The Devourer's Dominion

The ruins were silent, but the air was heavy.

Aetheron stood there, his Dominion still pulsing around him like a second heartbeat. The sensation from the trial hadn't faded—it lingered, sinking into his very core.

Lyara and Veyrin were watching him, their expressions sharp with confusion.

"What the hell just happened?" Lyara asked again, stepping closer. "You were gone. One second you were here, and then—poof. Gone."

Aetheron ran a hand through his hair, exhaling. "I don't know. It was… different."

Veyrin narrowed his eyes. "Define 'different.'"

Aetheron glanced at his hand. The Dominion felt… expanded. Not just in power but in awareness. It wasn't like before, when it simply devoured and reshaped. Now, it carried something else—memories. Fragments of knowledge from those who had wielded something similar before him.

He clenched his fist. "I saw things. People. They were like me, but they failed."

Lyara frowned. "Failed how?"

Aetheron shook his head. "Doesn't matter. They lost. And I—" He stopped. He wasn't sure how to explain it. The weight in his chest, the understanding that his path wasn't as unique as he thought.

Veyrin crossed his arms. "So? Did you get anything useful?"

Aetheron met his gaze. "Yeah."

The silence stretched.

Then—

The ruins shifted.

Aetheron snapped his attention upward as a deep groan echoed through the walls. The ground trembled slightly, cracks spiderwebbing across the stone.

Lyara immediately reached for her weapons. "Oh, great. What now?"

Veyrin muttered a curse. "This place isn't stable."

Aetheron turned toward the doorway he had originally entered. The strange glow that had once surrounded it was gone, replaced by a dim, pulsing light. It felt weaker—like whatever power had held this place together was unraveling.

"We need to move," Aetheron said, already stepping forward.

Veyrin didn't argue. "Finally, something I can agree with."

Lyara fell into step beside them. "I swear, if another weird ghost or illusion pops up, I'm stabbing something."

The Path Changes

They moved quickly, navigating through the ruins as the tremors grew stronger. Dust fell from the cracks above, and the once-dead air now carried a strange charge—like the calm before a storm.

Then—

Aetheron felt it.

A flicker of something ahead.

His steps slowed, his instincts flaring.

Lyara noticed. "What?"

Aetheron raised a hand, signaling for silence.

Then—

A whisper.

Not from behind. Not from above.

From the walls themselves.

It wasn't a voice, not exactly. More like echoes, layering over each other, murmuring in a language that didn't belong to this world.

Veyrin's grip on his blade tightened. "I don't like this."

Aetheron stepped forward. The Dominion inside him reacted, humming in tune with whatever was inside these walls.

Then the whispers stopped.

And the wall in front of him cracked open.

The Gateway

Aetheron didn't even flinch as a deep, black rift split across the stone. The air shifted, pulling inward like something was breathing from the other side.

Lyara did flinch. "Nope. No. No more doors to creepy unknown places."

Veyrin scowled. "Too bad. It's opening."

Aetheron watched as the crack widened, stretching into an archway. Through it, he could see nothing. Just pure black void. Not like the sky above—this was emptiness.

Yet his Dominion pulled toward it.

Aetheron exhaled. "It's a path."

Veyrin shot him a look. "To where?"

Aetheron didn't answer. He wasn't sure. But something inside him knew this was important.

Lyara hesitated, then groaned. "Damn it. Fine. But if something tries to eat us, I'm blaming you."

Aetheron smirked. "Fair."

Then he stepped through.

Into the Unknown

The second Aetheron passed the threshold, the world changed.

No more ruins. No more sky. No more anything.

He was floating. Or falling. It was impossible to tell.

The space around him was endless, swirling with shifting fragments of what looked like shattered reality. He could see glimpses of places—an ancient battlefield, a city drowned in light, a temple crumbling under time itself.

Then—

He felt it.

A presence.

Not watching. Not waiting.

But waiting for him.

Aetheron turned—

And something stood there.

It wasn't human. It wasn't a creature. It wasn't even solid.

It was a shape, shifting and warping like it didn't belong in this reality.

Aetheron's breath slowed. His Dominion pulsed—hard.

The thing spoke.

But not in words.

Not even in whispers.

It spoke directly into his existence.

"You walk a path not meant for you."

Aetheron exhaled. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

The figure shifted. The space around it trembled.

"You wield something incomplete. A shadow of its true form."

Aetheron narrowed his eyes. "And you know what it's supposed to be, don't you?"

The figure didn't answer. Instead, it moved.

Not toward him.

Through him.

And in that instant—

Aetheron saw.

Not just memories. Not just echoes.

He saw a truth buried beneath everything.

Something far beyond the Sovereign.

Something that was waiting.

And then—

He was back.

The Return

Aetheron gasped, his body snapping upright as if he had been drowning.

He was on solid ground again. The ruins. The air. The familiar scent of dust and ancient stone.

Lyara and Veyrin were staring at him.

Veyrin scowled. "That was barely a second. What the hell did you see?"

Aetheron swallowed. His Dominion was still burning inside him, but now—it was different.

Stronger.

Wider.

And carrying a weight he couldn't yet explain.

He met their eyes.

"Something's coming."

And for the first time—

He didn't know if he was ready for it.