's not over,whispered Lnx inside his mind.
Something watches from beyond the veil.
Adrien closed his eyes, steadying his breath. "Then we find it before it finds us."
(The Golden Afterimage)
Night fell again. The city rebuilt itself in fragments. But under the ruins, light flickered remnants of divine energy trapped within the soil. From that residue, a silhouette formed: the afterimage of the Third Chosen.
It wasn't truly alive, nor truly dead. A reflection of will bound by divine order. And it spoke not to the living, but to the unseen.
"He has merged the Laws. The balance is failing."
Somewhere beyond the horizon, another voice answered smooth, calm, sinister.
"Good. Let him. The more he merges, the faster the seal will weaken."
The afterimage bowed. "And the Master?"
"Still waiting. Still dreaming."
Lightning flared across the sky.
(Adrien's Resolve)
Adrien and Lyra walked through the outer districts, where the rain had carved rivers through the cobblestone. Children peeked from windows, their eyes wide with fear and awe. To them, Adrien was no longer human he was the eclipse given form.
Lyra tried to lighten the silence. "You saved them, you know. Even if they'll never say it."
Adrien's answer was quiet. "They don't need to."
She looked at him. "Then why keep fighting?"
He paused.
"Because if I stop," he said, "someone else will pay the price."
Lyra frowned. "And what about you?"
Adrien turned away. "I stopped mattering the night the moon bled."
The wind picked up, carrying the faint sound of bells again. This time, closer.
He looked up. The moon glowed half-red, half-white split like his soul.
And somewhere far away, another light flickered alive.
(The Watching Shadow)
Beneath Lunareth's foundations lay forgotten catacombs tunnels older than the city itself. In the deepest chamber, a throne of bone and glass stood surrounded by seals that pulsed with dim runes. Upon it sat a figure cloaked in silver chains. Eyes closed, body unmoving.
A whisper filled the chamber.
"The Third has fallen. The Eclipseborn awakens."
The chained figure smiled faintly.
"Good. Then the dawn of ruin begins."
A single chain broke, releasing a shockwave of mana that trembled through the entire undercity. The seals cracked. Somewhere above, Adrien felt a sudden pain behind his eyes, as if the world itself blinked.
Lyra looked at him. "What's wrong?"
He shook his head, though the voice inside his mind was screaming.
He's coming.
Adrien whispered, "The real one."
The storm returned, fiercer than before. The moon hung high half consumed, half radiant. Lunareth glowed faintly beneath it, caught between salvation and destruction.
Adrien stood at the edge of the city wall, cloak fluttering in the wind, eyes reflecting both light and shadow.
He had killed a god, survived divine judgment, and merged two impossible energies. But for the first time, he felt truly small.
He thought of his mother's handwriting on that piece of bread.
Of the woman who believed in him when no one else did.
Of Lyra's trembling hands, still clinging to hope.
"Maybe," he murmured, "the real curse isn't power. Maybe it's being unable to stop walking."
Behind him, Lyra stepped out, holding a dim lantern.
"Then don't walk alone," she said softly.
Adrien looked over his shoulder, the faintest ghost of a smile touching his lips a rare, fragile thing.
But in the distance, the sky cracked open, spilling streaks of crimson across the stars.
The voice of Lnx whispered again:
"The Law of Ruin has awakened."
And just like that, the peace was gone.