Eclipse Requiem

The air in the ruins was heavier than before. Every step Kael and Saren took toward the exit felt like wading through an unseen force—**as if something was trying to hold them back.**

Kael didn't speak, his mind racing with everything he had learned. **The abyss was never meant to be a force of destruction.** Its fall had been orchestrated by those who feared its power.

And now… the seal was breaking.

Saren broke the silence first. "You're still thinking about what it said."

Kael nodded. "Yeah."

"About the abyssal king?"

Kael clenched his fist. "About what happens when he gets free."

Saren let out a dry laugh. "That's assuming we live long enough to see it."

Kael frowned. "What do you mean?"

Saren gestured ahead. "Look."

Kael's gaze snapped forward—**and his blood ran cold.**

The exit was gone.

The once-open staircase leading back to the surface was now sealed by **a swirling wall of abyssal energy.** The sigils on the walls pulsed erratically, as if responding to the change.

They were trapped.

Saren groaned. "Great. Absolutely fantastic. The abyss doesn't want to let us leave now?"

Kael stepped forward, reaching out a hand. The moment his fingers grazed the energy, **a shockwave pulsed through his body.**

His vision blurred.

And suddenly—**he wasn't in the ruins anymore.**

---

### **The Vision of the Past**

Kael found himself standing in a different place—a battlefield.

The sky above was **split in two,** one half a burning crimson, the other a swirling abyss. The ground beneath him was cracked and lifeless, **littered with bodies of warriors clad in dark armor.**

A war was raging.

In the distance, he saw it—**the abyssal citadel, its great spires crumbling under the assault of celestial warriors.**

Then, **he saw them.**

The betrayers.

At the heart of the battlefield, **seven figures stood together.** Each wielded weapons infused with divine energy, their presence radiating overwhelming power.

Kael's chest tightened. He knew who they were.

**The Seven Saints.**

The very beings who had rewritten history.

And at their feet, **a lone figure knelt—** bound in chains of light, abyssal energy swirling violently around him.

The Abyssal King.

Kael's breath caught. **This was it.** The moment the abyss was sealed.

One of the saints raised a glowing spear and drove it into the king's chest. **The ground trembled, the sky split apart—**

And everything went black.

---

### **Return to Reality**

Kael gasped as he snapped back to the present, stumbling backward.

Saren caught him. "Kael?! What happened?"

Kael's hands shook. "I… I saw it."

Saren frowned. "Saw what?"

Kael's gaze hardened. "The war. The sealing of the Abyssal King. **The Seven Saints betrayed him.**"

Saren took a step back, disbelief written all over her face. "That can't be right. The saints are the ones who saved the world—"

"They rewrote the truth," Kael said, his voice firm. "They sealed the abyss, but only after **attacking it first.** They were the ones who made it into the nightmare it is today."

Saren swallowed hard. "And if the abyssal king is freed…?"

Kael exhaled. "Then the saints will have to answer for what they did."

Before Saren could respond, **the ruins trembled violently.**

The abyssal barrier ahead of them **shattered,** dissolving into black mist.

A voice echoed through the chamber.

*"The storm has begun."*

Kael and Saren didn't hesitate.

They ran.

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