Light swallowed him whole.
Not the calm, radiant kind — but a violent, roaring brightness that felt like it wanted to scrape him down to the bone. When the glare finally dimmed, Kael found himself standing on a scorched plain of cracked obsidian, under a sky the color of bruised metal. Storm clouds rolled overhead, but instead of thunder… they echoed with whispers.
His whispers.
His voice, multiplied and distorted.
"You were never ready.""You were never enough.""You broke everything."
Kael clenched his fists. "This isn't real."
The ground split open in front of him.
From the fracture rose a future-version of himself — taller, colder, bearing burning streaks of Nexus energy carved across his skin like runes. His eyes glowed a chilling white-blue, void of warmth.
The Architect's voice drifted through the storm.
"Potential forms. Possible outcomes. A spectrum of what you may become."
Kael stared at the future-him, his pulse thundering.
"This isn't me."
The future Kael smirked, the expression sharp as a blade."No… not yet."
Then he attacked.
He moved like a force of nature, a blur of energy and precision. The air cracked around him as he lunged, delivering a strike that shattered the obsidian ground where Kael had stood a heartbeat earlier. Kael rolled, barely avoiding the shockwave.
He's faster than me. Stronger. Controlled. Weaponized.
A version molded by power without restraint.
"You burn worlds," Kael said under his breath, watching the devastation left by the blow.
The future Kael tilted his head."Someone must. The Architect will show you."
Kael's stomach twisted.
This trial wasn't just about breaking him.It was about showing him the extremes of what he could become — savior or destroyer. Maybe both.
Lightning ripped across the sky as the future Kael unleashed another surge of energy. Kael countered, instinctively activating the Nexus pulse within him. Their powers collided midair, erupting in a blast that ripped a canyon into the ground.
The shock forced Kael backward, sliding until his heels dug into the cracked earth.
The Architect's voice echoed:
"Power without clarity leads to ruin. This is one path."
The storm above twisted into a vortex, revealing another vision — a devastated multiverse, dead timelines drifting like ash.
Kael felt a chill crawl down his spine.
"I would never let this happen."
Future Kael stepped closer, expression unreadable.
"Every villain swears the same."
The visions shifted again — this time showing a different future: Liora kneeling in front of him, her eyes empty, her mark extinguished. A universe kneeling behind her.
Kael's breath hitched."No… That's not— That's not who I am."
The future Kael raised his hand.Energy gathered, forming a spear of pure Nexus light.
"You don't choose what power makes of you."
Kael's eyes snapped open with fury."Watch me."
He unleashed his pulse — not controlled, not refined, but raw and primal, a force born from instinct and defiance. The ground detonated, the sky shook, and the future Kael was hurled backward through the splintered landscape.
The Architect spoke again, unbothered by the destruction.
"Good. You resist.""Now survive."
The obsidian plain shattered like glass —and Kael fell into the third trial.
The realm of broken physics.The Trial of Power.