A Western Kid’s Journey into the Eastern Cultivation World

Jack's hand trembled on the Elysian Requiem's hilt as he faced his shadow - clad doppelgänger. The stranger's blade rose in a mock salute, its edge rippling with the same abyssal energy that now threaded through Jack's veins. "Brother?" Jack's voice cracked, the word tasting like ash on his tongue. "You're a clone."

"Cloning is such a crude term." The stranger circled him, boots crunching on obsidian shards. "The First Mages called us 'Balance Twins'—your light to my dark, born from the same soul fragment." He pressed a hand to his chest, where a cracked, jet - black orb pulsed beneath the armor. "They wanted perfect vessels, but your orb corrupted mine in the womb."

Lyra lunged with her dagger, only to be thrown back by a shadow shield. "Stay out of this, little assassin," the stranger hissed. "This is between siblings."

Jack charged, sword singing through the air. The Elysian Requiem met the dark blade in a clash that sent shockwaves through the valley. But as his sword drank in the shadow energy, Jack felt a corresponding surge in his opponent—their shared soul fragment resonating like a tuning fork.

"Feel that?" The stranger grinned, pressing harder. "Every time you use the abyss's power, you feed me. How long before the light in you dims completely?"

The Keeper ducked into the ruins of a nearby tower, scrolls spilling from her satchel. "This was a First Mage laboratory!" she called, holding up a yellowed diagram. "They intended to merge the twins at maturity to create a god - like being."

Solis materialized beside her, radiance wavering. "The ritual was abandoned when the dark twin—"

"—when I rebelled," the stranger finished, parrying Jack's strike. "They tried to destroy me, but the abyss saved its perfect vessel." He spun, blade aimed at Jack's throat. "Now we'll complete the ritual on my terms."

Jack blocked with the flat of his sword, mind racing. He couldn't use shadow, but pure light made him vulnerable. In his hesitation, the stranger's blade nicked his neck, and a jolt of dark energy surged through the wound.

"Jack!" Lyra fired a grappling hook, yanking him back. The moment his blood touched the ground, the merged orb in his chest flared, and the Western Shadow Portal behind the stranger began to spin.

"Wh-what's happening?" The stranger stumbled as their shared soul fragment thrummed. Jack's orb was pulling on the portal's energy, creating a vortex of light and dark.

The Keeper unrolled a final scroll, eyes wide. "It's the resonance trigger! When a Balance Twin bleeds on sacred ground—"

The portal exploded in a torrent of energy, swallowing Jack and the stranger. Lyra dove to grab Jack's hand, but the vortex was too strong. She watched in horror as her friend and his shadow counterpart vanished into a swirling maelstrom, leaving only a glowing trail of runes in their wake.

Solis caught Lyra before she fell, pointing to the portal's remains. "They've been taken to the First Mages' hidden sanctuary—the place where it all began." The guardian's form flickered, as if losing substance. "But be warned—no one who enters that place has ever returned whole."

As the dust settled, Lyra picked up a fragment of the stranger's armor. Engraved on the inside was a single word: Nox. She looked at The Keeper, determination hardening her features. "Then we'll be the first."

Deep within the vortex, Jack and Nox tumbled through a tunnel of memories—first mages in white robes, screaming infants in glass tanks, a starry sky torn in two. When they crashed to the ground, they found themselves in a circular chamber lined with golden sarcophagi.

At the center stood a throne made of fused light and dark crystals, and on it sat a figure swathed in tattered robes. The being raised its head, and Jack realized with a jolt that it had no face—just a void where features should be.

"Ah," the being rasped, voice like sandpaper on stone. "The Balance Twins have finally come home."