A cold breeze swept over Kai, the silence around him was suffocating. He opened his eyes. He was no longer in the Nexora, no longer in the dark chamber where he had pushed him beyond his limits. Instead, he stood in the midst of desolation, standing upon a dark, obsidian ground. The stench of blood clung to the air, thick and metallic, mixing with the scent of scorched earth. A pale mist hovered just above the ground, weaving through the lifeless forms sprawled across the battlefield. Bodies! His stomach lurched.
Everywhere he looked, there were bodies...warriors from species he didn't recognize, clad in armor of varying designs, some sleek and metallic, others primitive yet sturdy. Their weapons lay scattered, some broken, some still clutched in stiff hands. And beyond them.... Leviathans. Massive, grotesque creatures with twisted, writhing forms, their corpses piled among the fallen warriors. Their monstrous bodies, some reptilian, others nightmarish amalgamations of limbs and fangs, were still smoldering from wounds carved into their flesh. Their eyes....lifeless yet still eerily haunting, seemed to stare right at him.
Kai's breath came in short, uneven gasps. His chest tightened, nausea rising like bile in his throat. He clenched his fists, trying to ground himself, but the horror of the scene was inescapable. The battlefield was vast, stretching endlessly in all directions, the distant horizon obscured by thick gray clouds. No sun, no moon. Just an empty sky, suffocating in its bleakness. His hands trembled. He tried to take a step back, but his foot brushed against something soft. He looked down. A corpse....
A man.....humanoid, with dark, cracked skin like cooled magma, lay motionless, his face frozen in an expression of agony. His armor, obsidian-like with streaks of molten gold, was shattered, revealing deep gouges carved through his flesh. His sword lay just out of reach of his lifeless fingers. Kai staggered back, bile rising in his throat. What the hell is this place? His mind raced, grasping for an explanation. Had he died? Was this some kind of vision? A test? Then he saw it....a figure. Standing in the distance, amidst the carnage, was a lone being. Humanoid in shape yet unmistakably....unnatural. It radiated an ethereal glow, pure and blinding white, yet strangely soft against the ruined battlefield. Its form shimmered, as though it wasn't entirely solid, shifting and pulsing like a living star.
Kai swallowed, his heartbeat thundering in his ears. He didn't know why, but something about the figure made his breath hitch.....not just in fear, but in an overwhelming sense of.....inevitability. Still, he forced himself to move. One step. Another. His boots felt heavy, like they were sinking into the bloodstained earth, but he kept going. As he drew closer, he tried to steady his breath, tried to push down the dread curling in his stomach. The figure remained motionless, as if waiting. Kai hesitated. His throat was dry, but he gathered his voice. ".....H-hey." No response. He took another step. The air around the figure shimmered like heat haze, distorting everything slightly. ".....Hey c-can you hear me?" Still nothing.
Kai was close now, barely a few feet away. He swallowed and reached a hesitant hand forward. "....Who are you? what....is this place?" Then, without warning- The figure moved. The motion was fast, too fast. It turned toward him in an instant, the motion so abrupt and unnatural that it sent a jolt of pure terror through Kai's spine. His breath caught. He stumbled back, heart slamming against his ribs, his body screaming at him to run. But he couldn't.....because now, he could see it. The figure had no face, no features. Just an expanse of smooth, radiant light where its face should have been. Yet somehow, despite its lack of eyes, he felt it looking right at him. Kai's breath hitched. His legs nearly gave out. The sheer presence of the figure sent a primal fear crawling up his spine, an instinctive terror that screamed you should not be here. Then.....it moved again.
A hand....if it could even be called that, began to extend toward him. It was long, elegant, shaped like a human's but composed entirely of glowing white energy. Slowly, it reached for his face. Kai's body locked up. He wanted to move, to recoil, but he was frozen, trapped between fear and curiosity. The moment stretched, agonizingly slow. The hand drew closer. Just inches away. Kai felt a strange pull, like something deep within him was being recognized....as if this figure knew him. As if-
Right before the figure made contact with him, a blinding flash of light erupted. Kai gasped. The battlefield vanished. The bodies, the Leviathans, the sky, all gone. Kai shot up with a violent jolt, his breath ragged, his chest heaving. His body was drenched in sweat. His fingers clawed at the fabric beneath him as his vision struggled to adjust. He was no longer standing in that hellscape. Instead, he found himself lying on something soft. A bed....? The air was warm, carrying the faint scent of incense and something floral. His head spun, his limbs felt sluggish, but the sense of dread from the vision clung to him like a second skin. As his senses returned, a voice broke the silence.
"Bad dream?" Kai jerked, turning his head toward the source. Umbra. She was lounging lazily in a chair across from him, propping her chin up with one hand, her black eyes glinting with amusement. She arched a brow. "You were thrashing like a dying fish. Pretty entertaining, actually." Kai didn't respond immediately. His heart was still hammering. The vision....the battlefield....the figure....what the hell was all that? Umbra studied his expression, then sighed, standing up and stretching. "I was gonna wake you, but you seemed like you were having... fun." Her smirk softened slightly. "Guessing it wasn't a pleasant dream, huh?" Kai swallowed hard, rubbing his temples. "....No. It wasn't."
"Figured." She walked toward him, hands in her pockets. "Well, bad news, you don't get to sit around dwelling on it." She tapped her foot against the floor. "You shattered the first pair of Chains of Inversion, which means you're officially moving on to the next phase of training." Kai blinked, momentarily pushing aside the remnants of his vision. "Next phase.....and that is?" Umbra grinned. "Oh this will be fun." She leaned in slightly, her eyes gleaming mischievously. "Welcome to hell, big bro. Come now, someone is waiting for you" Kai exhaled, his breath still uneven as remnants of the vision clung to his thoughts like cobwebs. But before he could dwell on it further, Umbra turned on her heel and made her way toward the doorway.
"Come on," she called over her shoulder. "You've got somewhere to be." Kai sat up fully, still feeling the dampness of sweat clinging to his skin. His muscles ached from both the nightmare and whatever hellish training he had endured before passing out. He ran a hand through his hair before forcing himself to move, his feet hitting the cold floor. "Who's waiting for me?" he asked as he stood. Umbra didn't stop walking, but he caught the way her lips curved into a mischievous smirk. "Oh, wouldn't you like to know?" Kai frowned. "That's why I asked." She let out a laugh, throwing her hands behind her head in a carefree stretch. "Patience, big bro. You'll see soon enough."
Kai sighed but followed her through the dimly lit corridors. The walls pulsed faintly with strands of woven temporal energy, their glow shifting in intensity as they moved. The air was thick with something he couldn't quite describe....not oppressive, but charged, as if this place was alive in its own way. Umbra hummed to herself, her black eyes glinting in the low light. The way she carried herself, relaxed but deliberate, made it clear she was enjoying his anticipation. Kai rolled his shoulders, shaking off the lingering tension from his vision. Whoever was waiting for him had to be important. But why the secrecy?
After a few more twists and turns through the corridors, the space suddenly opened up into a massive courtyard. Kai squinted as the area was bathed in soft, ethereal light: neither sun nor moon, but something in between. The sky above was vast, an endless expanse of deep indigo streaked with silvery veins of energy. The ground beneath him was smooth, resembling polished stone but humming with latent power. At the center of the courtyard, elevated on a circular platform, stood a lone figure. Kai halted. His breath hitched.
The figure wore a long, flowing cloak, its dark fabric lined with faintly glowing silver patterns. The hood was drawn low, obscuring their features, but something about the way they stood, their posture, the weight of their presence....sent a cold shock running down Kai's spine. The air around them seemed denser, heavier. As if sensing their presence, the hooded figure slowly turned and lifted their head. The moment their eyes met, Kai felt his pulse slam against his ribs. His entire body locked up as recognition struck him like a bolt of lightning.
The face beneath the hood, the sharp, defined features, the piercing gaze that held both wisdom and unyielding strength was the one that had dragged him into this mess of a life to begin with Zayne. "Z-Zayne...?" Kai's voice barely came out, his throat dry. Zayne's expression was unreadable, his eyes shadowed beneath the hood. But his presence alone was enough to suffocate the air between them. His form, rather than being like a flickering specter, now held a solid form just like that of a living human. Beside him, Umbra tilted her head, a knowing smirk playing at her lips. "Well... I told you it was a secret."
Kai barely heard her, a million questions racing through his mind. Zayne grinned at him as his rough voice, now sounding surprisingly alive, called out to him. "Well kid will you stand there gawking or will you bring your pathetic self over here? Time may be infinite in this Nexora but my patience is not."