The sky rippled with light.
The stars above had begun to shift like they too were watching. A bright, golden radiance burst outward from the woman as she writhed atop the cliff. Her cries echoing through the celestial winds.
The grass around her shimmered, blooming with wildflowers that shouldn't exist, petals of azure and violet blooming in seconds, as if called forth by her pain.
Time no longer flowed normally.
This moment was sacred.
Sacrosanct.
It hung in the air like prophecy.
The woman's body arched as another contraction tore through her. Her scream was ragged, primal a sound that belonged more to gods than mortals. Sweat matted her luminous hair and blood stained the rocks beneath her. Still, her grip was firm. Her soul blazed, brighter than the moonlight or the stars above.
The shadow knelt beside her, his form flickering. Solid one moment, incorporeal the next. Hands made of swirling black mist now held her shoulders, anchoring her to this world as the light inside her grew unbearable. That light was not just birth.
It was ignition, destiny made manifest.
"I can feel him," she whispered, eyes wide and wet with pain.
"He is almost here."
The figure said nothing but his gaze never left her face. The darkness that formed his body hummed with tension, like it, too, was holding its breath.
Another scream tore from her lips. It was longer this time, nearly breathless.
And then...
A sound.
Small.
Soft.
But powerful enough to silence the stars.
A cry.
A newborn's cry.
Golden light exploded from her chest, radiant, pure and blinding. It wasn't merely illumination.
It was a revelation. A divine flare that lit the heavens. The moment it appeared, the world seemed to pause.
Every leaf, every blade of grass, every current of wind held still, like the universe itself dared not move.
The woman's hands cradled something close to her chest, wrapping it in the folds of her robe. Her lips trembled, not from pain now but from awe.
"He is beautiful…" she whispered.
The shadow leaned in, his form unusually steady.
But before he could speak,
Boom!!!
A distant rumble.
Then another.
BOOM!!!
BOOM!!!!
BOOM!!!
The ground trembled beneath them.
The sky blackened like ink spilled across a canvas of stars.
From the horizon, flames erupted.
Red and wild, like war drums heralding destruction. A burning tide approached.
Ryker's heart dropped as the vision twisted again, like a veil being torn from a nightmare.
The peace shattered.
An army emerged. Not merely soldiers but abominations cloaked in obsidian armor, their blades crackling with corrupted energy. There were thousands of them. They were faceless and inhuman, marching in perfect, unnatural unison, their footsteps a drumbeat of annihilation.
And behind them walked towering creatures of ash and chain. War beasts with molten eyes and maws filled with grinding steel.
The woman flinched, shielding the infant with her entire body.
The shadow stood slowly, his form rising like a tide until he became a pillar of black flame, roiling and wild.
"I should have known…" he whispered.
"They wouldn't let him live."
He turned to her. His voice was heavier now, soaked in fury.
"I will stop them. No matter what."
Her gaze met his sharp, unyielding, defiant even now.
"Protect him. That's all that matters."
The shadow surged forward.
BOOM!!!
He vanished in a streak of smoke and flame.
The army reached the cliffs
And the war began.
Ryker could barely keep up with what he saw.
The figure tore through the ranks like a living storm.
CLASH!!!
His claws ripped through steel like paper, sparks and blood flying with every strike.
WHOOSH!!!
Shadow tendrils lashed out, snatching soldiers mid-air and crushing them with merciless force.
BOOM!!!!
Explosions of darkness consumed war-beasts, tearing their molten forms apart and raining ash across the battlefield.
He danced like death incarnate.
But he did not dance alone. Rage moved with him. Desperation fueled his strikes.
And yet, even as he fought he spoke,
Words laced with fury and fear.
"She knew this would happen… and she still smiled."
"I wasn't made for this… but I chose her."
"For him."
He crushed a knight underfoot.
Darkness erupted from his palms, vaporizing a battalion with a scream that shattered helmets.
"I never wanted war. But I will give them one."
He fought alone.
But he did not yield.
He never once turned back.
Back on the cliff, the woman struggled to her feet. Blood poured down her legs. Her breath was shallow, fragile but her arms never wavered.
She clutched the child tight to her chest like he was life itself.
Then…
Footsteps.
Not from the battlefield.
But behind her.
Ryker's attention whipped to the new intruders.
Figures cloaked, familiar.
Less armored but far more dangerous.
They approached slowly. Six of them.
Their robes were white but soaked in blood and ash. Their faces were hidden beneath ornate masks, yet something about their auras made Ryker's soul tremble. Their presence felt… old. Like ancient judgment descending.
The woman's eyes narrowed.
"You…"
One of them removed their hood.
A face Ryker couldn't place, but one the woman clearly knew.
"You came…" she said, voice trembling.
"After all this time."
"You should have never carried it," the figure replied. "You broke the seal. You shattered the balance."
The woman stepped back, cradling the child.
"You call it balance....but all I ever saw was chains."
Another figure stepped forward, pulling a blade from their side.
"Give it to us…."
"And let us end this….."
The woman smiled, bloody and beautiful.
"You will have to tear him from my corpse."
Her glow reignited,
Brighter than ever.
And just as the battle on the horizon reached its climax,
She raised her hand.
And the cliff turned to fire.
******
Far from her, the black figure drove his clawed hand through the final war beast's chest. Its molten form collapsed into the chasm below, roaring as it fell.
He panted, hunched over.
Smoke coiled from his body. His form was unstable and cracked
No…
But something was flickering.
Something kept him alive….
A thread.
A promise.
He turned toward the cliff.
And everything inside him stilled.
Silence.
Cold wind.
He sprinted.
He ran faster than light, ripping through space to reach her.
He appeared at the edge of the battlefield..
And froze.
She lay at the center of the cliff.
Her body broken.
Dozens of swords and spears impaled her through her chest, limbs, even her side. Her right arm was gone entirely. Her left leg twisted beneath rubble. One side of her face had been burned, revealing bone and torn flesh.
And yet...
She still held something.
In one bloodied arm, clutched close to her chest, something was wrapped in cloth. It was glowing faintly,
Golden and Warm.
Ryker couldn't move.
The figure, this shadow of death, fell to his knees.
Arghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
The air shuddered with his scream.
A sound so deep, so full of agony, that it cracked the cliff's surface and silenced the wind.
He crawled forward.
Blood dripping.
Breathing ragged.
"No…"
"No… please…"
The woman's eyes fluttered open…
Just barely.
But her lips moved.
And the figure reached for her
As Ryker watched, helpless.
Frozen.
Breathless.
The vision trembled, preparing to shift again.